Fanny Pack Holster - Proof of Concept - Part 2

I started the holster frame back in November 2021. I finished the bullet stop in January 2022. It took a while to accumulate all of the necessary materials and a sewing machine. Then I started to design the outer fanny pack. And then I did a LOT or procrastinating!!! The designing and building of the internal frame was the easy part. Coming up with a design and a process to sew everything in the correct order was a bear. The designed evolved while I was sewing it.

My Mom could have sewn this up in 15 minutes and it would have been stitch perfect. I'm good at repairing sewing machines. I'm not so great at using them. Mom taught me how to hem my pant legs and do some basic repairs, and that's about it.

I picked up a sewing machine at a local thrift store. It wasn't working correctly and I discovered that one nylon gear had jumped a tooth so the timing was incorrect. This is a VERY light duty machine not rated to sew multiple layers of heavy nylon Cordura fabric. The nylon gear jumped twice more while sewing.




The flap is a fake distraction. It is temporarily held in place with double sticky foam. The holster opens at the sides.


This side goes against your body.


Bottom View. The frame would rotate inside the fanny pack so I screwed the bottom in place using stainless steel screws. The plastic strip also secures the side flap pull straps.


This shows the straps that you pull to open the side flaps. The flaps seem to hold in place well, but I might try to add small magnets to the flaps to improve the security. I don't want to use velcro because it is noisy.


Left: Pistol side. Middle: Side with flap closed. Right: Magazine and bullet stop side.
I still need to paint the aluminum frame black so that it won't show at the sides.

The pack is made from 500D Cordura with a water resistant urethane coating.

The binding tape is a nylon herringbone weave.

The thread is bonded nylon.

The side flaps are made with 0.060" thick ABS plastic sheet that is glued to the Cordura fabric.

I haven't decided how I will waterproof the stitching yet. After I'm finished this should be a relatively rain resistant holster.

I eventually plan to make a new version using thinner 0.060" thick aluminum for the inner chassis to reduce the weight. I also plan to add an alarm to the fake flap so that if someone tries to open it an alarm sounds.

I wore the fanny pack and rode 18 miles round trip and hung around a bonfire last night. There were no problems and the fanny pack was comfortable to wear while riding my bicycle. The fanny pack does not interfere with anything inside my rear pockets. I can also carry an additional magazine in my left rear pocket, giving me a total of 57 rounds on my person.

Maybe I sound paranoid, but during the GF Riots in 2020, I was inside a building 560 feet away from another building that was burned down that night. So the possibility of dealing with an angry rioting mob is VERY real for me.

The belt is NOT rigid. But it doesn't need to be. With this holster design you do not pull the pistol out. Instead, you reach in and wrap your fingers around the grip. The web between your thumb and forefinger rests against the outer edge of the holster frame and you just squeeze and the pistol pops out into your hand. I have the retention set fairly high, so the chance of the gun falling out is next to zero.

It is the same on the magazine side. You do not directly pull the magazines out. Instead you grasp the magazine with your thumb and forefinger, while your other fingers brace against the frame and you extract the magazine.

It only takes slightly longer to draw from the rear than from the waist at the side.

The fanny pack matches the black Cordura that the four panniers on my bicycle are made from. While I am riding, I seriously doubt that many people will be expecting me to be carrying a pistol inside my fanny pack. I think that the fanny pack looks sufficiently bicycle geeky.

The big question is what will people think while I'm wearing it when I am NOT on my bicycle. If they are thinking old guy wearing a dorky looking fanny pack, then mission accomplished. I'll have to see if I get any reactions while I'm shopping.

Nobody seemed to blink an eye while I pocket carried, and the grip of the pistol was printing badly. I don't know how many people are oblivious or how many people just don't care.

In Minnesota, 1 out of 12.9 people have a handgun carry permit. In Minneapolis it's closer to 1 out of 20, and in the 3rd tier suburbs it's closer to 1 out of 8 people that have a handgun carry permit.


This is the light duty sewing machine that I used.

Fanny Pack Holster - Proof of Concept - Part 1
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/fanny-pack-holster-proof-of-concept.897607/

Bullet Stop for Holster
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/bullet-stop-for-holster.900007/

I've done about 4 bike rides with the fanny pack and I have also gone into stores wearing the fanny pack. It doesn't seem to be drawing any attention.

I did have the side flaps come undone a few times. The Cordura cover is only fastened at the bottom to the holster frame. The frame can slide back and forth inside the Cordura cover at the top and this is enough to push the side flaps open. I will be adding magnets to the side flaps to keep them closed. I may also need to screw the top of the Cordura cover to the holster frame. The fake flap will cover any screws on top so they won't be seen.

So far this fanny pack holster has been working well for longer bike rides. The one drawback of this design is difficultly drawing with my left hand if I ever need to.

I eventually plan to buy a P365XL. For that I'll need to build a holster frame about 1/4" wider than what I have now.

I used some double sticky tape to temporarily hold magnets in place on the flaps and frame. I was shopping in two stores and on and off my bike at least dozen times during my bike ride tonight and the side flaps held in place.

The magnets that I used are kind of bulky, so the flaps are not sitting closed as far inward as I'd like. I'll be ordering some 1 mm thin neodymium magnets and those should work well.

So far nobody has made any comments whatsoever about the fanny pack, not even my cycling friends. It appears to be sufficiently mundane looking that nobody is paying any attention.

I cut slots into the edges of the frame and glued in 1/8" cube neodymium magnets.



I glued on 3/8" x 3/8" x 1/16" neodymium magnets onto the side flaps so they could cling to the magnets in the frame.



For the fake flap I glued on 3"8" diameter 1/32" thick neodymium magnets. The Cordura fabric is made of nylon so I used "JB Weld Plastic Bonder" to glue the magnets in place.



The magnets seem to be holding everything closed while I am riding or out and about shopping, etc. The magnets are not strong enough to impede the opening of the side flaps to access my P365X or the magazines on the other side.

I haven't noticed a second glance from any cop or security guard. Everyone in my apartment building knows me as that bicycle guy and makes comments if I am NOT pushing my bicycle out the door. But NOBODY has commented on my fanny pack. Nobody seems to be paying any attention.

I have to consider this experiment a success. I can draw almost as fast as I could from a belt holster. It does not cause any problems while riding a bicycle long distance. With the 2 spare 14 rd magazines, and one round in the chamber, that is 43 rounds. Add one more 14 rd magazine in my rear pocket and that is 57 rounds capacity while I ride my bicycle.

chapo said:

....Like other poster said, in the future if you could build one in leather may be more durable?

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There is no question that leather would be much nicer. But that would make it look more valuable, and consequently make it look like I might actually be carrying money or other valuables. The last thing that I want is to make my fanny pack the target of a thief. I want the fanny pack to blend in rather than stand out. Trying to impress anyone with a leather fanny pack is very low on my list of priorities.

This is just a working prototype. I will eventually make an improved version that is a bit lighter. For that version I intend to also leave enough room inside for a battery and an alarm connected to a switch on the fake flap, so that if anyone tries to open the flap a very loud alarm goes off, in which case I quickly rotate counter clockwise and draw my gun and arrest the thief for attempting to steal a firearm, which is a felony in Minnesota. Minnesota is a "right to arrest" state for serious crimes.

Also, to counter any silly duty to retreat standard, if I'm ever in a self defense situation, I will yell at the assailant that they are under arrest! You can't be expected to retreat while you are arresting someone. When a prosecutor tries to claim that the duty to retreat must be applied, I counter with the rule of lenity, which is that when two laws contradict each other, the laws must be viewed in the most favorable light to the defendant.

Charlie Martinez said:

...I think leather would also attract a lot more attention.

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That is my big concern.

Blue Jays said:

Perhaps affix a patch from Sony, a medical devices company, or even a My Little Pony one from a grandkid? One could have a carabiner of keys or pair of (ancient) headphones permanently attached as more distraction.

Click to expand...

I've been wrestling with the idea of adding some type of label to aid in the deception, or not adding anything at all to be less conspicuous.

The fanny pack IS just about the size of early portable cassette players. But I don't know if most young'ins even know what a cassette tape is.

I just had another bicyclist comment that my shirt matched my bicycle. But not a word about my fanny pack.

I've seen a number of fanny packs with Velcro on the outside so that you can slap on your favorite patch.

I'm thinking about Sponge Bob Square Pants.

The clerk at a liquor store asked me what I carried. He said that he also conceal carried. I thought that he had noticed my fanny pack holster. Nope. He noticed the top 1/8" of my carry permit sicking out the the pocket in my wallet when I pulled out some cash to pay for my beer. At this point I've become quite comfortable carrying with this fanny pack and an additional magazine holster in my rear pocket.

I added an extra spring to the trigger guard retention system in the holster. Many people would complain that it is too difficult to draw, but I don't have any problems and it would be difficult to a child to draw my pistol from it's holster.