Original Homemade Fiberglass CCW Pistol Holster

[Travis McGee]

I have a KelTec P-11 I use for CCW here in Florida, where it's hot most of the year. I like to CCW under loose "Hawaiian" type shirts. After I installed this ArmaLaser on my P-11, it wouldn't fit any of my other holsters anymore. So I used my knowledge of fiberglass construction to create this unique pistol holster.

You just slip it over your belt, the "hook" keeps it in place when drawing. It's smooth and hard "plastic" so your shirt tail slides right over it, never riding up. When sitting, the smooth plastic allows the holster to just slide down your leg, that is, it doesn't dig in and try to come off your belt.

The top of the pistol rides right at, not above, the belt line. This means that the gun never pokes or jabs you, even when sitting down or driving. I wear it cross draw / left side at between 9 and 11 Oclock. This means the car seat belt does not interfere with it. When driving, it hangs down by the car door. No jabbing, binding or poking.

The concealment principle behind the maroon Krylon spray paint job is that it doesn't say "PISTOL" like black would. The wide bottom of the hoslster, due to the installed laser, makes the bottom inch of the holster look like an accessory holder for a tech gadget. So even if your shirt lifts up (when reaching up a shelf in a store, say), it doesn't say "GUN" it says "geek gadget."

I never was comfortable with IWB, I like the "feel" of this much better. You can just forget it's there. It will only work with a fairly short pistol though. It's bottom is about an inch short of most of my shirt tails. Bigger pistols might show below the shirt.

If anybody is interested, I'll tell you how I made this holster. I've made heavy duty knife sheaths the same way.

 

[Floppy_D]

Clever!

 

[JohnnyOrygun]

Very Good,

Would have never thought to do something like that before.
Good job.

 

[MyTFAL]

I would be interested in the process.

 

[theotherwaldo]

Looks good. Probably won't print like a gun, either. I may try that.

 

[luckyrxc]

I love the smell of polyester resin in the morning. I'm in! Thanks for sharing your process.

 

[Travis McGee]

Okay, here's how you make them. You need some fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. The FG you can get in "tape" sizes, a small roll of 2" wide tape (cloth) costs a few bucks. I used WEST system epoxy, but you could use any two part epoxy or polyester resin. Just practice a little so you know your "pot life" that is, how long it takes the catalyzed resin to get hot and then hard and useless. If you use a slow curing resin and catalyst, the process will be more forgiving. A twenty minute pot life would be great.

The pistol itself is used as your male mold. Since epoxy won't stick to a regular plastic bag, I used them as my "mold release." Thin one gallon el-cheapo baggies are great, since they don't have any ziploc stuff on the opening end.

The trick is to not lock your pistol into the curing fiberglass! Buy a roll of quality 3M or equal electrical phasing tape. (Not cheap black .89 cent a roll stuff that leaves glue everywhere.) Put strips of the tape along the muzzle and slide. The idea is to have the "male mold" a few mills larger than the finished product, so you can draw easily.

The things that protrude from your pistol also need to be accounted for, or you will lock your pistol into the mold. A 3/16 inch drill bit taped behind the front sight provides a sight groove. Other drill bits or handy bits of junk must be taped behind the mag release, slide lock etc to form grooves in the finished product. The idea is to make the "male mold" a bit larger than the pistol using tape, and build grooves for the things that protrude. If you don't, you will lock your pistol into the fiberglass!

If you want a flat holster bottom (not pistol shaped) you will need to use a block of wood or plastic to fill the area between the slide and the trigger guard. Tape it in place. (This is where my ArmaLaser lives fulltime.)

Now put one baggie over the gun, sticking the barrel into a corner. Next, fill in the trigger guard with non-hardening putty. If you don't, fiberglass will flow into this cavity and lock your gun in the mold. Put another baggie over the gun now. Smooth them out, from the barrel up. Avoid big "glue traps" in folds of the plastic baggies that can make removal difficult.

Next, wrap a layer of fiberglass cloth tape around the bottom of the "pistol mold" and wet it out with catalyzed resin. Keep it tight and wipe/prod it with a 1" throwaway paint brush (cost a buck each) or popsickle sticks to get rid of bubbles, bumps etc. Depending on your skill and experience with fiberglass, you can wrap on the bottom cloth in the form of a "U" at the same time. If you're not sure, do a little bit of cloth at a time, and wait for it to harden.

Now, pull the gun out of the holster. This might be difficult at first! This is why you MUST make good grooves for your front sight, knobs etc. If you can't get the pistol out, you have messed up, and will need to carve the holster off with an exact knife and start over. Once the pistol is out, remove the baggies, drill bits, all tape etc. Now wrap it in just one baggie, it should slip in and out of the holster easily. BE CAREFUL not to let epoxy resin flow into the holster once you have removed the tape, putty and drill bit groove makers. You can still lock your pistol in the holster, so be careful! After each step, make sure you can put you pistol in and out. Any "tight spots" inside will have to be filed off with sandpaper wrapped around a chisel, or just cut off with a sharp chisel if the product is not 100% cured rock hard.

After you're satisfied with the holster up to the top, you will need to create a belt hanger. I took a leather belt and wrapped it in plastic from a baggie, then laid it on my work bench. (Use more plastic sheeting on the work bench of course. Don't glue things to your workbench, use plastic as your "release.")

Use a piece of fiberglass cloth tape going around the belt and under the holster, and wet it out with catalyzed resin. This will take 2 layers of cloth to make it stiff and strong. Do it in two different applications. Making the "hook" at the bottom of the belt holder will take a little work, but if you have gotten this far you'll figure it out. Add a little resin, and tiny strands of cloth, let it harden, trim and file and do it again until it's right.

When FG cloth is about 75% cured, (pretty hard but still pliable), you can easily cut it with a sharp knife. Trim off all stray bumps, FG threads etc at this stage of curing. Once it's 100% cured, you will have to sand it to smooth it out and remove flaws.

Once the holster is 95% done, finish it like doing auto body work with Bondo or thickened resin, using filler powder recommended for your resin. Get some that is easy to sand, to make less work. "High strength" thickened resin cures like steel and is hard to sand! When the holster is 99% done, paint on resin, "Bondo" the low spots and sand it until it's exactly the shape and smoothness you want. The idea is to make the bottom 3" or so look like a tech gadget holder, not the working end of a pistol holster.

Spray paint it in several thin applications with paint like Krylon, form any auto parts store, in the color of your choice. Hang the holster by a wire and you can paint all sides at once.

Because of all of the curing times for the many steps, this holster will take about a week to make, spending about a half hour on it a day. Or you might get 2 or 3 steps done per day, with a few hours for curing in between.

Anyway, I'm happy with mine. I made it because my KT with the laser would not fit stock holsters. But now I like the "hanging off the belt" design better for many other reasons, mainly comfort and convenience.

Just don't "lock" your pistol into the holster because of not using enough tape etc on the pistol!

 

[Travis McGee]

Sticking it back up since it took a while to write out!

 

[bowhnter]

Great idea !!!! I just picked up an LCP and this would work great when I didn't have it in my pocket.

 

[tawcat]

Wish I knew how to work with stuff like that! Would be the ultimate for my little LCP.

 

[bowhnter]

......................................

 

[bowhnter]

Wish I knew how to work with stuff like that! Would be the ultimate for my little LCP.

the materials aren't that expensive. Stop at the auto store and check it out, you'll wind up with enough materials to mess up a couple times and still have a holster

 

[svtruth]

Two hints

Great idea!
Green epoxy is a potent carcinogen, especially the sanding dust.
Some people get sensitized by the catalyzed resin, wear rubber gloves.
OK, I lied about two, plain old vinegar is great for washing resin off your hands.
Good Luck.

 

[HisSoldier]

Does it stay put if you run? Can it be ripped off in a fight? These are two things I ask about any holster. I like the idea a lot though, and think fiberglass will resist "ripping" better than kydex. It would be easy to add an adjustable tension screw with some thought. (Oh! That hurts!) Third question is how fast is deployment, which is related to the first point, retention. I just watched Lima's holster youtube thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6id83qgQVic&feature=user