"Did gun belts have bullet holsters?" Topic

DA BUG

I know Westerns aren't always historically accurate, but some many of the gunslingers have belts with slots for bullets, were there really belts with those slots?

Oh, yes. The military used them too. They seem to come in post-Civil War with metallic cartridges, and go away with automatic and semi-automatic weapons and clips.

One problem was multiple calibers, and if you look at old John Wayne movies, he generally gets it right--revolver and carbine which use the same ammunition.

The other problem was that a round kept too long in a leather bandoleer or equivalent picked up a greasy film and was a little more prone to jamming, so well-run militaries and other professionals had to polish unused rounds from time to time.

In fact we sold one at the antique shop a year ago
which was for a .44 Colt revolver. It had a brass
plate on the holster with the name of the owner and
the belt was slotted for 12 cartridges.

Nice piece of handmade leatherwork from Mexico,
about 1895.

Thanks, I was always curious about that

Robert P. John Wayne usually had a .45-70 round in the middle of his ammunition belt. This was to let the man in the battle know he was halfway through his belt ammo. Some SASS members do this also.

Commodore Perry Owens with a whole lot of cartridge loops.

An Army officer named Mills invented canvas cartridge belts used in the late 19th Century Indian Wars, the SAW, and in the Philippines.