Pachmayer pocket device for J frames

prescobd

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Any old timers out there? Pachmayer used to make a device that one would mount to a J frame exposed hammer revolver. It that replaced the grip and provided a square profile to the gun and would shroud the exposed hammer much like a bodyguard. I believe that it was initially devised for police back up to fit into the back pocket or maybe cargo pants pocket, but I believe it was made before cargo pants were popular/common. It also had slots for 5 additional rounds. I had one of these devises for sometime and just today picked up a gun to go with it, a 637-2. Couple questions:
1. What did Pachmayer call this?
2. Does anyone still have one and carry a J frame in it and in which pocket do you carry it in?
Also, other viewers my appreciate a picture of one. I do not have the capability for pictures myself. Thanks.
 
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Erich,

I would never have thought that it would have been an NFA weapon if assembled. :eek: I guess I'm lucky that it was stolen from the mail when I shipped it to a prospective buyer.

Buck
 
I think what the original poster is referring to is the grip that extends up along each side of the hammer, making it into sort of a Bodyguard configuration. I believe there was a post on that earlier this year, and (as I recall) the consensus was that no one is still producing this.
 
Bianchi made a grip like you described, google bianchi lightning grip.

After visiting the links in previous replies, I obviously misunderstood the OP question...
 
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Bianchi lightning grips show up on ebag and gb all of the time. I'm watching a k-frame set right now...
 
The Bianchi grips are still legal. The Pachmayr Tactical Holster can be owned but mounting it to a gun makes the gun an AOW and you must pay the tax.
 
After spending a bit of time on the ATF website, I'm not sure that it does fall into the "wallet holster" type of AOW. All of the example pictures on the site are definitely wallet types. The Pachmayr doesn't seem to fit the description very well. I could find no direct references to the Pachmayr as belonging to this group.

So, tomorrow I will give the ATF a call and see if they can enlighten me about this.

Buck
 
I always like the Lightning grips when I see them but they always look unnecessarily bulky for what they are. Had they made them in a boot grip style I bet they would still be cranking them out today.
 
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Thanks haggis and SG-688, that is what I have, a Pachmayer TAC holster. Does anyone use one for carry?
 
Today, I called the ATF NFA Branch and asked them about the Pachmayr holster. From my description, he thought that it was not a "wallet holster" since the gun was mostly exposed to view, and therefore not an AOW when the gun was placed in it.

I sent him an e-mail with a picture of the holster, and he is going to confirm his verbal decision back to me.

Buck
 
It's not a huge surprise if it's NFA, they did the same thing with the more recent Keltec pocket holsters.
An officer can make his gun look like a wallet, but so can a murderous repeat offender.
 
Erich, your post was the reason I started digging into this. I looked at the ATF site extensively. I found what you posted, and I found a description and photographs of wallet holsters, but I could find nothing specific about the Pachmayr holster. During my discussion with the ATF agent, he explained that the purpose of the regulation was defining the various types of disguised weapons (cane guns, pen guns, etc.). When I described the Pachmayr holster to him, he said that since the gun was still recognizable as a gun, it didn't meet the definition of wallet holster where the gun is almost fully concealed. He offered to research it more and send me an e-mail with his findings.

It really doesn't matter to me exactly what it is. I'm just curious.

Buck
 
Good deal - it's always good to be careful around these arbitrary laws. (Did you see the recent story about the family who was getting charged federally for rescuing a baby woodpecker? Sheesh.)
 
Erich, your post was the reason I started digging into this. I looked at the ATF site extensively. I found what you posted, and I found a description and photographs of wallet holsters, but I could find nothing specific about the Pachmayr holster. During my discussion with the ATF agent, he explained that the purpose of the regulation was defining the various types of disguised weapons (cane guns, pen guns, etc.). When I described the Pachmayr holster to him, he said that since the gun was still recognizable as a gun, it didn't meet the definition of wallet holster where the gun is almost fully concealed. He offered to research it more and send me an e-mail with his findings.

It really doesn't matter to me exactly what it is. I'm just curious.

Buck


Last year I witnessed ATF remove a gun dealer from a show because he was selling some Packmayr holsters and wallet holsters.

Pachmayr confirned that the logic behind the rule is if the gun can still be fired from inside your pocket WITHOUT removing the gun from the wallet, holster or container. The Pachmayr holster still has the trigger exposed and the barrel is not blocked so a round can leave the gun hence violation.
 

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