Packing Iron: Gun Leather of the Frontier West

Western gunleather is an icon of American frontier lore. Packing Iron celebrates the artistry and innovation of the craftsmen who designed the gun rigs of the old time cowboys, troopers, lawmen, and Hollywood heroes. This unique art form is fully described and richly illuatrated with more than 300 exciting color photographs and nearly 100 rare historic images. In the pages of Packing Iron you will discover gunleather produced by historic government arsenals, along with the famed frontier craftsmen like Collins, Meanea, Gallatin, and Heiser.

Richard C. Rattenbury's enthusiasm for western gunleather was sparked in 1989 while doing research for an exhibit at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, where he is Curator of History. A long-time student of firearms and western material culture, Rattenbury formerly held curatorial positions with the Winchester Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, and with the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas. Over the past 15 years he has authored three exhibition catalogs on firearms history and technology, as well as more than 30 articles and monographs for such publications as Man at Arms, American West, History News, Military Images and Persimmon Hill. Rattenbury resides with his wife, Suzette, in Edmond, Oklahoma.