NevJohn

Late last nite, I was flipping the TV remote and came across an old Dragnet episode; the Christmas one where the little mexican boy steals the baby Jesus.

Anyway, what caught my eye, was where Bobby Troup (bum) was being interviewed by Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Bill (Harry Morgan) in the squad room. Both Joe and Bill had their jackets off, and I could see both carried the same way. Namely, they both carried their ammo on their belt at the right appendix location and their .38 revolvers, crossdraw at 8:30 or so. I am having a hard time figgering out just how in the heck they can draw their weapons in a timely fashion, if at all, in that location. I could see it and be okay with it, if it was in the normal crossdraw location of say 10-11 o'clock, but surely not at 8:30 or so. Yes, I know it is TV, but still ironic. At least it was in color!!

John

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Matt Del Fatti

I sure wouldn't want to put myself in the position of defending a TV show's depiction of proper carry.....however; it was not unusual even into the mid/late 70’s or so for plainclothes and even uniformed officers to carry crossdraw in the 9 o'clock-ish position. Uniformed divisions of some state police forces required 9 o'clock carry whether the officer was right or left handed. Some of these were in full flapped holsters or the spring type as typified by Buchheimer-Clark etc. The spring type holster carried on the left hip is one of the reasons that cross draw holsters are vilified to this day. When the officer was facing a person, that person had a direct right hand draw from a holster that would allow the gun to be pulled through an opening held closed only by spring pressure.

During this time, it was unusual for officers to purchase their own leather and handguns (if allowed by the department) so they wore what was issued. In addition, this was prior to the now common weapons retention training and tactics most every department mandates. Even if plainclothes officers wanted and were allowed to purchase and carry their own leather, there were very few makers catering to that need.

As far as the ammo carrying position, that was commonly taught (and still the way I do it...old dog new tricks...) to transfer the revolver to your off hand and reload with your dominant hand.

Does that help?

NevJohn

Thanks Matt, and interesting info and concept. Yes, I still can remember the "flap holsters" of the Hiway Patrol. (Heck, I wore one in the service with my 1911!). No, I was just observing the carry, not to imitate the carry, ha. With my porkly build, I can't reach around that far, ha. Again, thanks for the info.

John

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swiftyjuan

Personally, I can crossdraw just past my belly button...

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frankmako

when you reload a wheel gun,,, you hold the gun in your weak hand and load with your strong hand. then transfer the gun back to your strong hand to fire.

rocky

I found Dragnet to be a cool show to watch as a kid(reruns, I'm not that old !). From the pics I have seen of the 60's , guns were carried a bit different than now days alright.
The weirdest I have seen is the shoulder rig(wheelgun) holding the butt forward. Not sure how 1 would draw that gun.

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JimmyC4

Normally, a horizontal shoulder holster does hold the butt forward, semi or revolver...are you sure that's what you thought was weird?

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LoveLeather

I'm surprised they even had spare ammo since Hollywood guns never run out.

Matt Del Fatti

Yep that's what I said. Some recent training though has been to keep the revolver in your strong hand (old terminology) and load with your weak hand. I just can't make that method work for me.

ksxdguy

I don't know what it is about Dragnet, campy as it seems now, but I never miss a chance to watch it. There were a couple of episodes at least where the heroes actually drew their guns. They were quite fast both in drawing and even re-holstering. Jack Webb, especially, seemed well practiced. The show prided itself on being accurate in its depictions, resulting in plainclothes people carrying the way they did.