Peter Gunn's Holster

[Kurusu]

I think strong side cavalry draw. That's a large revolver — we need T-Star to ID it for us, dang it... — and I bet he carried it there so he could sit down more comfortably. It's behind his hip. No way he's grabbin' that with his left hand...

Or his right:



I see Phil beat me to the punch there.

Re revo, I'm gonna guess a Colt New Service.

He can grab it with is left hand. But has to draw behind his back. Saw John Wayne do it in a movie(I think it was "Eldorado"). But he does not have a Cavalry carry rig. Just a regular right handed holster placed at 5 o'clock.

 

[PALADIN85020]

"Awright, you newbies, listen up and listen tight! Most of youse are righthanded, and so are most of the other guys on the beat. That's why we just ran out of right-handed holsters! If you want to pack with one of those, you are just out of luck! We only got left-handed holsters for issue right now, and you are welcome to any of those. They'll work on the right side, but ya gotta twist a bit to get to the gun! Step up and get one and quit your belly achin', you get me? Department money don't grow on trees!"

John

 

[gwpercle]

TV didn't give doodly-squat about accuracy or authenticity ...

The Rifleman was set in the 1880's .... Lucas McCain's rifle , from day one was a model 1892 Winchester ... No way that's right .

Wanted Dead or Alive ... Josh Randall's model 92 Winchester is OK it's those huge freaking 45-70 rounds he carries in his belt that are stupid ... you never see him load from his belt into his sawed off rifle ... wrong ammo !!!

I could go go on , this is a pet peeve , but when I start pointing out all the weapon / ammo / date irregularities ... my wife tells me to stop ... Nobody Cares !
But that's not true ... some of us care .

Gary

 

[gwpercle]

He can grab it with is left hand. But has to draw behind his back. Saw John Wayne do it in a movie(I think it was "Eldorado"). But he does not have a Cavalry carry rig. Just a regular right handed holster placed at 5 o'clock.

Yes ... it was Eldorado ... I saw him do it last night ... he was having a spasm in his back and right arm/hand ... a old wound left a bullet pressing against his spinal cord that gave him problems every so often ... when he reached around his back with his left hand and drew from the right holster ... I need to try that and see if my arm's long enough ...
He almost shot James Caan who was following him .
Gary

 

[Farmer17]

I remember Nebraska Highway Patrol in about 1970 used a duty holster for their K-frames that was crossdraw with a chest strap that looped over one shoulder and attached to the front and back of the gunbelt. I think these were also called "suicide straps".

 

[Walter Rego]

I once owned a Colt Python made in 1972 that was issued to a Colorado State Police patrolman and carried a C.S.P. property number on the frame under the crane. The issue holster was a Heiser H460 as shown below

 

[bronco45]

Washington Highway Patrol was famous for their black bow ties, mountie hats and a 6in Highway Patrolman in a plain Black crossdraw. Until the early 70s WSP had a height requirement of 6ft minimum.
When I made plainclothes I wore a ******* shoulder rig and a ankle rig for a Colt Cobra or DS. Lots of plainclothes folk wore a crossdraw of some type because they spent a lot of time in chairs sitting in desks or in cars. You pushed the cross draw back to the 4 o'clock position while doing paperwork in the station or Office and then when you hit the bricks the rig was moved around to the 3 o'clock position if you were right handed and 9 o'clock if you were lefthanded. Didn't like the Bianchi 9R upside down rig, when you moved your offhand shoulder and arm up and out of the way the rig with revolver moved rear of the centerline of your body and hard to reach. You learned to trap the 9R and some shoulder rigs but not the horizontal models with your upper off arm to stabilize the location of the weapon. This was tough if you were wrestling with the offhand while attempting to draw with the strong hand. Plainclothes work, had a tendency to "blow up" without warning many times when things looked calm. Ask the wrong question, call the wrong name, many ways to see things going south very fast.

 

[MBOK47]

When I went to work as a rookie crime reporter in 1969, police weaponry was still all revolvers, and many (I would say at least half) of the detectives wore S&W Chiefs or comparable 2 inch revolvers in cross draw holsters worn around 9 o'clock. The first carry rig I had was the same, and was very comfortable for long hours in the car at night.

 

[Onomea]

Al Pacino in "Heat" liked the Cross-draw holster too. And in some shots, the holster is canted more horizontal than vertical.

I think the cross draw position evolved from close to (if not actually) vertical to more horizontal, like one sees them nowadays, over time.

Looking at the cross draw holsters on the '50s Peter Gunn TV show, I speculated above that maybe they were simply strong side holsters worn on the off side. Based on this thread, now I think not, but it would explain why I thought so.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I think we could call it the Barney Miller carry.

On Barney Miller I think Jack Soo wore his Detective Special cross draw but way too far in back on the left side to ever get to it quick with his right hand. In the great film “Heat” Al Pacino does the exact opposite. He wears an ivory handled Colt Commander so far forward it’s plainly visible when he’s walking around. That’s the only part about the movie I thought was a mistake.

 

[majick47]

Cross Draw Holsters were popular in the days before patrol vehicle had cages between front and back seats. One officer cars the prisoner rode upfront on the passenger side. The officer's weapon would be away from the prisoner. (days before handcuffing behind the back was used.) Two officer cars the second officer rode in the rear seat behind the driver. Prisoner rode rear seat behind passenger front seat. Also when taking notes with a suspect the weak side elbow covered the weapon

Jimmy hit the nail on the head. The cross draw holster was used both by uniformed and plain clothes officers prior to cages being used in cars for prisoner transport. Prisoner wagons were few and far between usually tied up at court or jail runs. If single officer prisoner rode up front in passenger seat, officers weapon was on opposite side of prisoner to avoid an opportunity to grab officers weapon even being handcuffed which was normally in front and this was prior to seatbelts. Seen numerous photos of state, local, uniformed and plain clothes officers with cross draw holsters prior to the use of :security" holsters.