whats faster cross draw or strong side holster?

[THE KID]

wich one is faster for a pair of 7.5 in pistols

[Camille Eonich]

Depends on what you practice. 

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Pard

            For me with my 7 1/2" sixshooters , in order to be fast , I need a low hung buscadero type rig , thats just what feels good to me , in order to get the gun out fast , or a straight belt with a little extra drop in the strong side holster, like 2 to 3" this helps to get your gun down low enough , so that you don't have to pull the gun all the up to your arm pits ,before the barrel clears leather , now cross draw is a lot easier with a cross draw rig , but then you have to do the SASS dance , so thats a trade off too. but it is faster than the high ride strong side without the drop,(IMHO) as far as to which one is faster , it's what FEELS GOOD TO YOU, you can make both styles work for you , with pratice, I used to be in quick draw years back , and I love the Mat Dillin,type rig , which I have several of , but in this sport they seem to want you to wear a straight belt , with two strong side holsters or one strong side and one cross draw, what I do is I have a 3" drop on my strong side , and 28 degree angle on a cross draw, on the other side , I wear the cross draw in front about 3' from the buckle, this works well for me, hope this helped 



                                            tEN wOLVES

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[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I have seen very fast shooters with both crossdraw rigs and straight draw rigs. But with 7 1/2" barrels, nothing is going to be real fast. Most fast shooters use 5 1/2" or 4 3/4" barrels.

As Ten Wolves Fiveshooter said, the difficulty with a 7 1/2" barrel and just about any straight draw, high riding holster is that by the time the muzzle clears leather your elbow may be tangled in your armpit. I wear my 7 1/2" barrel in a crossdraw holster, actually it is a conventional straight draw Duke holster that I wear on my left with the butt facing forward. Reaching across my body to pull the 7 1/2" barrel allows me to pull it out without the elbow/armpit problem. Still, no matter what you do, it is probalby more time consuming making sure a long, 7 1/2" barrel gets back into the holster when reholstering than a shorter barrel. It's just easier to find the hole with the shorter barrel.

I have seen many very fast cross draw shooters using a 5 1/2" or 4 3/4" barrel. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to 'dance' to pull a cross draw pistol. All that is required is the holster be positioned so that the gun can be drawn without breaking the 170. Many cross draw shooters can accomplish this by merely swivelling their hips without taking a step at all. This is perfectly legal, although many ROs still need to be educated to this fact. Done by somebody who knows how, it is very fast, probably just as fast as drawing a gun with the left hand and then transferring it to the right hand to shoot it.

[Black Powder]

Pardon there, 10WFF, would you be so kind as to post a pic of one of those Dillon rigs of yours?  That's what initially brought me to CAS via the Internet years ago, the look of the fast draw from an Anderson/Alfonso/Ojala style holster. 

I can't image being able to draw fast unless the holster was tied down, which would lead me to think that strong side would be faster.  Also, I have a vision of fast drawing from the cross-draw and flingin' the gun at the target like a frisbee.  Don't think I can get past that image long enough to test which is actually faster.  I'm stickin' with the strong side.

BP

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Hey Ho Gents

             BP , this is a picture of my Alfonso Penada, rigs from the top on down the first three are speed rigs , the tan and black one is for a 4 5/8" colt. I don't have an individual shot of any of them , probably should do that.


                                            tEN wOLVES 

[Black Powder]

10W -

How do ya walk with all that stuff?     Been at this a while?

Great collection.  Thanks for posting.

BP

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Thanks BP, Your right , I probably have to much stuff for one pard to have, and that's just my Alfonso collection, then I have all the rigs I maid, and then some Hunter holsters too boot, gets to where you start running out of places to put things, but I love it and I wouldn't haven't any other way. 



                                                    tEN wOLVES 

[Black Powder]

Oh 10W, I feel your pain...

I've had that Alfonso "James Arness" holster as wallpaper on and off for some time.  It's still not quite as I'd like, but he's keeping the tradition in the family, so that's reason to see what kind of tweaking he could do.

Here's two versions that are pretty darn close, since I suspect one more to your collection wouldn't hurt:
http://www.waynezurl.com/cat/index.php?function=detail&product=635
http://www.spaghettiwesternreplicas.com/andy-anderson-holsters.html#victory

And if The Kid is serious about fast draw, strong side, the history alone between these three craftsmen from the heyday of Hollywood westerns, ca baby boomer era, would be a darn good place to look, IMHO.

BP

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy BP

  Every time I see your avitar , you remined me of a pard I road the range with about 57 years ago , anyway nice web sites , but if you decide you ever want the real deal, on an Arnes rig , Alfonso's son still maintains his dad's business , and his dad's leather crafsman,( there is a difference ) Alfonso is and was known for double stiching everything , at least everything that is lined, so if down the road you think you might be interested , let me know , and I'll get his ph.# for you, he has his shop in Burbank, Ca., his name is Omar, nice guy, in his store he must have hundreds of holsters, in all styles. Just a thought. I just found his web site , but I noticed he isn't double stiching everything like they were.


                                                       tEN wOLVES        http://www.alfonsosgunleather.com/Pages/fastdraw.htm

[Black Powder]

Howdy BP

Every time I see your avitar , you remined me of a pard I road the range with about 57 years ago ,

He must've been a great guy!     I just got a copy of this from Dad.  Happened to be when I was showing him the new Cimarron he gave me for Christmas.  The back of the pic says 1956.  Whoa...

BP

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

BP, I guess I was mistaken ,the pard I road with was back in 1950 to 1952, and yea he was a good pard, oh well back then , there were Cowboy and Indians every where, some times you could mistake one gun slinger for another.  I know what you mean , Mom gave me some pictures a while back of those days , boy didn't we have fun . I know for me it was the Fanner 50, cap gun , I had two of them , and I wore them in a right and left strong side, they were nickle plated, with plastic stag grips, real lookers, if you know what I mean, those were the days pard, some time wish I could go back , but for now , CASS will do just fine.


                                                  tEN wOLVES 

[Black Powder]

I know for me it was the Fanner 50, cap gun , D

Not sure what I'm packin' in the photo.  Later, I got a Hubley Colt 45 for Christmas.  Open top. gold cylinder.  Came with a buscadaro style rig with a buckle on the holster.  My brother had a Nichols Stallion Mk II.  Still got 'em.  Go back?  Like I never left! 

[Wymore Wrangler]

To answer the Kid's original question, which can you safely draw the longer barrel from is the first consideration, speed is a distant second...

[Black Powder]

W²-

The question was which was faster.  Kinda gave The Kid the benefit of the doubt he was talkin' safely.  Impression from answers provided thus far is pretty even between strong side and cross-draw.  Anybody wanna chime in on the physics of it?  Since the handle on strong side being closer, that'd be faster to get to.  On the other hand, the motion out of the cross-draw has gotta be faster as essentially mostly non-stop compared to strong side.

What say you, W²?