Revisiting the stuff-that-gets-pushed-to-the-top-of-the-feed-on-our-socialist-media file, this seems like a good time to consider what’s really practical and prudent in the arena of concealed carry and self-defense during the “gravest extremes.”
The specific post that prompted this came in the form of an advertisement for a new device constructed of plastic to hold a speedloader in place inside a front pocket. While the promoted device would probably serve its intended purpose, the size and design would essentially turn the pocket where it’s carried into a “spare ammo only” pocket.
My initial thought was, if you’re going to dedicate an entire pocket to holding a few rounds of spare ammo, why not just slip a second gun in there and call it good?
Before you call me paranoid or crazy, hear me out.
Compact Revolvers
While not all five-shot mini wheelguns are technically J-frames, that sobriquet has become like using “Kleenex” to describe every kind of facial tissue or “Jello” to describe every kind of gelatin dessert. We pretty much refer to all compact, pocket-sized revolvers as “J-frames” these days, even though only one maker uses that official description.
Whether made by Smith & Wesson, Colt, Ruger, Taurus, Charter Arms, etc. The double-action revolver in the compact, five-shot configuration has been and continues to be viewed as the “easiest gun” for a new or inexperienced user to carry. That way of thinking is partially true. They are easy to carry, but they’re not, and never have been, easy to shoot and then reload.
Yes, I was alive and carrying guns back when revolvers, both big and small, were still the standard for both law enforcement and armed citizens for home defense. Mastering the double-action trigger on these guns was a skill that required dedicated effort for the full-sized six-shot model, double the required effort of the compact J-frame with a 1⅞-inch barrel and a factory trigger set to about 11 or 12 pounds.
The kids on the internet today complain that a 5.5-pound GLOCK trigger is too heavy. It is to laugh.
Of course, a part of mastering the J-frame was mastering the reloading process. Due to the short barrel on a snubby, the ejector rod was also shortened making reliable spent casing ejection an often iffy proposition. This was one of the selling points for three-inch DA revolvers…a full-sized ejector rod.
Reloading Pocket Revolvers
When we carried DA revolvers on our duty belts, we had special speedloader pouches to hold them. Carrying spare ammo wasn’t viewed as cumbersome. However, a round speedloader carries like a rock in the pocket, hence the product referenced above.
Other solutions like QuickStrips or speed-strips lie flat in a pocket and are generally more convenient for concealed carry purposes. The trade-off with strips is that you will be loading two rounds at a time as opposed to a full cylinder’s worth, if you’re lucky. Ask your dad or granddad how many times he “lost” a round while loading a DA wheelgun with a round speedloader.
There’s a very good reason why the seasoned NYPD patrolmen took to carrying two DA revolvers, which eventually came to be called “the New York reload.” As good as they might have been at reloading a revolver, pulling a second gun that was ready to go was always faster.
Keep in mind, even if you rival Jerry Miculek at stuffing an empty cylinder with a speedloader, that’s step two. Step one is opening the cylinder and dumping the spent cases. Most men who practiced the NY reload could have the fresh gun out and going in about the time it would take to open the cylinder and dump the empties.
Spent cases in the compact J-frame cylinder with a short ejector rod are more stubborn than their full-sized cousins. No, it’s not impossible. We just need to accept the reality that it’s time-consuming and mastery requires constant dedicated training and practice.
We also have to acknowledge the reason for a hasty reload…you shot your wad and the threat is still moving around attempting to make you or other people dead.
Two Guns Don’t Make You Paranoid, They Make You Prudent
We understand that there are those in the audience who have put in the time and effort to be truly efficient and skilled with a compact DA revolver. That’s admirable. Nonetheless, we go back to the idea of carrying spare ammunition in a dedicated pocket. The device I mentioned holds one speedloader and five loose rounds of ammo. I’m not trying to talk you out of carrying a compact DA revolver, just give you something to think about.
The Ruger LCR weighs only 13 ounces or so and it’s truly one of the best concealable options in the pocket revolver genre. I’ve had one since they were first released back in ‘09. The DA-only trigger is smooth and reliable. The rubber grips give you something substantial onto which to hold.
Were I to have to choose between dedicating a pocket to either spare ammunition or a second loaded gun, the choice would be the second gun, without reservation. It’s not like you are “cheating” or that you’re not allowed to carry two guns.
From a tactical standpoint, the second gun in your left pocket will be there for you in the event that your dominant right hand is injured. If you’re down to one hand, reloading a DA revolver is a mountain you don’t want to be climbing in a life-and-death scenario.
How often do people get shot in the dominant hand, arm, shoulder? When the FBI Miami shootout was over, seven of the ten persons present were shot in either their dominant hand/arm or their non-dominant hand/arm. That’s 70 percent for those of you who went to public school. Special Agent Ed Mireles finished the fight one-handed.
Do Two Guns Lead to Better Gun Handling?
Naturally, putting two hands on a handgun always provides a more stable shooting platform. Nonetheless, it’s incumbent upon the shooter to train and practice shooting with both dominant hand only and non-dominant/support hand only.
We know from scientific research that the more physically coordinated you are with your off-hand, the better your overall physical coordination will be. There’s literally no downside to training to shoot off-hand only. It merely requires dedicated effort and a willingness to “not look good” when you’re starting out.
Whether you carry one gun or two, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to make thoughtful and considerate decisions. Carrying a pocket gun like it’s some type of good luck charm or magic talisman used to ward off evil is a recipe for failure. Make good decisions and remember, your responsibility to be ready for the fight never ends.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student of the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.
I believe in two guns. And extra ammo. Does that make me uber paranoid?
It is rare. but with the unhinged fascist left amongst us we may see situations where needing to stay in a long term fight becomes a fact of life.
The only place I expect to have an extended fight is a full-on terrorist incident. And I’m going to be employing different tactics in that situation. Anything else is “fight to leave or reach a bigger gun.” (And, honestly, part of the tactics in a terror attack where you’re not simply trying to get away will be “take a bad guy’s gun” – IF that is possible.) There’s really NO value to an extended fight for anyone involved in any other situation.
(Like I also don’t plan on having to take 100 yard shots in a self-defense scenario. Just not a plausible scenario.)
That being said, you might have different risk evaluations in your part of the world, and I won’t gainsay that.
I now carry a Sig P-365 X-Macro Tacops and six 17 round mags. Wasn’t always this way but personal experience over time in several DGU incidents in my life, especially one incident in particular, has demonstrated to me that carrying a six shot revolver or even two of them is less likely to be as useful in saving our lives. [and yes, I’ve heard/read all the arguments for pro-revolver]
maybe you could post some of them here for our continued edification.
six 17rd mags my nut. multiple dgus… ok corral or what?
I’ve already posted them in the past, including the one where I had to save my wife from two armed animals who were trying to abduct then rape and murder her.
That one saving my wife was the incident that showed me I needed to carry more ammo, out of three 15 round mags I had three rounds left after putting the second animal down. He still had plenty of ammo left, several mags worth. Had he not gone down I would have needed to fire those last three and been out of ammo, and had he not gone down then he would have killed my wife and me. He was already hit several times but was still fighting, finally went down after I got close enough to him after fire-n-manuever across 30 yards having to keep them suppressed and away from my wife. The details of this I’ve also posted previously.
So I started carrying more ammo, six 15 round mags while I was still doing the Glock 22 EDC. But I retired the Glock and went with the Sig and it’s 17 round mags and I carry six of those 17 round mags.
Its not a good thing to be thinking ‘if I only had more ammo’ if that might be your last minute of life depending on it.
But, to summarize briefly my DGU’s I’ve posted or mentioned about in the past (I may have posted some of these over at TTAG, but a lot of posts vanished over there when the new management took over so they may or may not still be there plus their search function, like here at SNW, is basically useless, and I have not looked to see if they are still there):
* The guy that came out of no-where: Getting out of the car in a parking lot, and suddenly there is this guy there attacking me. He died, I lived. This was my first DGU.
*The ATM: Was at ATM, car got suddenly surrounded by some gang members who came out of hiding in the ‘landscaped bushes area’ and one of them at my car window, which of course was down to use the ATM, and he has a revolver pressed against my head. He didn’t load all cylinders and when he pulled the trigger it went ‘CLICK!’ and not ‘BANG!’ then looks at the gun and at me then was gonna pull the trigger again, while all this was happening I drew my weapon and shoved it into his chest and mine went ‘BANG!’. The others ran, the guy at the window died, I lived.
*The crazy homeless woman: I was coming out of a restaurant after dinner going to the car, and this crazy homeless woman is going down the sidewalk and suddenly runs off the sidewalk towards me with a knife trying to stab me. She grabbed on to me, hand twisted up in my shirt and was stabbing at me with the knife – could not get her off me. While fending off the knife stabs with one arm and hand I drew with the other hand and shot her. She lived.
* The gang members who attacked in a parking lot: This was one of my earliest DGU’s that happened a few months after my very first (see above). Several of them walked from across the street over into the parking lot and started shooting towards me and others intending to rob us. This turned into a sort of prolonged but short lived fire fight. There were 8 of them, I got 5 of them and others ran away, all lived.
* The home invader: This gang thug broke in, armed, put him down in the kitchen. He died, we lived.
* The convenience store: Guy was beating up the clerk, was gonna stab him when I happen to walk in which prompted me to draw and fire. He got the point, was lightly wounded by grazing wound. He lived, clerk lived.
* The attack and robbery that wasn’t: My wife and I were out one night, going to see a movie and have dinner. A couple of women and one guy were standing together outside the theater and staring at us as we crossed the parking lot to enter the theater. Noticed it but they didn’t do anything and we went on in. After the movie was going to a restaurant and had a flat tire, as I was out of the car looking at it this car pulls up and out comes those same women and guy from outside the theater and they are demanding our money or they [said] were going to kill us. One of the women is at the passenger side of our car where my wife is seated and she is yelling at my wife to give her the money or she is going to kill her and the guy and other woman were yelling at me to give them the money of they are going to kill me. Then ‘BANG!’ and the woman at the car window with my wife goes down screaming and yelling, my wife had shot her. The guy in front of me starts towards me, I drew and shot him and the other woman drops to the ground screaming ‘don’t shoot me don’t shoot me!’. All lived. They were armed with knives.
* The brandishing for the trans guy that got upset when I said ‘excuse me sir’: I had accidentally bumped into an older guy when I backed up in a grocery store isle, did not realize he was there. Turn around and said ‘excuse me sir’ because hes got a beard and looks like a guy but is wearing a dress and he said very sternly ‘Its Miss!’ and then proceeds to pick up a skillet hanging on the rack and starts swinging it at me. I brandished intending to come up to firing presentation but in that time and he drops the skillet and flees.
*The brandishing for the cable guy: Actually he wasn’t an actual cable guy but rather a contractor out trying to sell cable packages to counter another company putting in fiber-to-the-home in the area. Found him wandering around behind the house looking in windows. Ordered him to leave, he got upset and wanted to argue and threatened me so I brandished and he left.
* The day I saved my wife from being abducted and raped then murdered: You can read about that one here in this article comments section > https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/handguns/shot-show-range-day-is-it-wrong-that-i-really-really-like-the-new-keltec-pr57/comment-page-1/#comment-19236
There were two others I did not put in the above post, the SNW ghost post issue will not let me post them. But the bad guys lived.
I have a new carry method starting in the summer of 2024: when it is super hot and carrying my large semi-auto handgun means my holster rubs against bare skin (under my t-shirt) and really starts to irritate it, I switch over to carrying TWO micro-compact semi-auto pistols–one in each front pocket. Thus, I have 7 shots immediately available to my left hand on the left side of my body and I have 7 shots immediately available to my right hand on the right side of my body. That means I have 14 shots available without having to reload.
There is another reason to carry two handguns (one on each side of your body): you have the option to loan one out to a trusted family member or friend if a really nasty attack unfolds.
Choose wisely.
” rubs against bare skin (under my t-shirt) ”
use a ‘rash guard’ ‘garment’ under your T-shirt and the gun won’t irritate or rub against your bare skin. You can get them in various styles and colors under various names with various ‘uses’, for example > ht* tps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN61SQSW?th=1&psc=1 > is light weight, form fitting, thing, durable, stretchy (I use one of these types, another brand but same thing. Its snug enough so it doesn’t bunch and the gun slides across it and no bare skin irritation or rubing, Its light weight and comfortable. I also have a custom made rash guard band that just covers across the waist area and up past where the gun would sit and I use that in the summer under T-Shirts and works great and no irritation of or rubing against bare skin.
If you do a search on Amazon for example, for ‘rash guard mens’ you come up with basically T-shirts style outer wear but that’s not what you want for wearing under other clothing although you could in colder weather.
my horsehide does not irritate my flesh in the summer while untucked. the problem is wearing holes in the tucked tshirt in the winter. and longer barrels may chafe through pants.
“How often do people get shot in the dominant hand, arm, shoulder? When the FBI Miami shootout was over, seven of the ten persons present were shot in either their dominant hand/arm or their non-dominant hand/arm. That’s 70 percent for those of you who went to public school.”
Hmmmmm… My public school education tells me that your question and stated answer, as quoted above, proved only that 70% were shot in “a” hand/arm. It does NOT prove that 70% were shot in their respective “dominant” hand/arm. Perhaps a private school education isn’t to be so disrespected, after all…
Other than that, I agree with your article’s assessment that a second, small handgun is faster and more useful in such situations.
Give your balls a tug.
Long before it was called a “New York Reload” it was called a “Mexican Reload.” That was back in the days before speedloaders. Heck, it might be from the time when you changed out the whole cylinder to reload. Simpler to just carry more than one gun.
And, of course, this is one of the arguments for a semi-automatic – more rounds and a quicker reload.
But, even there, I’ve carried a second weapon before, so I don’t have to worry about the reload as much. Just when I’m going places that might turn sketchy, thugh.
“It’s not like you are “cheating” or that you’re not allowed to carry two guns.”
Well, you might want to consider that, depending on your jurisdiction. If you live in a freedom-unfriendly place, with prosecutors that like to send civilians to prison for defending themselves, carrying TWO GUNS! might give them a way to portray you to the jury as “looking for a fight.”
Yes, it’s ridiculous. Yes, it’s wrong. But it’s something to consider. Just like whether your carry weapon should be an “El Diablo Drug Cartel” special edition. Or whether you should carry exotic ammo. You don’t have to decide against it on that basis, but at least do the risk analysis for your situation.
So I should buy another carry gun? Cool. I’m on it.
Gee, I thought that my S&W .40 cal compact (1+13) was enough, I suppose I can carry an extra magazine.
Informative, engadging article. I would offer this: while hiking/camping I will carry a revolver in a chest pack. I will carry my 1911 in a back pack. While standing/moving at my camp site I will keep both accessible- this is for black bear and boar. Of course the most dangerous animal anywhere is humans.
Good rule of thumb to carry extra ammo and also a BUG. Two is one, one is none. The key is practicing/training with both.
I have been experimenting carrying a long gun concealed. Along with my side arm. And I carry extra ammo for both. But carrying around two guns is heavy. If you are self employed, then you can do what you want. Those of us who work for other people, are limited in our choices. To what we can carry.
And think outside the box. There are several takedown long gun choices out there.