I actually carried two to three revolvers, 2” to 4”, during personal time, from early 2002 until late 2006, as the default daily norm. It started as an SP101 teamed with J-snubs, with a spurless-hammer 4” Speed Six and more SP101 snubs joining the team as time went onward. (I had, also, often carried multiple revolvers, since 1984, but do not clearly recall my practices and tactics, and it usually being a 2” snub teamed with something notable larger and more shootable, it was a primary-and-backup thing, not a “NY reload thing.) Now, in retirement, from LEO-ing, I am probably about to default back to revolvers, as the daily norm.
First, and foremost, if one is carrying an auto-pistol, speed-reloading a fresh mag is probably faster than drawing a deeply-concealed second handgun. When carrying my duty pistol, during personal time, I never saw the snub-gun as an equal, until I somewhat-reluctantly used G22 duty pistols from 2002-2004, when I could shoot an SP101 about well as the Glock, out to about 15 yards, when the longer sight radius started favoring the G22.
I trained to be functionally ambidextrous with handguns, nearly from the beginning. (I am left-handed, and right-armed, so the draw was more natural righty, while actual pulling the trigger, especially single-action, was more natural lefty.) My ideal goal, in the event of an empty “primary” weapon, was to draw the second gun, first, to cover the threat(s), then, if behind good cover, attempt a one-handed reload technique. This lessens the possibility of an unloaded weapon’s ammo status being forgotten, in the heat of the moment. If attempting a one-hand reload is not practicable, it is probably best to stash the empty/malf’-ed weapon.
More thoughts; random order:
1. On the street, I would rather NOT drop a firearm. I never trained to do it, but, in the heat of ECQC, in 2005, I dropped a malf’-ing G22 into the dirt, and pulled my pocketed SP101. This taught me to train more diligently to retain retain a malf’-ed weapon.
2. An unloaded weapon, in a holster, can have undesirable unintended consequences, if one reflexively draws it while empty, thinking it is loaded. Smaller weapons, such as my SP101 snub-guns, can be shoved into a back pocket, if empty, which is one reason I do not keep a bunch of things in my back pockets.
2. Seriously, listen to the Primary & Secondary Youtube video interview with DB. It is on podcast, too, but there are visuals, so, see it, if practicable.
3. On the street, if the draw is done while anticipating the need for the weapon, and the weapons are roughly equivalent, one can consider drawing the “second” gun first, especially if it is small enough to shove into a pocket, if/when it empties.
4. Listen to the lessons, from the late, great Pat Rogers, as told by DB, in the video/podcast mentioned in #2, above. While it does not specifically address what to do with an empty weapon, there is pure gold in there. Notably, the spare revolver ammo was kept adjacent to the smaller revolver’s AIWB holster. With an open-carried duty rig, the AIWB holster was behind the spare ammo carrier, which hid the J. For concealed carry, in my opinion, the concept is good, but stacking the spare ammo, over the weapon, will probably bulge a bit too much, so carrying the spare ammo to one side, or the other, is probably the better bet.
Outta time; outta here; will return after doing some banking stuff.
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Originally Posted by beenalongtime
