Concealing handgun in a book??

S

stubby

New member
I have seen movies which showed a book hollowed out and a handgun stored inside. This looks like a good way to keep a handgun hidden but accessible as well. Kind of "hidden in plain sight". Has anyone every tried this and what were the problems? Thanks for any help. Stubby
 
The only problem I've had is hollowing out the book, though I understand that hollow books can now be purchased, so there ought not be any problem for you. Worked well enough and the only reason I'm not using it now is because since I made the book for a smaller gun, now that I have a bigger gun,it won't fit. Certainly worth the money since if you discover that you don't like keeping your gun there it can also hold plenty of other things.
 
A similar approach is the "daytimer" concealment method. I was considering it until someone pointed out how easy it is to loose those things and how silly I would look constantly clutching it. Yes, you could lay it on your desk or in a drawer close to you but "on-the-person" carry is so much more secure. For those of us that sit at a desk a lot, ankle carry seems like a good option. For most other applications, on the hip.
 
I'm getting one for the rec. room downstairs. We don't have kids, it'll be on the end of a row of books on second to top shelf in with a bunch of books that look similar, only my wife & I will know it's there. It'll be an easy reach of the couch and back door, & more discrete than loose in a drawer. They're about $20-25 at the local spy shop.
M2
 
Our firm's library has a bunch of "place keepers" that look like books, but are solid styrofoam on the inside. I acquired a couple of these, and hollowed them out with a hobby knife. They have no title on the vinyl-bound spine, but don't look out of place on either a bookshelf or (VHS) video cabinet. You could write "Magnum Force" or something inventive on the spine?
 
Didn't ATF have a word or two to say about hollowed out books? I think they constitute "any other weapon", just as a wallet holster does.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RickB:
You could write "Magnum Force" or something inventive on the spine?[/quote]

If you're going to hide your gun in a video case, label it "Ishtar". No one will ever touch it.
 
Dave - Excellent idea. In fact, I nodded off just seeing the word "Isht.....zzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZPzzzz....

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Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. -- Ambrose Bierce
 
Hello. No, the hollow book does not fall under "any other weapons" UNLESS you can fire it from within the book via mechanism or a hole to put your trigger finger through. The wallet holsters for small handguns that were designed to be fired from the holster fall under that catagory, but not standard holsters. As I recall, what got this mess started were the briefcases designed to hold a suppressed M-11 or M-10 and had a firing trigger on the briefcase handle. Best.
 
They also sell picture frames that have hinges behind the picture and you can stick a gun in the space behind the picture. The picture in the catalog was only from the front, I am thinking because the frame is about 4 inches thick. That would be very suspicious. They showed a full size Beretta in there.

[This message has been edited by MrBlonde (edited July 05, 2000).]
 
I made a book like that when I was a kid. Got in trouble with mom. Apparently the book I chose was some sort of special 1st edition book or something; cant remember the exact objection any more. I hollowed that book out using a penknife and it turned out badly.

If I was going to make another one, and I think I will now that I'm thinking about it again, I would use a router. If you made a plywood template that could be clamped over the pages to be routered it should make a pretty clean cut and be fast too boot. I'll have to see if I can find a hardbound version of "It Takes a Village" or "Earth in the Balance" at the used book store. Of course those books are not "deep" enough to hold anything but the morals of the people that wrote them.
 
Once more, go the the Xtian bookstores and get a kinkade painted bible cover, and walk around waving it and shouting Halleluja brother

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John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.
 
I like the idea of the gun behind a picture, but would just open up the wall instead of buying a special picture frame. After cutting a large enough opening between two studs, create a box with some wood scraps to hold the gun. The hole better be in a spot that will always have a picture if you want to stay happily married.

Just be sure to use a picture you are willing to break, because when the BG is here you won't take that picture down gently.

Kiffster

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Sig 229 .40 - When you care enough to shoot the very best!
It's time we stop apologizing like a bunch of guilt-ridden, part-time criminals for our love and respect of firearms!
-July 2000, America's 1st Freedom
 
About 28 years ago, I cut out the form of my 380 pistol in a Cruden's Bible Concordance, which I kept on my night stand. One day I came home from work to find that my house had been ransacked by a burglar. The Cruden's Concordance was on the bed, along with other possessions which the burglar had sorted through and left. A shotgun was missing from my closet, and the TV had been taken. But inside the Cruden's concordance...was my 380 pistol! So the hiding place passed the fool-a-burglar test, at least that one time.
 
I have one of the hollowed out books from Glockstore.com and am very satisfied with it. They use real books discarded by libraries as mine is Vol.49 of the 1936-1946 Table of Cases from the S.D. Co. Law Library. The one I happened to get might have stuck out visually from a normal set of books but it fits right in next to my Black's Law Dictionary and my case books. I doubt most bad guys would think to inspect books anyway, even if it didn't seem to "fit."

They basically cut an opening in the book leaving about 3/4 in. all the way around, then glue (or somehow attach) all the pages so it cannot be opened except by lifting the front cover. The concealment space is lined with felt and holds my Glock 19 (with M3 light attached) and extra mag quite nicely. Also works well for holding watches, wallets, passports, or anything else small that you'd like to conceal.

Probably wouldn't be that difficult to make for yourself with the right tools and patience--neither of which I had when I bought mine.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by buzz_knox:
Didn't ATF have a word or two to say about hollowed out books? I think they constitute "any other weapon", just as a wallet holster does.[/quote]

I searched my copy of "Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide 2000", and I fail to come up with anything about a hollowed out book being AOW, can you provide a reference? FYI, here's the definition from that book, I can't see how it would be stretched to cover my hiding places in my house.

"Any other weapon. Any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Such term shall not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition."
 
I thought that wallet holsters were legal. What was deemed illegal are wallet holsters that permit firing without having to remove the pistol. This was the case with the JackAss Trading Company's (today Galco) wallet holster. They've modified it so that you can no longer fire the pistol unless you remove it from the holster. If you follow this logic then a book used as a storage device is legal, but a book modified to allow for firing without removing the pistol is illegal.

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So many pistols, so little money.
 
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