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Going through my gunlocker before retirement. I found a little bit of Gunleather history.....an original sales brochure from Alessi GunLeather from the early 1980's. It came to me from the hands of Matt Parsons, former Buffalo PD Homicide Detective & then Special Agent with the Naval Investigative Service. Matt was working the biggest Spy case in History....the John Walker spy ring....

Well, after looking over examples of the Alessi catalog, I purchased several dozen holsters for everything from a Ruger Speed Six belt slide to an Uzi Submachinegun shoulder holster originally made for the US Secret Service....the leather was great then, and it is even better now...Enjoy....sorry for the not so great quality of pictures.....better crime scene photographer than Macro photog.


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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

Here is a Fieldmaster....still the most comfortable and fastest with a long barrel wheel gun....and you can get them for your 1911......slick and pure quality......just a note.....all sales brochures pictured carry the trademarks of Alessi Custom Concealment Holsters......I'm just posting them in admiration and commemoration of 27 years of faithful duty to me...

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

The Bodyguard.....still the best horizontal shoulder rig ever made......I still have mine made for the H&K P7 PSP, with custom behind slide retainer strap.

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

The Alessi Ankle rig.....I used one for the Walther PPK/s and the S&W Model 60........when walking a protective detail or sitting on long term narcotics surveillances.....this rig was unparelleled......the thick felt protected your ankle and kept it from shifting....even in summer. Great rig for Executive Protection agents...

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

The Undercover (Swivel)

I had two of these....one for a Smith & Wesson 2 1/2" Model 66 and the other for a CZ75.......Alessi was the only maker of quality holsters for the CZ75 back in 1984-86......and I had one of the Canadian imports......this holster did yeoman's service until the Talon Nyclip IWB holsters came out......I used my Talon for 6 years and still use it for my Combat Maggie....especially in the appendix......aka "Dunlop's" position.....cause my gut "Dunloppped" over my gun.

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

Very nice piece o' history!

Just noticed that the grip safety tang has been eliminated on the Colt Officer's pistol in the Undercover Holster. While not unusual to see today, I didn't remember it being done back in the day when beaver tails were all the rage.

John

I think from looking at the picture, that it is a custom Colt Commander. From the timeframe, the cust grip safety is probably a result of photographic cropiing, ..........however, some old school 45 packers will remember that Bob Loveless of knifemaking fame, used to do cusom mods for the Commander/Combat Commander for only a few years.....he ground the grip safety even with the frame. He also scalloped the front of the slid a la the Browning Hi Power. I remember reading about the modifications in one of Dean Grennell's books, and witing Loveless about doing the same to my Commander, but the wait on the work was something like 3 years, as he was backed up on knife orders.

Maybe Lou Alessi can chime in here.

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

Also, I don't know if many folks realize that Alessi made custom leather for the ASP and DEVEL 9mm cut down's. I don't know if they still have the capability of forming holsters to these pistols, but it would definitely be worth asking if you had an ASP or DEVEL full custom.

I know Alessi is in high demand, but I would prefer his designs for these pistols than brand X or Y.

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It's always better to have a gun & not need it, than need a gun and not have it. Politicians have armed guards, Americans have ARMS.

Great post!! I never get tired of talking about or looking at good gunleather and this post reminds me of just how important our Uncle Lou is to his craft. The fact that most of the holsters pictured here are still in the Alessi line-up and undoubtedly still in service all over the globe is tremendously strong testament to not only their design but also their maker. Nobody does it better!

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Heirloom Precision
http://www.heirloomprecision.com

Neat stuff.
And like Jason said, I have a couple of those that I'm using now.

Lou's the king.

great history here- thanks for posting

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Thanks very much,
Robert (13.45)
NRA Benefactor Life member

what a great bit of history. thanks for sharing-cam

I was at a local flee market and saw this great piece of leather shoulder holster with the Alessi stamp on it and marked 39. I asked the dealer if he had the S&W 39 also and he stated he sold it a week ago. I offered him $8.00 for the holster and he sprung. I went straight to the store and bought a 39-2 and extra mag. The holseter came with a single mag holder, trigger snap, cuff case and leather to snap it to the belt. It was so comfortable that I had to get another sholder holster for my colt commander and it is just as nice and soft to carryl. Yes, I feel bad, I should go back to the flee market and give him some more money right.

Thanks Lou...

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Tony T
The only guns I like are those with triggers..

ONIgunner, Thanks a million for posting those pictures! And, thanks to all who responded.

I remember Matty Parsons very well from Buffalo PD, when he worked for the ledgendary Chief of Homicide, Leo Donovan, who was like a second father to me.

Matty went to work for USNIS, and did work some big cases when he was stationed in Japan.

The Commander in those photos is mine, and actually the grip saftey isn't ground off. It had a standard Grip safety that was scaloped out to work with a Commander hammer. Charlie Kelsey actually did the work on that gun, and it was a tack driver.

Again, it's good to know that there are still some people around who remember those older rigs. Of course, thanks to Jason Burton who recognized that some of those rigs are still in production. They just never seemed to go out of style.

Thanks again guys!
Lou

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Alessi Holsters, Inc.
You'll never know it's there, until you need it...

I am amused to see that the holsters are almost unchanged, but the guns are obsolete!

Ha! I still have (and cherish) that same catalog (and have been buggin Lou for a new one ever since!).

Good Lord, you people!

These days it's getting harder and harder to find the time to compete like I used to. But on my best day I never moved like you guys. have made a note to myself, and I'm not joking, whenever I'm going to a match, watch these clips first!

I had a couple of Lou's back when and upgraded them over time. Wish I would have kept them

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NRA Life Member
Charter Member NRA Golden Eagles