posted August 20, 1999 12:07 AM            

Sometimes called a sleeve gun. In the movie "Taxi Driver" Robert DeNiro created one of the most brilliant pieces of improvised hardware ever devised. A small handgun was rigged up his sleeve on a device that delivered it into his hand when he needed it.

In the 1960's televsion show "Wild, Wild West, Robert Conrad also had a device similar to this. His delivered a small derringer out his sleeve and into his hand.

Needless to say I have built many different versions of this hold-out gun delivery system throughout the years. After experimenting with various off-the-shelf parts I finally hit on a mechanism that was practically made for this device: The ball-bearing drawer slide.

There are many different drawer slides available at the hardware store. Ace hardware carries the ball bearing slide that I decided on. The first thing you hav to do is cut it down. Place the slide against your forearm. It needs to be the length between your wrist and where your elbow connects to your upper arm. You want to be able to bend your arm naturally.

There are actually two slides, a smaller slide within a larger one. By placing the larger slide agaist your forearm you can now roll the inner slide forward. You want the end of it to come to rest in the palm of your hand. It is on this end of the smaller inner slide that you bolt the metal U clip that will hold the pistol grip--with the barrel facing forward. Depending on what kind of gun you use, will depend on how you affix it to the U clip.

Another option here is to cut down a small holster and rivit it to the arm in place of the U clip. The barrel, grip, and trigger need to be accessible.

I rigged the outer slide to my forearm with a leather watch band on my wrist, and a new leather dog collar on my upper forearm. I drilled the slide and rivited these in place with two rivits each.

Your going to need to crimp each end of the outer slide to keep the inner slide from rolling out.

You can affix springs to the slides to cause the device to function. I used strong rubber bands. At the end nearest my elbow I rivited a powerful butterfly clip to pinch the slides together when the inner slide, with the gun was drawn back and cocked. To release the gun into my hand I merely pressed my elbow to my side, which widened the jaws of the clip, and the gun sprang into my hand.

I know this all sounds like more of a contraption than a tool, but the finished product was quite impressive. When I showed it to all my friends they all wanted one.

You need to wear a coat with wide, loose sleeves. An Army coat is perfect because when not in use you can velcro the sleeves around your wrists and the device cannot be seen. I think a trench coat might work just as well. You might have to modify the sleeves a bit.

This model most closely resembles the hold-out from Wild, Wild West. The Taxi Driver model was built into a cast which DeNiro strapped to his arm. It used steel stock that looked like it was fabricated in a machine shop. Even though it looks much simpler than my device here I think a lot more work went into it.

For informational purposes only.

killer_elite@my-Deja.com