The Perry Buscadero rig??

[Buck Grizzly]

OK I'm thumbing through my new TW mag, pg 31 a photo of C Perry and the note next to it says he is sporting an bonafide buscadero rig??

OK correct me if I am wrong but the buscadero rig was comprised of a cartridge belt with a slit either cut in it or a slotted hole as on the drop loop that allowed a Mexican loop holster to be draped through it. This innovation was designed supposedly by Texas Rangers and to keep the holster in place so it wouldn't slide around to their back when riding hard.

That photo doesn't show a slit in a cartridge belt nor is their a Mexican loop holster being used. What it appears to be and I would only be making an educated guess is a flap holster that has been sewn (or connected in another way) by the flap on the backside of the cartridge belt.

So my question is in your opinion does this fit the definition of a buscadero rig and is it a true representation when you go by the definition??

Thanks in advance.

Buck

[George D Rodriguez]

The Buscadero Rig came about in the 1920's and was designed for the Texas Rangers and the cowboy movie actors during that time frame. What you saw was a single individual with an inovative mind that found he could draw faster with the gun at hand level while walking. After the Civil War most gun leather used were flap holsters that were modified to carry their guns. Most just flipped the flap over and sewed it to the backside of the holster so they could slip their belt thru it or cut a slit in it to make a mexican loop.

[Buck Grizzly]

So you believe it is a fabricated flap holster too?

Here is the photo in question for those who haven't seen it.


http://news.webshots.com/photo/1011974742017316787qbIQSvWBjA

[Wolfgang]

It is not the "HollyWierd" movie cowboy buscadero rig of Gene Autry or Roy Rodgers, . . . but it is good historical example of wearing a low slung holster back in that time where many claim that there were no such rigs worn. And for that reason I observe it as a significant image of pistol packing in the old days. How it is attached to the gun belt will remain a mystery as the gun belt and attachment of the holster appears to be covered by a cartridge belt ? or is the holster sewn to the back side of that cartidge belt ? Anyhow . . . an interesting variation to most of the immages of pistol packing back then.

[Buck Grizzly]

I agree it is a 'low slung' holster but I believe it is to accomidate the 4-5 inch double row cartridge belt, more than the need for speed. There are a few other photos showing these types of rigs. The ones I've seen are on belts just like that one. A couple I have seen were Mexican loops styles, but had extra leather at the top to loop the entire belt, which also made the holster hang low.


My point is isn't calling this a buscadero rig like calling a Model A a Mustang? ;-)

[Mike Franklin]

Perry was a rifle man. From what I've read he seldom relied on his handgun. He likely wanted the revolver out of the way and figured that the rifle ammo was more important.
I kinda think that some of the SAS gamers have tried to justify their low slung holsters by pointing out this photo.

[Buck Grizzly]

What I am really looking for is a definition of what constitutes a buscadero. If it is just the low slung characteristic, so be it, but that isn't the common definition most have used for the last 20-30 years.

What makes this example a buscadero?

Best picture I've seen of the Commadore Age of the Gunfighter pg.87.

Another post 1900 example is in Packin Iron pg 174. The one on the right looks to have a fabricated mexican loop slung low.

[Marshall Trimble]

An interesting sidebar to this is Ramon Adams' definition of buscadero as, "From the Spanish buscar, meaning to search for, to seek. Used in the Southwest for a tough, gun-carrying officer of the law. Later occasionally used to mean any gunman."

[Daniel Buck]

Marshall,

Below is a letter I posted to True West back in 2006 re the tangled roots of the word "buscadero." Do not recall if the letter was published.

============================
Dear Editor,

In reference to "Buscadero Bio" [June 2006], as far as I've been able to figure it out, the first writer to use the word "buscadero" in English was Eugene Cunningham, in his 1934 book, TRIGGERNOMETRY. He took an obscure Spanish word, once used in the California gold fields to mean "prospector," and transplanted it to Wyoming as a synonym for outlaw.

Seemingly out of nowhere, buscadero appears half-a-dozen times in his chapter on Butch Cassidy, as it's standard northern-Rockies lingo. I doubt it.

Ramon F. Adams, in WESTERN WORDS; A DICTIONARY OF THE AMERICAN WEST (1968), is closer to the mark, saying that "buscadero" was Southwest talk for lawman, later gunman. A Madrid-born Spanish professor told me that "buscadero" is also obsolete, colloquial Spanish for brothel. Regardless, by 1935 the word was familiar enough that Western writer Lee Bond had titled two short stories, "Buscadero Bullets" and "Buscadero Buster."

So how did the word migrate to gun rigs? Cunningham again. Per ED McGIVEN'S BOOK ON FAST AND FANCY REVOLVER SHOOTING AND POLICE TRAINING (1938), Cunningham inspired El Paso saddle-maker Samuel D. Myres to name his two-gun belts "buscaderos."

Not so fast. Cunningham himself, in TRIGGERNOMETRY, says Myres came up with the name, although the rig itself was based on one developed by Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers.

Daniel Buck
==========================================================

After I posted that letter, THDF poster Ann Collier found "buscadero" in Carl Meyer's NACH DEM SACRAMENTO (1855), an account of his travels in Mexico and California. Meyer described a caravan of Mexicans and Chileans bound from Mexico to the California gold fields as "gambucinos or buscaderos to seek gold." A "gambucino" is a low-level prospector, akin to a scavenger or itinerant prospector.

More recently -- that is today -- I found that Cunningham used the word even before TRIGGERNOMETRY, in the short story "Empty Sixes," published in a West Virginia newspaper in 1932. A character describes Sam Bass as "a tinhorn pennie ante buscadero." Take that Sam.

Did Cunningham somehow scavenge buscadero from 19th century California mining slang? Or did he confuse "buscar," to search, with "emboscar," to ambush? Who knows.

What if Cunningham had lit on "gambucino" rather that "buscadero"? Would the two-gun rigs today be known as "gambucinos"?

Dan

[Buck Grizzly]

Thanks Marshal for the info.

Buck

[Buck Grizzly]

That definition got me too thinking about my original post and there it is;



the buscadero rig was comprised of a cartridge belt with a slit either cut in it or a slotted hole as on the drop loop that allowed a Mexican loop holster to be draped through it. This innovation was designed supposedly by Texas Rangers and to keep the holster in place so it wouldn't slide around to their back when riding hard.


So the part of the definition; "From the Spanish buscar, meaning to search for, to seek...." Could refer to that idea which kept it in place so you would have to seek or look for the gun if it were to slip on the gunbelt.

Some believe that the Texas Ranger who originally came up with the design did so in the 1890's, a it was an early model for the hollywood version, but nothing has proven this to be the case. Oh well it is interesting anyway you look at it.

[douglas grant]

I make holsters occasionally......and whilst making them some things become obvious ( at least to me!! ) A conclusion I came to is that the loop holster came from the flap holster. If you take a piece of cut leather for a flap holster it doesnt take a major stretch of the imagination to fold the flap over to the back and form a loop. A lot of period photos show flap holsters folded away into the belt.......just an idea??!!

[Buck Grizzly]

Doug there is no doubt in my mind that the loop was first designed this way. We know that the flaps were first and the slim Jim evolved from there, by cutting the flap from the holster. Then the Mexican loop came on the scene. But the specific designs are fabricated differently for look but each has the same objective in mind IMO by the 1880's. Holding the weapon in place & secure and covering it sufficiently to keep it clean & protected from dust and debris.

First thing that is noticeable on the California Slim Jim is the holster when laid out flat looks like a buffalo head. Whether this was on purpose or coincidence I really couldn't say, but these are the best looking better shaped when complete. The contoured cut also hold the gun better than the straight cuts that were prevalent 20 years early.

The Mexican loops in the 1880's have two purposes. The loop of course forms a cartridge belt loop, but if the apron is cut right it also holds the belt and doesn't slide as much as a thinner, less decorative loop. If the apron is cut right it not only holds to the belt but it clinches the gun to help keep it in place when worn snug around the hip. A lower slung belt and holster doesn't.

Then the buscadero came along, and fast draw was born in the early 1900, which led to the Hollywood craze of the 20's-70’s and holster covered less and less of the gun, and the need for speed was the dominating factor in a good holster.

I’ve made literally hundreds of holsters over the years (1st one in 1975), buskadero, custom, and many designs of the period correct styles, and as you make them you notice a lot more about the holsters than looking at them in pictures.