Free For All Friday 5-8-2015: Carry positions
I hate to talk about this kind of stuff but it still needs to be mentioned. I’m big on transparency so sometimes these discussions will come up. I fund the majority of this site via my own wallet. It makes money from ads, mind you, but it’s really just enough to pay the hosting fees. On top of that, a large majority of the internet uses ad blockers so I’m only getting ad revenue from a fraction of my visitors. As the traffic is growing, the hosting fees are rising and I’m looking for other ways to fund the site. One thing I was looking into was Patreon. It’s not a subscription service, don’t worry. Gun Noob is and will ALWAYS be 100% free. What Patreon does, however, is to allow people who like a site to essentially donate some money to it as a way to say “thanks for making this content”. My question is, provided I don’t constantly spam people with “please donate to our Patreon”, would anyone actually donate to it? I’ve been considering giving it a shot. In the meantime, if you could find it in your hearts to add an exception to your ad blocking for GN, I’d greatly appreciate it. It would really help keep the lights on, so to speak.
Shameless begging is done. Let’s get to the questions!
Cross-draw seems like it would work well for open carry, but is it an OK option for concealed carry? It looks awkward. -Mike H.
In most cases, you keep your gun on the same side of the body as the hand you plan to use it with. So if you’re right handed, you’re likely to keep it on your right side. If, for whatever reason, you keep it on the opposite side, that’s called “cross-draw”. As far as its feasibility, it really depends on how you’re carrying it. If it’s in a shoulder holster under a jacket, well, cross draw is pretty much your only choice. If you’re looking for under the shirt, IWB carry, that’s a bit harder to pull off. From a purely physical standpoint alone, it would be pretty awkward to reach over like that unless you were appendix carrying but that leads to a whole other discussion.
Now, that’s not to say it’s not a bad way to go. Being able to reach your gun easily with both hands can be very useful if, for example, the hand you would usually draw with is otherwise occupied. Say you’re trying to push your child behind you, for example. The downside is that, when under stress, it is VERY difficult to draw the gun without lasering a whole bunch of things that isn’t the intended target. It’s awkward enough to draw that way but when you’re trying not to sweep a room in the process is gets a whole lot worse.
Personally, I’d stick to the 4:00 position. There’s a reason why it’s pretty much the standard that’s taught everywhere you go.
Probably way too late for this Friday, but what are your thoughts on small of back carry? It’s seen so often in TV and movies, but how does it work IRL? -Joel M.
The good news is that I accept questions right up to the point that I submit the post for publishing on the site! In many cases, when asked about where one should carry the gun, my usual answer is “4:00 or whatever is most comfortable for your situation (i.e. appendix, 3:00, etc)”. The one exception to this is small of the back carry. It may be good when someone is really concerned about printing and such but the advantages stop there. First, foremost and most importantly, there is a HUGE risk for personal injury. I’m not talking about the gun accidentally going off, either. I mean many people have seriously injured themselves because they fell on the gun. Think about it: you’ve got a large hunk of hard metal positioned across your spine. There have been a large number of people that have actually broken their backs due to something as simple as a slip thanks to small of the back carry.
On top of that, SotB carry poses a similar risk as cross-draw: you’re going to sweep that muzzle across a lot of stuff. At the same time, you have to twist that gun around as you draw which give give a great opportunity for it to snag on clothing or other stuff. That big, sweeping draw might look great on tv and movies but in real life, it’s bad news across the board.
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