El Paso Saddlery Headache

[Tikkakoski]

Hey guys,
Anyone else have any experiences ordering from El Paso Saddlery? Before I ordered I did quite a bit of digging and found some pretty mixed reviews but figured I would chance it. The belt and holster rig I ordered for woods carry of my 44 magnum turned into a nightmare that's still going on lol...

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[Stomper]

Sorry.... the only experience I have with "El Paso" is with making tacos at home.

 

[Tikkakoski]

Sorry.... the only experience I have with "El Paso" is with making tacos at home.

Haha, My experience with that brand has been resoundingly positive!

 

[DirectDrive]

Hey guys,
Anyone else have any experiences ordering from El Paso Saddlery? Before I ordered I did quite a bit of digging and found some pretty mixed reviews but figured I would chance it. The belt and holster rig I ordered for woods carry of my 44 magnum turned into a nightmare that's still going on lol...

I've never ordered anything from them, but their product looks good.
Traditional style leatherwork which I like.

However, if it's not too late to cancel the order, my first choice for what you want would be...
Guide's Choice™ Leather Chest Holster
The industry leader for this type of rig.

I just shot one of those airweight 44 Mags (in the pic above) on Saturday.
Holy crap....in a word.....punishing.
We also had a .500 S&W which was a pleasure to shoot in comparison.
The airweight 44 would be nice for woods carry/bear defense, though.
With a mad bear coming at you, you'd never feel the recoil.

 

[WAYNO]

In my circles, we buy from El Paso Saddlery a lot! And we continue to do so because our experiences continue to be 100% positive, both in the product, and with the transaction.

I am surprised to hear that any deal has gone sour, especially from such a respected firm.

 

[Tikkakoski]

I've never ordered anything from them, but their product looks good.
Traditional style leatherwork which I like.

However, if it's not too late to cancel the order, my first choice for what you want would be...
Guide's Choice™ Leather Chest Holster
The industry leader for this type of rig.

Yeah the pictures on display look like great quality leather. Unfortunately that is far from what I received. I'm already dealing with the return process. That's an excellent recommendation for the Diamond D guides choice. I actually already have that holster from them for my glock 10mm (its my profile pic). I wanted to try a gun belt and crossdraw rig for my 44 otherwise I would have gone Guides choice again. I wound up going into Ted Blocker Holsters (who are local to my area) and they got me set up with a custom order for not much more that I paid for the El Paso rig.

 

[Tikkakoski]

In my circles, we buy from El Paso Saddlery a lot! And we continue to do so because our experiences continue to be 100% positive, both in the product, and with the transaction.

I am surprised to hear that any deal has gone sour, especially from such a respected firm.

What models are you buying from them?

 

[WAYNO]

What models are you buying from them?

Tom Threeperson's Holsters.

 

[DirectDrive]

Yeah the pictures on display look like great quality leather. Unfortunately that is far from what I received. I'm already dealing with the return process. That's an excellent recommendation for the Diamond D guides choice. I actually already have that holster from them for my glock 10mm (its my profile pic). I wanted to try a gun belt and crossdraw rig for my 44 otherwise I would have gone Guides choice again. I wound up going into Ted Blocker Holsters (who are local to my area) and they got me set up with a custom order for not much more that I paid for the El Paso rig.

Another good one for a cross draw is Les Dahl of Privateer Leather.
Les built me a cross draw for my Walther PPS-M2 and it's a work of art.
The "stiffener panel" with the parallel cuts set it off nicely.
Full sweat panel and excellent retention.
Cant places grip parrallel and slightly above beltline.
(stock photo re-touched by me prior to ordering)

 

[Tikkakoski]

Tom Threeperson's Holsters.

That's exactly what I ordered with a Texas gun belt. The holster and Belt I received had no boning, bled black dye all over me and my gun, and were notably thinner leather than cheap galco holsters I've bought through the years. Have any pictures of yours? I wonder if quality has just dipped recently.

 

[Tikkakoski]

Another good one for a cross draw is Les Dahl of Privateer Leather.
Les built me a cross draw for my Walther PPS-M2 and it's a work of art.
The "stiffener panel" with the parallel cuts set it off nicely.
Full sweat panel and excellent retention.
Cant places grip parrallel and slightly above beltline.
(stock photo re-touched by me prior to ordering)
View attachment 365767

Now that is a nice looking rig!

 

[WAYNO]

I very recently bought another Tom Threeperson holster, and it is impeccable. Are they taking care of the problem? Word spreads fast if they are not.

 

[Tikkakoski]

I very recently bought another Tom Threeperson holster, and it is impeccable. Are they taking care of the problem? Word spreads fast if they are not.

Well they wouldn't respond to my emails and I had to call a half dozen times to get them to pick up. The girl who answered was very hard to deal with and not helpful at all. She did offer to fix it but in my opinion there was nothing to fix because the whole thing would need junked and started over with there correct quality materials. She wouldn't acknowledge that they had made any mistake even though I ordered a cross draw three persons and they sent me a strong side. I wound up having to pay to ship it back so that I can get a refund on my purchase price and not the shipping either way. But it only took 13 weeks from the time I ordered to get it to me. I'd love to see a picture of your rig if it's not too much trouble.

 

[WAYNO]

Well they wouldn't respond to my emails and I had to call a half dozen times to get them to pick up. The girl who answered was very hard to deal with and not helpful at all. She did offer to fix it but in my opinion there was nothing to fix because the whole thing would need junked and started over with there correct quality materials. She wouldn't acknowledge that they had made any mistake even though I ordered a cross draw three persons and they sent me a strong side. I wound up having to pay to ship it back so that I can get a refund on my purchase price and not the shipping either way. But it only took 13 weeks from the time I ordered to get it to me. I'd love to see a picture of your rig if it's not too much trouble.

I am preparing photos as we speak...

 

[Tikkakoski]

I am preparing photos as we speak...

I really appreciate it. I want to believe that I just drew the Short straw on this whole deal and others can still use them as a outlet for quality leather but my entire experience would dictate otherwise.

 

[WAYNO]

I really appreciate it. I want to believe that I just drew the Short straw on this whole deal and others can still use them as a outlet for quality leather but my entire experience would dictate otherwise.

Before I post my photos, I've got another thought...
On a forum that I frequent, there was the same holster, for sale. I thought in the photo's, it looked awfully soft, and stretched out in the toe. Not at all what I've experienced. Click on this link, and see if it's similar to the holster you received. And very shortly, i will have some photos posted.

RugerForum.com • View topic - ***SOLD*** El Paso Saddlery Holster 3 3/4" Vaquero

 

[WAYNO]

Here's my latest...

 

[Tikkakoski]

Before I post my photos, I've got another thought...
On a forum that I frequent, there was the same holster, for sale. I thought in the photo's, it looked awfully soft, and stretched out in the toe. Not at all what I've experienced. Click on this link, and see if it's similar to the holster you received. And very shortly, i will have some photos posted.

RugerForum.com • View topic - ***SOLD*** El Paso Saddlery Holster 3 3/4" Vaquero

The finish work on your holster and the one in this link do appear better than mine was. The holster was pretty stiff considering how thin the leather was. Mine was unlined and had what seemed like zero boning. It barely fit my 44 it was so tight. The gun belt could only be described as a wet noodle it was so thin and floppy, all the bullet loop stitching was rough and very proud of the leather. On top of the pair of blue jeans that I have now with black dye on them lol... Especially considering the holster and belt set me back 216$, I was expecting at least the quality of my Diamond D chest rig, but the leather was twice as thick on it and the boning and fitment it ten times as good. You said that holster was pretty recent? I that an el paso belt?

 

[WAYNO]

The belt is from shopruger.com and is probably made by Triple K.

And yes, this holster is just a few months old. I've had others thru the years, all very similar.

 

[ktd]

I wound up going into Ted Blocker Holsters (who are local to my area) and they got me set up with a custom order for not much more that I paid for the El Paso rig.

I had issues with Ted Blocker, though thay was quite a while ago when the man had health issues. I think these small firms, especially family run are very subject to personal events. It can be very hit or miss.

I had great luck with 5Shot when he was local, but like any decent one man shop, his backlog got too long and he also moved.

For stock stuff I go for Don Hume. I don't have a pressing need for custom stuff these days, but will probably check Ted Blocker, sounds like they're doing good.