458 Win Mag ammunition slide. Part three

Cutting and pricking.

After cutting the back and belt loops I mark out the stitching holes and using a pricking iron start punching the holes in the leather.

                  

The holes in the front panel must line up exactly with the holes is the back panel, other wise you will not be able to stitch the two parts together, accuracy is a must, if you don't mark the lines correctly the loops or in this case the pockets will turn out different sizes, which would result in some being too tight and others being loose.  

I decided to stain the natural veg tan leather wallnut, it goes well with the darker waxy pull up.  I like to stain after the holes have been punched as the stain can get into the holes and you don't end up with undyed holes showing.

   

I also emboss the Safari Leather logo onto the leather while it is still damp from being dyed, as the leather is a little softer and i get a better result.  Once the back panel is dry I stitch the belt loops on, two rows of stitching at the top and a single row at the bottom.

458 Win Mag ammunition slide. Part two

The lay out.

Having now got the dimensions to stitch the pockets to, I make a stencil to aid marking out.  It's a little time consuming, but in the long run it saves a lot of time and reduces the risk of making a measuring error.

I cut a strip of leather to the correct width and length and mark out the stitching and cutting lines, care must be taken when cutting as it is all to easy to cut a stitching line by accident.  

 At this point I cut the back and the belt loops out of some 3mm veg tan leather.  This is more ridged than the waxy pull up used for the pockets and gives the finished product a feel of quality and sturdiness that you would not get if you made the whole thing out of the pull up leather.  The veg tan leather I use is not dyed, so I can pick what colour I want, but I tend to stick to three colours, light brown, wall nut and chocolate. I find these all go well with the colour of the waxy pull up used on the front.

458 Win Mag ammunition slide. Part one.

Preparation.

Having just purchased a side of leather I decided I needed to make an ammunition slide to see how well this new leather would perform.  I have for the last couple of years been using a waxy pull up of 2.4 mm thick and not being able to get hold of the same again I had opted for a leather that seemed to be very similar but not exactly the same.  I had also just taken delivery of a couple of inert 458 Win Mag rounds, these I had purchased to enable me to stitch either loops or pockets of the correct size for this calibre.  So it was an easy decision, I would make an ammunition side in 458 Win Mag calibre.

The first thing to do when approaching a new project is to make a prototype, this will confirm the dimensions required to produce the correct fit, too tight and the rounds wont go in, and too loose and they are going to fall out.  Experience has taught me a little so I marked out and cut a single pocket and a back to stitch it to.

But with all that experience it still came out too small! Back to marking and cutting another one, this time perfect, and with only the addition of 1mm of extra leather to form the pocket.  The new leather seemed to be ok, but a little more ridged than the old.