As you may know, Erik Little of Rafter-L Combat Leather has revived the Bruce Nelson Combat Leather line, using the original patterns of the late Mr. Nelson.

Bruce Nelson is, among other qualities and achievements, the father of the famed “Summer Special” IWB holster design, and it’s this revived holster that I recently purchased via Jason Burton’s Heirloom Precision (one of the few outlets for BNCL goods - the other two being Milt Sparks Holsters and Wilson Combat). Being a longtime fan of the Milt Sparks Summer Special 2, I was curious about the original holster - and it has not disappointed.

I thought I’d share a few pics of the new holster. The revived BNCL line has been written-up nicely in the Jan-Feb 2020 issue of “Combat Handguns” on shelves now, and you can read much more about the history and the current plans for BNCL at:

http://brucenelson.com/

That indeed looks like a high quality and aesthetically pleasing rig! Nice photographs.

Thank you!

I'm not a fan of that style of holster, but the work looks pretty damned good.

A big fan of the Sparks SS II here, do you think the single loop is as good as the dual loop as on the SS II? Seems to me the dual loop offers several advantages, namely security and stability over the single loop. But it sure is a nice piece of leather you got there. Yes sir, it sure is.

Love it. Thank you for sharing. I wish it was made for my glock 43.

quote:

Originally posted by druryj:
A big fan of the Sparks SS II here, do you think the single loop is as good as the dual loop as on the SS II? Seems to me the dual loop offers several advantages, namely security and stability over the single loop. But it sure is a nice piece of leather you got there. Yes sir, it sure is.

Those were exactly my concerns about the SS vs the SS2, as I’m also a long-time fan of the SS2.

No stability issues thus far at all - the holster just stays right in place even with the single loop. It rides a little higher than the SS2 does. The 2 conceals better for me under a T-shirt or golf / polo shirt, I believe due its lower ride.

quote:

Originally posted by BennerP220:
Love it. Thank you for sharing. I wish it was made for my glock 43.

Thank you. The Milt Sparks SS (vs the BNCL SS) may indeed be available for your G43.

I will check with them. I have an SSII but like the SS.

quote:

Originally posted by TheFrontRange:

quote:

Originally posted by BennerP220:
Love it. Thank you for sharing. I wish it was made for my glock 43.

Thank you. The Milt Sparks SS (vs the BNCL SS) may indeed be available for your G43.

The current manufacturer is www.combatgunleather.com
The Summer special has the 2 belt loops.
Price is $190
He’s NOT taking new orders

quote:

Originally posted by SIGfourme:
The current manufacturer is www.combatgunleather.com
The Summer special has the 2 belt loops.
Price is $190
He’s NOT taking new orders

Yep, that’s the website for Erik Little / Rafter-L holsters. While the Rafter-L Summer Special has two loops (as does the SS from Milt Sparks), the SS crafted by Erik Little under the revived Bruce Nelson Combat Leather line has one as shown.

My SS, purchased from Jason Burton’s Heirloom Precision, ran $225. From what I can tell, there’s not much (if any) advance notice of when one of the participating retailers will have stock on-hand. The BNCL line is something Erik Little is running alongside his Rafter-L business, from what I’ve read.

That looks like all business.

Super classy.

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
That looks like all business.

Super classy.

Thank you!

Somewhat refreshing and somewhat nostalgic in the age of kydex. True high quality leather is great stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Somewhat refreshing and somewhat nostalgic in the age of kydex. True high quality leather is great stuff.

I agree all-around!

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Somewhat refreshing and somewhat nostalgic in the age of kydex. True high quality leather is great stuff.

Agreed. However, we've gotta get the leatherworkers on board with light-compatible holsters. A number of folks (myself included) love high quality leather holsters, but also prefer to carry with a weaponlight. So I end up having to settle for carrying in kydex nearly all the time, due to the dearth of custom leather holster makers who offer holsters that accommodate lights. And all my nice custom leather holsters just sit around collecting dust.

Looks really good. If I was in the market for a 1911 holster this would be it.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:
Somewhat refreshing and somewhat nostalgic in the age of kydex. True high quality leather is great stuff.

Agreed. However, we've gotta get the leatherworkers on board with light-compatible holsters. A number of folks (myself included) love high quality leather holsters, but also prefer to carry with a weaponlight. So I end up having to settle for carrying in kydex nearly all the time, due to the dearth of custom leather holster makers who offer holsters that accommodate lights. And all my nice custom leather holsters just sit around collecting dust.

A good point - indeed, not many leather rigs in seeing are rail- / light-compatible.

quote:

Originally posted by njauto:
Looks really good. If I was in the market for a 1911 holster this would be it.

Thank you - it’s truly a winner for me. I recently grabbed a 40-ish-year-old original BNCL Summer Special, as well. If one was good, two must be better, right? :-)

quote:

Originally posted by druryj:
...do you think the single loop is as good as the dual loop as on the SS II? Seems to me the dual loop offers several advantages, namely security and stability over the single loop.

You have to remember that the original BN Summer Special was designed to be worn in the AIWB position