Is this m7 ww2 holster genuine?

[jwitten]

Hey everyone, new member here. I’m 36, and live in central Kentucky. I started collecting ww2 weapons about a year ago, when covid started. I now have 5 garands, 4 carbines, a 1903 mark I, and a Remington Rand 1911. Hoping to pick up a few more carbines but the prices are getting insane! Anyways, I just bought this m7 holster for my 1911.. does it look genuine? Thanks!

[jwitten]

Here are the guns. From top to bottom: 1903 Springfield, 1941, 42, 43, 44, and 45 garands. All cmp rifles. 43, 44, and 45 have original barrels. Carbines are Quality hardware, inland, national postal meter, and Winchester. No import marks. 1911 and postal meter are also cmp guns. 
 

[EmperorWangDong]

Pretty good little collection to amass in one year! Thanks for sharing with us.

[kwill]

Yes, the M7 holster looks legit.  

[M1Garandy]

Figured/flamed Birch Garand stocks with matching figured/flamed handguards? You must be living right......

 

I agree that your holster looks legit. 

[jwitten]

38 minutes ago, M1Garandy said:

Figured/flamed Birch Garand stocks with matching figured/flamed handguards? You must be living right......

 

I agree that your holster looks legit. 

The 1942 has all birch. Came with a 44 barrel. The 43 I believe has a light colored walnut handguard, and original 43 barrel. 

 

[silverplate]

Very nice collection. Now you need an M1A1 carbine.

[kwill]

Good job correctly identifying the pistol as a R-R, even though it has an Ithaca slide.

[jwitten]

12 minutes ago, kwill said:

Good job correctly identifying the pistol as a R-R, even though it has an Ithaca slide.

It’s only because cmp labeled it as such, lol. I’m still a novice with those things. Would you look for a Remington slide to correct it, or leave it as last used by the military?

[kwill]

I would leave it as is.  They are only original once and a CMP pistol has its own appeal.

[jwitten]

Received it today. Bottom snap is broken, but other than that it seems to be great condition 

[M1Garandy]

Broken snaps are super common on these. Verdigris builds up underneath and that kills that snap. I have an M7 I unstitched, replaced the snap and have not restiched yet. Right next to the M1916 I have disassembled because all the stitching was rotten and needs to be restitched as well. Some year I'll get to it. 

[gap]

Legit. Nice one. 

[thorin6]

Just saw this, if the OP will PM me, I have replacement bottom snaps for these holsters.

[Ronald]

Which portion is broken, the male or female? If the portion (one on holster) is broken then he will have to remove and restitch holster to install it. If it is the female portion (one on the small strap) , then an easy fix. He may be better off to just leave them alone as it does not look bad now.

[thorin6]

Usually what happens is the part of the snap that holds the male end on the holster bends, allowing the male end to pull loose.  Sometimes you can reattach the male end, but it's very fragile.  Replacing the male end by putting in a new post and using a snap tool to reattach the male end is easy, and craft stores sell leather stitching tools that, with some waxed white cotton thread, can replicate the old snap.  I've done this a couple of times, as well as repaired knife keeper snaps.  After stitching you can age the thread with some Picard's Antique Leather dressing (that's why you want to use waxed cotton thread).

[jwitten]

The part that broke is the metal cup on the strap. If you look closely, it is actually still ‘clipped’ into the holster in the pictures... so the metal parts (both male and female) are still together, it’s just come off the leather strap. I tried jb welding the broken metal cup back to the metal part it disconnected from. No jb weld on the leather, so no harm. It holds it well enough I can snap the leather strip to the holster, but if I try to pull the leather strip off it breaks again. My solution is to gently pry the snaps apart with a knife if I want to unsnap it. Would replacing the cup part hurt the value at all? It would make the snap more functional, but would not look as original. 

[jwitten]

Here is a cropped shot of the cupped female part still attached to the male part. I’ll try to get a picture of my repair when I get home 

[Ronald]

What does the cap portion look like, front and back? If it still has enough of the post left, then all you need is the correct size female portion. That would be the less invasive fix.

[jwitten]

Here is what the broken part looks like with my “repair”. I set the broken female cupped part onto where it broke off from, and I used a toothpick to carefully put some jb weld into the cup, to hold the pieces together. Basically the cupped part got too thin and broke in two. I can easily pop or scrape the jb weld off the clip, so if it’s possible to just put a new cupped female part on the strap that would be awesome.

[Ronald]

Fortunately that would be the easy fix. You don't have to remove the stitching. The green verdigris will eat through the brass and that  is the end result. Since you still have a good top snap, you could take a pair of small needle nose pliers and uncurl the little knurled ring and the fit another portion of the female snap and peen it over until  you get a nice curl to hold it.

Another way it to get a very thin piece of metal and cut it exactly the same diameter and  of course make the hole smaller and use it as a shim to put the post through then peen it. That way you would still retain the original snaps. Sounds more difficult than it really is though. Either way, good luck with the project. Ron

[jsalberry92]

Holster is legit. Nice color, not oil soaked.

[Bodes]

On 7/4/2021 at 5:52 PM, thorin6 said:

Usually what happens is the part of the snap that holds the male end on the holster bends, allowing the male end to pull loose.  Sometimes you can reattach the male end, but it's very fragile.  Replacing the male end by putting in a new post and using a snap tool to reattach the male end is easy, and craft stores sell leather stitching tools that, with some waxed white cotton thread, can replicate the old snap.  I've done this a couple of times, as well as repaired knife keeper snaps.  After stitching you can age the thread with some Picard's Antique Leather dressing (that's why you want to use waxed cotton thread).

I've got one that is as you described, the male portion has come apart....I was wondering if it could be reattached w/o unstitching the holster?....Bodes

[Steve B.]

You can buy the correct snap setting tool at sewing goods stores, some hardware stores, some outdoors stores, and almost any leatherworking supply store.  They are not overly expensive, and often come with an assortment of snaps.  The hard part is finding a black oxidized brass snap if you want to replace it.

[thorin6]

8 hours ago, Bodes said:

I've got one that is as you described, the male portion has come apart....I was wondering if it could be reattached w/o unstitching the holster?....Bodes

It really depends upon how damaged the post is that holds the male end on the holster.  I have reset the male end in the post and used the tool (as described by Steve B.) to spread out the post, but often it is somewhat fragile.  If you have to replace the post, you'll need to cut thread and re-stitch.