Leather Gun Belts

Leather is by far the most common and most traditional material used for gun belts. The leather used in gun belts is generally one of two types:

Cowhide
Horsehide

Cowhide Leather - Cowhide leather is the most commonly used leather material for gun belts. The majority of gun belt manufacturers on the market today produce gun belts out of cowhide leather. From a leather working perspective, cowhide leather is an excellent material to use. I say that because cowhide is generally readily available. Like any resource, it can run low from time to time, which drives the overall price of bulk leather up. For example, when the "Mad Cow" disease struck Britain some years ago, it impacted the short-term availability of cowhide. As a result, for a short time, the hide prices for cowhide nearly doubled over typical prices. In addition to being readily available, cowhide is fairly easy to work with, and not overly expensive (compared to some other materials).

Horsehide Leather - Horsehide is a very different leather compared to cowhide. Horsehide is significantly more dense than cowhide, and also more difficult to work with from a craftsmanship perspective. The denser nature of horsehide makes it more difficult to mold compared to cowhide. That same dense nature also makes horsehide more difficult to dye compared to cowhide. With horsehide, the dye may have trouble fully penetrating the leather so the hide may come out unevenly dyed. Because of the dye issue, horsehide belts are typically dyed in either black, a dark brown, or left in the natural tan color of the hide. It's uncommon to see horsehide belts in many other color variations. From a price perspective, horsehide is more expensive than cowhide leather. In terms of supply, horsehide is about as readily available as cowhide. Due to the differences described above, in today's market, there are only a few manufacturers who produce leather gun belts from horsehide leather.

Here are some example of leather gun belts:

FANNY PACK GUN HOLSTER,CONCEAL CARRY FOR WALLET & GUN