Anybody making concealed carry purses here?

[dirkba]

CaptQuirk,

I have tried my hand at a concealed carry "pouch" which came out quite different than I intended - rather has a diary look!

My 2c would be to use veg tan leather without liner and perhaps take a "moonbag" approach with a concealed back piece for easy access

 

[CaptQuirk]

@dirkba- I'm not sure what you mean by "moon bag". Could you clarify that?

[dirkba]

Searching the net I came across a "fanny pack" - seems to be the same thing!

[CaptQuirk]

Ok, I know what a fanny pack is. Funny how much geography can change what things are. You call it a "moon bag",  we call it a "fanny pack"... and apparently, in England "fanny" means something completely different

[TinkerTailor]

So being in Canada, handguns basically do not exist and only those who grow up on farms are exposed to firearms at all as kids, unless you have a hunter in the family, then its for a couple months a year during the season and only rifles and shotguns. The better half has never even come close to touching a gun. The idea of her having a heater in her purse is terrifying.......

To her as well as me.

Edited November 7, 2016 by TinkerTailor

[CaptQuirk]

In a way, I kinda envy your way of life. But, the sad reality is, gun control is only affecting the average law abiding citizens. The less abiding type have no problems getting weapons. Home invasions by addicts and other freaks, muggings, murders, rapes... it just isn't a safe world. There were 2 cops shot last night, only an hour away from here, by a nut in body armor. And back home in Florida, you also had to worry about the L.E.O.s shooting you, kicking in your door and shooting home owners, when they "made a mistake". I may not prefer to carry in the city, but I am always armed and alert. The latter is more important.

[dirkba]

Same here on both issues - fanny here has the same connection as in England! 

As for gun control....I use BOTH hands!!

[CaptQuirk]

@dirkba- I just gotta ask... what kind of stuff do you hunt down there?

[NVLeatherWorx]

That is Classified.  I see gun control as another method of keeping the law abiding citizen under wraps but as a retired special missions operator and a VERY experienced person in the field of firearms my philosophy on gun control is as simple as ensuring that you hit your target with the first round and never giving your opponent the opportunity to try and repay you for the "gift" that you just gave him.  I have yet to receive any returns.

Now, to the topic at hand.  There was a time when the concealed fanny pack was very popular and the shoulder holster was right there with it but those slowly disappeared and you found everyone was using an SOB holster (which also lost its popularity and declined in use).  Now days you find just about every thing that you can dream of to carry a weapon but I like that, it keeps the bad guy guessing on who is and who isn't armed.  Here in Nevada we do the open carry thing which I just love to take advantage of as I have no problem letting everyone who may be thinking about doing something stupid that it might not be what you want to do right now because I will have you thinking differently if you follow up on your idiotic thoughts.  If you are dead set on making her a purse, and that is what she wants, then you would probably be better off going with an easy access pocket that is available from the exterior of the main bag (very much what I described to you earlier).  If you do it with veg-tan then I would go no less than 6 to 7 oz. in weight for the front and back and you could go as low as a 5 to 6 oz. for the gusset.  If you use the veg-tan then you don't need worry about the bag stiffener as the leather itself is more than sturdy enough to hold up to the weight of the weapon, unless she is going to carry an air-cooled mini gun of course, then I would recommend a new truck with a mount in the bed making it easier to handle and employ.  I would not recommend that you line it either unless you have to make some interior pockets on the outer walls of the purse (lining makes it easier to create the pockets and liner assembly as one piece before you attach it to the main panel).  The look of welts (yes, that would be piping) is neat but if you use veg-tan it really isn't necessary as you will sort of end up with a welt look anyway.  I will check my image database to see if I can find a good picture of what I am talking about and will send it off to you.  The difficulty with welts when using the thicker veg-tan is that you have to stitch the gusset with the bag turned inside out, once you have it all stitched up you have to turn it back to the right side out and that is very difficult and you won't get the corners or rounds back to the shape that they should be; doesn't create a problem when you are using the fashion leathers though but then you have to use stiffeners and other stuff that you wouldn't normally use.  To answer your question about the bag stiffener, it is basically nothing more than a thick cardboard which is probably about 1mm thick (sorry for the metric term but it is closer to that than anything else).  Hope this helps with your questions.

[CaptQuirk]

Thanks again Nv, you are doing a bang up job answering my questions, and the advice sprinkled with amusing anecdotes is great!