I'm almost embarrassed to admit I made this. Not because it doesn't work, but because it's not conventional at all.
I dress for work every day in suits or at least khakis, and on the suit days I always take the jacket off as it's too hot otherwise. None of my carry options worked well enough for me to be comfortable with as concealment was of the utmost importance. So about a year ago I bought my LCP intending to pocket carry...let's just say that Mrs. 380ACP wasn't happy with that and I was pretty much barred from buying anything for it, including a nice pocket holster. Given the choice between sleeping on the couch for a month or not having a pocket holster, I chose the latter and got creative with stuff around the house. Recently, I bought a Taurus TCP (thankfully didn't get the same reaction, I think she wants the LCP) to replace the LCP, and found my homemade holster fit it, too. And seeing how it's held up for a year, I thought why not share it with you guys?
Here it is, with the Taurus TCP on the outward facing side:
If you think you're reading Texas Instruments...you're right. It's a financial calculator pouch that I haven't used since I graduated college. I found the LCP (and now, TCP) fit in it well and got to work.
All I did was make a few cuts to the vinyl material (strong vinyl too), slip in three thin but stiff pieces of solid cardboard cut to fit the pouch, and got to stitching. I stitched the outline of the gun (double and sometimes triple or quadruple stitched in high-stress areas) as well as around the outer edges of the cardboard, and pouch as a whole to make sure it held together for a couple of months until I could get away with buying a real pocket holster. Mrs. 380ACP rolled her eyes when she saw it but as I didn't spend any money or destroy anything of hers, she had no complaints.
Well, a couple of months went by, and I started trying real pocket holsters. The problem is, none of them had the level of concealment that this little franken-holster did. They didn't necessarily look like a gun...but in the thin and stretched fabric of suit and khaki pants they looked decidedly odd in the pocket...either a strange shape or it looked like I was carrying a book in my pocket. To the point where a co-worker asked "what you got there?". That got my attention in a hurry and I went back to my little oddball, without a single further question. This is what it looks like in my pocket:
And it doesn't even really print that much...as you can see in the picture I'm purposefully stretching the fabric to make it show a strong outline. It just looks like a calculator or a large PDA. Never got questioned about it.
Standing normally...
Fabric stretched tightly in cargo shorts.
I felt sure it wouldn't last this long, which is why I went searching for other options, but somehow it did anyway.
I guess as the saying goes, if it's stupid and it works, then it's not stupid. The trigger is guarded as is the firearm itself, and it maintains an upright position and doesn't slide around in the holster. Getting it to come out with the holster still in the pocket was tricky at first (big advantage of a real pocket holster) but with practice I've found a method to keep the holster in the pocket when drawn.
Thoughts, comments, criticism? Anyone else got a weird self-made holster they're almost too embarrassed to share?
.
.
.
I dress for work every day in suits or at least khakis, and on the suit days I always take the jacket off as it's too hot otherwise. None of my carry options worked well enough for me to be comfortable with as concealment was of the utmost importance. So about a year ago I bought my LCP intending to pocket carry...let's just say that Mrs. 380ACP wasn't happy with that and I was pretty much barred from buying anything for it, including a nice pocket holster. Given the choice between sleeping on the couch for a month or not having a pocket holster, I chose the latter and got creative with stuff around the house. Recently, I bought a Taurus TCP (thankfully didn't get the same reaction, I think she wants the LCP) to replace the LCP, and found my homemade holster fit it, too. And seeing how it's held up for a year, I thought why not share it with you guys?
Here it is, with the Taurus TCP on the outward facing side:
If you think you're reading Texas Instruments...you're right. It's a financial calculator pouch that I haven't used since I graduated college. I found the LCP (and now, TCP) fit in it well and got to work.
All I did was make a few cuts to the vinyl material (strong vinyl too), slip in three thin but stiff pieces of solid cardboard cut to fit the pouch, and got to stitching. I stitched the outline of the gun (double and sometimes triple or quadruple stitched in high-stress areas) as well as around the outer edges of the cardboard, and pouch as a whole to make sure it held together for a couple of months until I could get away with buying a real pocket holster. Mrs. 380ACP rolled her eyes when she saw it but as I didn't spend any money or destroy anything of hers, she had no complaints.
Well, a couple of months went by, and I started trying real pocket holsters. The problem is, none of them had the level of concealment that this little franken-holster did. They didn't necessarily look like a gun...but in the thin and stretched fabric of suit and khaki pants they looked decidedly odd in the pocket...either a strange shape or it looked like I was carrying a book in my pocket. To the point where a co-worker asked "what you got there?". That got my attention in a hurry and I went back to my little oddball, without a single further question. This is what it looks like in my pocket:
And it doesn't even really print that much...as you can see in the picture I'm purposefully stretching the fabric to make it show a strong outline. It just looks like a calculator or a large PDA. Never got questioned about it.
Standing normally...
Fabric stretched tightly in cargo shorts.
I felt sure it wouldn't last this long, which is why I went searching for other options, but somehow it did anyway.
I guess as the saying goes, if it's stupid and it works, then it's not stupid. The trigger is guarded as is the firearm itself, and it maintains an upright position and doesn't slide around in the holster. Getting it to come out with the holster still in the pocket was tricky at first (big advantage of a real pocket holster) but with practice I've found a method to keep the holster in the pocket when drawn.
Thoughts, comments, criticism? Anyone else got a weird self-made holster they're almost too embarrassed to share?
.
.
.