Double Mag Pouch Kicking My Tail.

[Dfarm]

I'm building a double magazine carrier for double stack magazines, and I can't figure out a way to have a flat back on it and keep the bottom corners around the magazines from puckering all funny.

How do you guys make this happen?

Thanks

[chiefjason]

Water, cursing, elbow grease, more water, more cursing, throwing a few things, clamps, mumbling, sweat, and glue. That's how my first one went.

I finally molded the front piece separately and used clamps to keep the leather down in the middle. Once I had it where I wanted it, I used scrap leather as pads and clamped it down on the sides and bottom and let it dry for a while. Mine was a double stack .45. Hateful thing.

[Dwight]

If you first make a wooden mold, . . . you can literally press out the fronts in 5/6 leather, . . . let them fully dry, . . . trim them so you have enough to sew them, . . . contact cement them to the back, . . . and VOILA, . . . you have it.

I did not "give up" on making a mold that does two of them out of one piece of leather, . . . but after enough of the failures, . . . I said to heck with it, . . . now I just make the singles, . . . and if anyone wants 2 or 3 or whatever, . . . I can just gang them up on the back piece, side by side.

Mine are done quick and dirty, . . . sew center seam, . . . bottom seam, . . . left & right edges, . . . soak, . . . hammer the wooden fake mags into the wet leather, . . . let dry, . . . remove the wooden fake mags, . . . stain and finish.

They are not as pretty as the molded ones, . . . but they work well, . . . and so far, only one customer had a problem, . . . we tried snapping the back on, . . . it kept catching on things and unsnapping, . . . not good.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited May 18, 2013 by Dwight

[camano ridge]

Here is one that I did. I used a real mag and a dummy mag placed them where I wanted them (space wise) and taped them down on a piece of particle board. Then I laid a oversized wet piece of leather over them. I used my Seal a meal vaccum machine. I slid the whole thing, taped down mags on particle board with oversized wet leather into the vacumm bag and vacumm sealed it. once the the machine was done with its work I used a pice of polished antler to detail mold the mags working the middle as deep and flat as I could then working around all the edges and bttom of the mags. I left the everything in the vaccumm sealed bag for about a half hour then cut open the bag removed the magazines and let dry completely. I had my back cut to size. When the front was dry I laid it onto the back positioned it where I wanted it glued it dow. When the glue was dry trimmed the excess laid out my stitch line and sewed. This is the end result and both the customer and I are hppy with it.

Edited May 18, 2013 by camano ridge

[Dfarm]

That is exactly the result I am looking for! The biggest issue I believe I'm fighting with is the thickness of the leather I'm building it out of (9-10oz). The guy I'm building it for asked for thick leather. He didn't specify flat backed, but the holster that I built to go with it is a flat backed pancake, so I figured the mag carrier should match. I'm thinking that I may get better results with a normal pancake style with both sides molded.

Thanks for the help! I'll play with what I have now some more to see if I can get the corners right before I throw it in the chew toy bin.

[Boriqua]

I used to do it old school case work when doing these. Wet the leather in and out and with the back end of my plastic bone creaser I would press the leather down over the mold all the way around and rub a crease where the wet piece meets the flat surface. It does take a fair amount of stretching and prodding.

I rub with the bone folder hard into the crease where the molded piece meets the flat surface. After I pulled stretched and boned until I am happy I then took carpet tacks and hammered them right into the creased seem/sew line. Let it dry. . After it was dry I pull the tacks, trimmed around it and then laid it up on another piece of flat leather and sew around the edges in the sew crease I made earlier.. Done. I have never had a pucker issue and I have used that system on some odd shaped stuff so long as it wasnt too tall.

Lately I have been taking kind of a short cut and people love em. Its a one piece pattern so you dont have to sew the strap and the entire back on. You only wet the bottom and front. Fold it over glue the edges sew and your done. The belt loop is riveted to the pattern. Leave the back piece wider and you can make gang it anyway you want. double would be easy.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Boriqua

[chiefjason]

This one is done out of 8-9 oz and it's just single stack 1911 mags. The front was hand boned and glued to the back after it dried. 9-10 is really getting too thick IMO. 8-9 is pushing it. But I've not gotten around to buying lighter leather so I deal with it. Can't find a pic of the double stack. I think it was on my old phone.