Jerry,
as usual, you are absolutely right. I haven't seen many of these straps with the metal plate on them, so I have to shoot from the hip a little in responding. But it sounds like the rivets go through the metal plate as well as the leather. By going through the leather, a weak point or two, in the strap is created. Removing the metal may only weaken the leather more.
I would guess too that there is a 'depending on' situation here too. Norm may take this rig out in the field hunting. Those holes could then enlargen and the whole strap could break. I do not have a concealed weapons permit so I have to carry my pistols outside in full view, even while hunting with a valid license. So I know that the straps could very well be exposed to a lot of wear from both brush and weather while hunting.
I used to carry a shooter Luger with me while hunting too, until it backfired on me once. Once is once too many times. While coming in from hunting, I spotted a dangerous tree stump at the side of the trail that I felt was threatening my life and well being. So I emptied my Luger into it. I saved humanity as well as my butt.
While patting myself on my shoulder, I happened to look a little to the right. LO and behold, there was that big ol' white flag that is the characteristic response of a white tail deer high tailing it out of there. Now I wonder if I should carry a pistol while deer hunting so that I can put down a badly wounded deer without ruining some good meat or not to carry it and avoid missing a good shot at a deer in the first place. Another one of those 'it depends upon' thingys that complicates life if so many ways.
Norm, Jerry is not wrong and neither am I. Jerry is an well known and respected expert in what he does and knows. He is also a perfectionist and collector of very nice Lugers and accessories . I too am a collector and I hope that the majority of my Lugers are up to Jerrys standards. I would love to show Jerry some of my articles. I was hoping to do it when Ed Tinker and Jerry lived in the same state, but Ed moved.
Anyway, to make a short story long, while I have a nice collection, I also have some Lugers that are not of collectible standards that I use for other purposes. In reading your post, I assumed that your Luger and its accessories were something between garbage and highly collectible, expensive stuff. Not at either extreme. I geared my post to my interpretation to what your particular post of your item suggested. You got some valuable information here on both sides from some very good people.
Finally, I was surprised that someone didn't chime in on the preservatives that you applied to your leather. You might not be a hard core collector yet. But you may very well become one. Someday, you just might have something that is highly collectible and you should know what you should and shouldn't do. Keep reading this forum especially on the application of preservatives on leather. Take what Jerry says as gospel. He's that good.
Norm
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