One night the wife and I were at home watching a marathon of Western movies (more like me watching the movies and the movies watching her sleep!!!), and I happened to notice that “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and some of his frontier buddies had a hankering for what we now call: the cross-draw. As many of our readers know, we at PSA love to bring to our readers the importance of safe firearm handling, and try our best to thwart the attacks of any misleading myths and untruths about OUR wonderful world of GUNS!!! Well buckaroos…this post will be no different!
As you can tell from the picture above, the cross-draw starts from holstering the firearm on the opposite side of the body as the dominant (shooting) hand. When it is time to draw the firearm, the shooter uses the dominant hand, reaches across the body, and draws the firearm. For many years, the cross-draw has been the topic of heated debates from the myriad of firearms pundits that seem to inundate our most beloved world of firearms.
In the Wild Wild West (or the Golden Age of Guns as we at PSA likes to call it!), it has been said that many lawmen, and outlaws alike, desired the cross-draw as it made it more difficult for their opponent to come from behind and take custody of their peace keeping (or peace breaking for that matter!!) firearms. With the advent of the retention holster, unless you magically end up in 1840, the chances of this occurring are significantly decreased!! Fortunately for us, those times are far gone, and the cross-draw has definitely gained it’s share of detracting characteristics.
One of biggest detractors to the cross-draw is the immense muzzle sweep. Just imagine the area that the muzzle of that pistol travels as you reach across your body, un-holster, and then bring the pistol into firing position! The chances of accidental discharging becomes significantly increased, and this is definitely NOT what we as safe firearms owners want!!!
The need for close quarters protection then becomes another detractor to the cross-draw. As a right handed shooter, if my defensive firearm is holstered on my left side, then the natural inclination is to keep that side (the left side) away from the bad guy. In this case, if you desire the cross-draw, you face multiple issues. On the one hand, you run the risk of getting your draw hand pinned against your body. This all but eliminates you from the fight. Likewise, as you attempt to keep your holster side away from the bad guy, you run the risk of using your right hand (your dominant hand) to un-holster, and thus eliminate your only good fighting hand from the fight!!!
It is important to note that although PSA staunchly disagrees with even the remote thought of employing the cross-draw…..with substantial practice and extensive training, one may become effective and efficient with this type of draw.
*** If you are unfamiliar with firearms and/or their accessories, and want to learn more, PSA strongly suggests that you find, enroll, and attend a comprehensive and reputable firearms safety course. Firearms safety is all of OUR responsibility.
We want to thank you for taking out the time to stop by our lane at the shooting range!! We hope that you enjoyed your stay and hope that you stop back by early and often to catch up on all PSA updates! We truly hope that we were able to hit the target, and if you ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to shoot them our way!! We look forward to shooting the breeze with you soon again!!
And as always….remember to watch your six and stay low!!!