Thursday, June 04, 2009
My favorite holster, and why.
I'm not going to showcase a product, and tell you why it's good, or tell you about the latest and greatest thing. I'm going to tell you about a couple of holsters I bought back in the mid-80's at a shop in Bensenville, Illinois, a couple of blocks from where I worked at the time.
I had moved from Anderson, Indiana to Chicago during the summer of 1983, and wasn't exactly flush with extra income. A very close friend of mine back in Indiana and I had spent a number of years shooting together - he had a Ruger 10/22 and I used my Dad's 3rd generation Colt Woodsman .22. At some point, I let him know about a handgun that I had seen in a magazine that appeared to be within our means, and was getting pretty good press. It was a Taurus PT92. I shopped around for the best price I could find in the area, and purchased a blue model from a gun shop in Lincolnwood on Devon. My friend in Indiana purchased an identical model locally. We were both very proud of the fact that we paid in cash for our purchases.
Being one to accessorize - even back then - and in possession of my very first credit card, I bought a couple of black Bianchi UM84 holsters - one for for myself, and one for my friend. I picked up a couple of web belts at an army surplus store in Northlake, and on one of the many trips back home in my 1983 VW Rabbit known as "Moe", I presented my friend Tim Justice with the holster and belt.
Over the following years, we spent many camping trips together in Tennessee at my Grandparents farm, now my farm, and continued to shoot together and show off any new toys to each other. In every picture I have of him where we were out with our meager gun collections, he has on that belt and holster. He never saw any need to upgrade to anything else.
My PT92 was stolen in a burglary around 1990, along with my entire firearm collection, including the first and last firearm I ever financed, an H&K SP89 and a very special 10/22 that was a christmas gift from another close friend. That year for christmas I gave him a power strip for his Commodore 64 computer - and it turned out to be broken. He will never let me forget this. In my defense, I was just about broke, was on my way out of Chicago when I picked it up at Home Depot in Elmhurst, and gave him the power strip before he gave me the rifle.
I do still have the UM84 holster, even though the Taurus and the 10/22 are long gone. A Chicago Police Tac Team later recovered the PT92, stuffed in the pants of some kid selling drugs in Chicago. Because I lived in Oak Park, they were unable to return it to me, as handguns were (and remain) illegal in Oak Park. While over the years I have rebuilt and expanded my collection, I never bought another PT92 - it wouldn't have been the one that was my first handgun and had the memories attached to it.
I like to dig that holster and belt out of a box in my basement, full of things that I can't bear to get rid of, even though most of them serve no useful purpose any longer. I like to take out and turn it over in my hands, and open and close the flap, play with the clever little cleaning rod that was included with the holster, and feel the history - my history, and my friend's - that is in that holster. Occasionally I put it on with that web belt (let out a couple of inches, as one packs on "muscle" over the course of 25 years), tuck my thumbs in the belt and remember those times, and those trips.
If you're reading this, you probably have a piece of gear that reminds you of something similar. A holster that came with a gun you inherited when a father passed away, like my buddy Bob and the .25 Colt Automatic pistol his father owned and apparently carried most of his life - a surprised ambulace crew (in handgun-free Oak Park) handed it to his wife when Robert Sr. died of a heart attack a few years ago, safely tucked away in a wallet holster that had been restitched and reinforced using copper wire, of all things. Maybe it's something your Dad or Grandfather brought back from WWII, or a brother brought back from Viet Nam or Korea. Maybe it's a pair of binoculars that an Uncle used at your high school football games, or that you and your Mother used for birdwatching.
Maybe your treasured item is synthetic and will never look much different than it did when it was new, like my UM84, or maybe it's made of leather or metal and carries a memory or good story in almost every scratch and ding and dent.
Go and dig out your item and think about where it has come from, what it has gone through and where it has been. You might be reminded of where you have come from, what you have gone through and where you have been. Consider giving something that you treasure to a loved one - a son or daughter, or a favorite niece, or just someone you think will "get it". That way it won't end up in a rummage sale when you're no longer here and all those memories and history will be lost and forgotten as if they had never happened.
My very good friend Tim Justice passed away Sunday, May 31, 2009, at the age of 48, surrounded by his family.
He was born May 23, 1961, in Anderson, Indiana, where he lived well, laughed often and loved much throughout his life. I am going to miss my shootin' and camping buddy.
I'm also going to make sure his remarkable son Tyler gets my UM84 holster and belt.
Now, all you tough guys out there go and tell someone that you love them.
Posted by Mark H. at 7:54 AM Read Article 