Originally Posted by
Rex G
Well, to get it out of the way, first, Milt Sparks is so very different from most holsters made by El Paso Saddlery. A 55BN is a very stiff holster, precisely molded to the contours of the weapon mold, whereas EPS holsters are made of softer leather, and not as precisely-molded to the weapon. An EPS holster that is lined will be notably stiffer than the unlined versions. IIRC, one may well be still be able to specify thicker leather, for a custom EPS rig. It is very easy to find a number of production rigs equal to, or better then, EPS’ unlined, off-the-shelf holsters. I believe that the best EPS stuff is made-to-order, as the lined Threepersons holster, for S&W K-Frames, that I special-ordered in the Nineties, was much better than some recent unlined EPS stuff I have seen.
To be clear, I am not saying that EPS makes “bad” or low-quality stuff, just that it is going to be quite different from Milt Sparks. A pigskin-lined EPS rig is a thing of true beauty, especially if one opts for carving and/or stamping.