Cross draw holsters?

[Sebago Son]

I'm surprised that no one has brought it up yet, but the classic shoulder holster is in fact, a "cross-draw".

I've used crossdraw carry frequently while in the car or when carrying a rifle. Good for when you are fishing as well. In the field I have settled upon a Bianchi M84R for my 4" 29 or 629.

However for CCW, the best cross draw holster I've ever used was the Bell Charter Oak "Co-Pilot". It's perfect for the 640-1 Centennial Magnums that I favor for car carry.

The maker of the "Co-Pilot" is Mr. Lefty Lewis of Bell Charter Oak is an active member here on this forum. You can find him in the "Vendors" section. His catalog is on-line here....

BELL CHARTER OAK CUSTOM HOLSTERS (607) 783-2483

"Co-Pilot" is here...

BELL CHARTER OAK CUSTOM HOLSTERS SCABBARDS (607) 783-2483

This is real-world leather that works.

Drew

 

[ogilvyspecial]

Even though this post is cut & pasted from a previous post
I made in another thread I thought it bears repeating here.

First off, let me say that this follow up post in is no way intended to bash dual purpose / 3 slot designs.
It's only intended to provide a little more information to those who may be considering cross-draw
as a carry method and only reflects my personal experience.
Your mileage may vary......

Hopefully the photo's below will better illustrate my point.

The black holster is a Mernickle dedicated cross-draw & the brown a Simply Rugged dual use
pancake style. The Mernickle is shown with a S&W 632-1 (.327) with 3" bbl and the
Simply Rugged with a Ruger SP101 (.327), also with 3" bbl.

As you can see the slots on the dedicated cross-draw holster are in the area of the
gun's greatest weight, whereas, when using the 3rd slot option on the dual use holster,
most of the guns weight is not supported in the same manner.
Another factor, though not as important, is that the slots on most 3 slot designs are at right angles
to each other for use in the strong-side application so the belt has to be kind of bent down slighty when
using the 3rd slot for CD. This also has a bearing on how well the belt can support the weight of the gun
and is also responsible for some "play", however slight, when drawing or reholstering the gun.

When I was using this, or other 3 slot holsters I have / had in the cross-draw application I found that
whenever I bent forward the gun tended to cant out from my body and required some readjustment after
standing back upright, which is why I mentioned in a previous post that the 3 slots tend to work better
for CD with shorter, lighter weight guns. This tendency to cant out can be reduced by tightening the belt,
but, no matter how tight I cinched it up it still had an "unsecure" feeling about it.
I'm a firm believer that your belt should be tight anyway, no matter the holster, so when I say,
"tightening the belt", I'm talking about sucking it in real good to get to that next belt notch.

I hope this info. helps others decide if a 3 slot, or dedicated CD holster, no matter the maker, is right for their needs.

Below shows the difference in the Mernickle CD Holsters when it comes to the angle the gun is canted.
The longer the barrel the less angle the holster has.

For J Frames & small auto's the Mernickle is the best cross draw holster I've tried so far. As you can see
with the M632-2 below, the holster takes up very little room on your belt, which helps reduce the pant
belt loop / holster slot position game. This particular holster generally fits between two pants
belt loops so it keeps the gun in a "more positive" location than if you have to position one of the
holster's slots past the next pant's belt loop, which can allow the holster to "walk" around your belt.
For those of you who carry you know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[labworm]

Allow me to be the first Your new nickname "The Avatar
Chameleon"

 

[ogilvyspecial]

Allow me to be the first Your new nickname "The Avatar
Chameleon"

You, of all people would notice that!

Stay tuned, there's a cood chance that you'll
get dizzy later on if you keep checking what's there.