Product Description

Western gunleather is an icon of American frontier lore. Packing Iron celebrates the artistry and innovation of the craftsmen who designed the gun rigs of the old time cowboys, troopers, lawmen, and Hollywood heroes. This unique art form is fully described and richly illuatrated with more than 300 exciting color photographs and nearly 100 rare historic images. In the pages of Packing Iron you will discover gunleather produced by historic government arsenals, along with the famed frontier craftsmen like Collins, Meanea, Gallatin, and Heiser.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72286 in Books
• Published on: 1993-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

About the Author
Richard C. Rattenbury's enthusiasm for western gunleather was sparked in 1989 while doing research for an exhibit at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, where he is Curator of History. A long-time student of firearms and western material culture, Rattenbury formerly held curatorial positions with the Winchester Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, and with the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas. Over the past 15 years he has authored three exhibition catalogs on firearms history and technology, as well as more than 30 articles and monographs for such publications as Man at Arms, American West, History News, Military Images and Persimmon Hill. Rattenbury resides with his wife, Suzette, in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Coffee Table Book
I saw this book several years ago in a book catalogue, I put off buying it because there really didn't seem to be enough subject matter to justify such a book. I could not have been more wrong. When I finally had one in hand I realized there really was a rich wealth of interesting material especially historically. This book shows the colorful evolution of holsters in the American West tradition. This is a fascinating collection of color and detail that leaves the reader in awe concerning this little known facet of traditional Western Americana. Well worth the price. Hours will be spent studing the beautiful illustrations and carefully researched text. You don't have to own a Colt sixshooter to apprecicate this beautiful book that faithfully follows and matches the tradition of the R.L. Wilson publications on the art of firearms.

A standard work on the subject
This has rapidly become a favorite book of mine and, judging from the constant references to it from holster makers, has become a widely-used reference source. The quality of the book itself is excellent, with lots of crisp, large pictures and good accompanying text. The "frontier" period covered is pretty wide, really the colonial period into the pre-WW2 era. The emphasis, however, is on the 1800s. The first section of the book mostly covers military gunleather and its transition into civilian forms and usage. The bulk of part two is on California and Mexican Loop pattern holsters of the 1800's and early 20th century, although there is good material on a number of other subjects (all gun-related). The holster photo captions in part two tend to be very repetitious as there are numerous style variations presented, but ultimately don't detract from the pictures themselves or the text. This is not a book to buy if you are interested in costume or accoutrements other than gunleather, and you should pass it by if your primary interest is Western film and TV versions of gunleather - the buscadero, or drop-loop style is barely mentioned.

If You're Into Cowboy Action Shooting Or Even History ...
If you're into Cowboy Action Shooting or even history of the Old West, this is a must have book. The pictures are fantastic and the way the book was put together gives the reader an extremely great view of what they wore in the old days. Plus, there are some great pictures from the cowboy movie and television era. Great Book!