Gun Digest's Cross Draw Holster for Concealed Carry eShort by Massad Ayoob

Author:Massad Ayoob [Ayoob, Massad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4402-3416-3
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

Cross draw as shown is best access to AirLite S&W, worn in hidden pocket behind breast pocket of this Woolrich Elite shirt designed by Ferdinand Coelho. Thumb is on top of hammer area to reduce the combined width profile of the drawing hand and the gun, smoothing and accelerating the draw.

Shoring Up the Weaknesses

Whatever the concept, my rule is “go toward your strengths and shore up your weaknesses.” The strengths and weaknesses of cross draw carry have already been identified. Let’s look at how to shore up the identified weaknesses if you’ve decided to, at least sometimes, carry the gun opposite your gun hand.

Handgun retention. Take a tip from the Illinois State Police. For the last several years of cross draw carry with their Smith & Wesson Model 39 9mm autos before switching to strong-side holsters in the late 1970s, they wore their flap duty rigs in a front cross draw position, with the gun tilted about 30 degrees toward the dominant hand. Like the Iowa State Patrol and the Michigan State Police, they taught troopers to lift the flap with their nearby weak hand, and draw with the strong hand.

The draw would start from the interview position, with the weak side (which, with cross draw, is the holster side) of their body toward the threat. When this stance is combined with the 30-degree angle of holster rake, the butt is no longer “offered” to the man in front of you. Indeed, it’s your muzzle that’s pointing toward him. This is a much more defensible posture from which to start a struggle for the holstered weapon!

With a cross draw holster on the belt, the Lindell System (Kansas City system) proven for three decades now and created by Jim Lindell, will work. You simply treat the right-handed cross draw holster on your left side as if you were a left-handed person carrying your weapon on your dominant side. The entire repertoire of techniques will work fine.

The Lindell System has never really addressed shoulder holsters. I teach my students a set of shoulder rig retention techniques that were developed by Terry Campbell, late of the Marion County (Ohio) Sheriff’s Department, one of the toughest and best defensive tactics instructors I’ve ever had the privilege of training with. No handgun retention technique (at least, none of the ones that actually work on the street) can be taught in a magazine article or a chapter of a book. But, make no mistake, retention techniques that will protect cross draw and shoulder holsters do in fact exist.

“Sweeping” and Safety Problems. Yes, the cross draw is banned in IDPA, PPC, and most police academies. That said, it’s still allowed to my knowledge in NRA Action Pistol Shooting (including the Bianchi Cup), IPSC, and of course, cowboy action matches. The requirement that makes it safe in those venues is the one you want to use religiously for your own practice “for the street.”

Always remember: “If it’s not safe to practice on the range, you’ll never build enough repetitions to make it work reflexively and safely in the real world.

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