sass20485

That depends on how bad you want a particular maker's holster. The wait can be anywhere from weeks to months to years. I've waited months before , but never years ( although I've been waiting nearly 2 years for a holster I'll never see what a guy who took my money and never delivered a thing ). 6months is about as long as I would be willing to wait now, but only for something extra special, from someone I trusted and I had no immediate need for the holster, it was just something I wanted. Maybe longer IF I REALLY WANTED IT bad enough, like something from Del Fatti. Mostly I've only waited a couple of months for the holsters I have now, same for my cowboy leather. I got have a lot patience to just wait and wait and wait. I understand most truly custom leather crafters are small shops and can only produce so much and when demand is high you WAIT or go elsewhere. Guess there is a very strong demand for gun leather with all the many makers out there and some of the wait times I've seen folks quoted or what they endured. I've got a couple on order now, and was told 6 to 8 weeks. SO far that is accurate, they have not yet exceeded it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck in your search.

fatboy97

For a custom holster made with special leather/skin (snake, shark, etc), personally I would allow 3 or 4 months if I knew it was a quality holster.

__________________
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Current: Springfield XD9sc, XDm9, and Glock G26, G19, G23C, and SIG P226-40 TT, and Ruger GP-100, 22/45 MKII
Former: Taurus 92SS, SIG P220 TT, S&W 360, SIG P239-40

FlyboyLDB

2-4 weeks is all that I will wait. I can look for it used. But I will not wait any longer that 1 month. Anything longer and the gun could be gone or a better gun purchased. If they have that much business that I have to wait any longer, then in my opinion, they don't want my business. This day and age people hate to wait - but some can handle it a little better than I.

billfromtx

I ordered a Brigade gunleather C-11 In Feb with an email stating 18-21 weeks.turn around time..
I still haven't got it...Still waiting.

__________________
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To err is human.
To forgive is divine.
Neither of which is Marine Corps policy.

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retsupt99

I have always placed my order by phone...I like to talk to a person.
Whenever I call, they know me by name...really!
Being way beyond the 'number required', I always get a 20% discount...pays for the shipping.

Call, you can do it all over the phone and you can immediately hear them shooting another cow in the background.

Stay armed...with a quality holster...stay safe!

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chuckE

+1

If they have a backlog of MONTHS, then they should be hiring more help or streamlining their manufacturing process. We are talking about pieces of leather and kydex not some complicated metallurgy or complex machinery.

__________________
Bitter and clinging to my guns and my religion.

SIXTO

I don't mind waiting for what I want, but delivery must be made pretty close to the estimated time.
I understand that holster making isnt exactly a simple manufacturing process where adding more monkeys on the assembly line will speed things up. It is an art, and if you want a piece of art, you have to wait.

I don't order many fancy leather holsters, I just don't see the point. Most of mine are simple deals that can be bought off the shelf. However, I do think a lot of holsters makers have been dropping the ball lately. I've "recently" (this spring) ordered 3 holsters for my J frame, none of them were special, fancy or anything else... Only 1 has arrived. That one was semi custom, the other two are supposed to be off the shelf products.

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| SIXTO EXPRESS---| ||'|";,__.
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JerryM

In the past Tony Kanaley has commented on this. As we would expect it is not so easy to find dedicated and great craftsmen. He will not let the quality suffer to turn out more holsters. Kudos to Tony.

I personally know of businesses which were one man in the beginning, but had so much work that others were hired. In time the great workmanship went down to a point that it was just another business.

The better holster makers have a backlog because they do great work. Adding more people has a better chance to degrade the finished product than to continue with the same superb holster. In fact I am a little surprised that Sparks does such great work with several craftsmen instead of one, but they are still at the top rung of the quality ladder along with two or maybe three more.

I do not think that 20 - 35 weeks is a long time. Just order and in time the holster will come and you will be glad and satisfied. In the meantime get a good kydex paddle and it will be useful also.

Regards,
Jerry

orangehole

I have ordered from FIST many times. They usually do not send you any confirmation which leaves you in the dark but on my last order about 2 months ago, I did receive an immediate email confirmation. This hopefully a new procedure from FIST. They make great affordable leather with many customizable options plus they have most all of the molds for pistols that I own.

Back to the original question, I don;t mind waiting a month or two. What I normally do is buy something "off the rack" to hold me over until my desired order from the custom guys arrive. I will wait as long as it takes from some makers as long as they don;t take your money up front.

the_fallguy

I can tell you that as a holster maker, I hate (and I absolutely mean HATE) missing quoted lead times, but there are some things that are beyond my control. A lot of the problems that lead to longer delivery times from me have a lot to do with misquoted delivery times from my suppliers, be it dummy guns, leather, dye etc.. I think smaller shops like mine are more affected by material availability or defects than a lot of the larger shops because we can't stock as much materials on a long term basis.

Between unexpected complications and the fact that it takes much longer to build an order than it does to write one down, some amount of waiting is inevitable (at least with true custom orders that can't be stocked). Even in an ideal world, there is going to be a certain amount of time for custom products unless you have very deep pockets. Basically speaking, if you want something custom made there is a saying that usually applies:

"Anything can be done right, done fast, or done cheap, but only two out of the three at a time".

What I'm getting at here is you should probably consider lead time to be part of the cost of a holster, and decide whether you want something done a specific way or if you can get by with something that is readily available but not quite what you want. A lot of folks get an off the shelf holster and sell it once their custom holster arrives. That might be a consideration if you need something right away, but have more specific requirements ideally.

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