Deutsche Reichsbank Holster Rig

[SARGE]

Gents,

I picked up a Deutsche Reichsbank cross-draw holster rig over the weekend complete with the holster, spare magazine pouch, and waistbelt.  The holster itself is the "Akah" & "DRGM" marked brown leather holster shown in the wartime Reichsbank manual. This proprietary holster rig was designed by Akah (Albrecht Kind) to be worn under a plain clothing suit by bank tellers and security personnel.  

This rather complicated Akah brown leather holster could be worn as a shoulder holster or a waist belt holster depending upon how it was configured.  It has several brass fittings that will act to lock the Walther PP or PPK pistol into the holster with two metal plates that engage the trigger guard.  It also has a browned metal re-enforced slot at the top (along with two small round holes) that can accommodate a shoulder strap when worn as a shoulder holster on the left side of the body.  There is a removable leather tab at the bottom that can button onto the suspender buttons on the trousers.  And, there is a heavily re-enforced belt slot on the back of the holster that allows it to be worn on the left side of the body on a waist belt.  This is all shown in the "Waffenvorschrift, Teil 1, der Deutschen Reichsbank" on pages 15-17.  

The rig also consists of a brown leather spare magazine pouch with a plain front and a belt loop on the back.  The belt loop has the same kind of button hole seen on the leather tab of the holster but has no markings.  This magazine pouch was worn on the right side of the waist belt.

The original waist belt is also present and consists of a narrow brown leather belt with a browned steel roller buckle with a single tongue.  The unmarked belt has a sewn in loop near the buckle and many adjustment holes.  The Waffenvorschrift shows the holster was always worn on the left side as a shoulder holster or a cross-draw waist belt holster, which makes sense from a training standpoint.  The belt loops on the holster are canted so the butt of the pistol is thrust forward for wear on the left side.  

 

 

[Gwar]

Nice rig !

[RRA227]

Never seen that before.  Rich A. in Pa.

[SARGE]

Thank you gents.  This rig was made for use with the proprietary PP and PPK pistols made expressly for the Reichsbank by Walther. These pistols have distinctly painted sights and special serial numbering including vertical s/n marking on the right side of the slide near the grasping grooves.  Of course the Reichsbank was not a standard German bank but was more similar to the US Federal Reserve holding national gold stocks, etc.  

Frankly, the shoulder holster rigs show up from time to time but this is the first example of the cross-draw waist belt rig configuration I have seen as well.  There was a more standard style of flap holster that was worn by guards in uniform but no examples of those have ever surfaced that I am aware of.  According to the manual there was also a flat leather holster for the pistol that could be slipped into the pants pocket but again no one has seen one of those since 1945.  Quite a scarce rig all in all.

 

 

[Brian Keith]

Interesting thread, Thanks for posting it.

BKW