Originally Posted by janeite

What you need for something like holsters or any other leather thicker than garment weight is a compound machine. It is basically a triple feed machine (feed dog, presser foot, and needle feed). Some vintage machines to consider are the Singer 111 or 211. There are others, but these seem pretty common. They fit within my budget too, so are my main focus. But if your budget is larger, there are so many other machines to look at!

A good resource is the leatherworker forum. They have a section specifically for discussion of leather sewing machines.