On Duty Back-up Gun?

[CalCop]

Alot of you suggest support side carry instead of strong side. What is the advantage of support side?

[Aceman58]

I use to carry a Beretta 84F in a left holster in my vest under my left arm. It's 13 shots of .380 cal. or (9mm short) and one great shooting handgun.

Then I had a Beretta Mod. 70 .32 cal. in my center vest 8 shots for close up and personnel defense.

Now at my present position as a University Police, I don't carry any backup. Don't feel the need to at this present time. I hope that helps you out on making your decision, there are many good backup weapons, good luck.

[chsk9]

S&W 438 in support side cargo with reload speed strip.

[ls2monaro]

Whatever you choose please make sure you practice, practice, practice drawing and shooting your back up gun. I tried all three vest, ankle, and pocket with a stopwatch and ankle is by far the slowest and most impractical for me.

Many of us carry weak side for tactics, not sure i wanna say why on an open forum but you just have to find what works for you; Heck that's half the fun

[SinnerBoy]

Wow, thanks for everyone's input. Really appreciate it!

[Crzy2bealive]

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[mej16489]

Alot of you suggest support side carry instead of strong side. What is the advantage of support side?

I'm not sure if statistics support it, but I think the most likely need for a BUG is because you're already in a retention fight over your strong-side primary.

[SoCalDep]

I''ve carried a S&W 342PD, Ruger SP101, Beretta 8045 Mini Cougar, S&W CS45, and most recently before I left patrol, a S&W M&P9C. I never ankle carried.

The smaller autos aren't too bad (especially the CS45) for backup carry in uniform pants, though I did have to move some gear around on my belt as my M&P hit my AR mag pouch when I sat in the car.

I have become a fan of Remora holsters...for both backup and off duty carry.

[CalCop]

I'm not sure if statistics support it, but I think the most likely need for a BUG is because you're already in a retention fight over your strong-side primary.

That makes sense. I was mistakenly picturing cross draw with strong hand...duh.

[Notorious]

Alot of you suggest support side carry instead of strong side. What is the advantage of support side?

As already stated, if I have my strong side hand clamped on the butt of the gun to keep it inside the holster while some turd is trying to get it, my support hand is going inside the pocket to get the backup gun to shoot him to prevent that from happening.

Or if I am shooting my primary and it jams, I drop my support hand immediately to grab the backup gun so I can have it asap... my primary might still be in my right hand but I am not messing around and will want immediate access.

Also, and this is what I do the most and the most frequent use of the off side pocket carry for me, and it gives me a nice and warm and fuzzy feeling, is that when I am on a contact or backing someone up, and I feel the need to do so, I will have my support hand in my pocket, with a firm grip on the gun, ready to pull out to use immediately, but to the outside world, it just looks like I have my off hand in my pocket. Useful when you want to maintain a low key appearance but ready to go at a moment's notice, faster than you can get to your main gun sometimes.

[Samuelx]

Whatever you choose please make sure you practice, practice, practice drawing and shooting your back up gun.

^^ THIS!!! Practice from all "regular" positions (standing, sitting, kneeling, prone, sitting in a chair, sitting in a car, etc) and freaked up positions in a fight (weapon retention, on your back, upside down, bad guy mounted, bad guy side control, bad guy in your guard, in a hallway, up against a wall, down on a couch, etc)

[TrailerparkTrash]

any S&W J-frame, but HAMMERLESS!!!!! Carry it in your pocket with a thin leather type holster to keep holes from forming in your pocket.

Also, I carry a 5-shot speedy loader on my Sam Browne too for my S&W model 642 airweight. (...that is when I am forced to wear a Sam Browne nowa days....).

A revolver can take so much more abuse than any semi auto carried in a pocket. A revolver doensn't need oil like a semi auto does. A revolver wont stop working due to pocket lint and body sweat that has accumulated dirt throughout the gun. Small semi autos are more prone to FTF's when covered in filth from being in a pocket every day.

For a revolver, if the bullet fails to fire and your primary hand is injured, your back up hand can simply pull the trigger on the wheel gun until a bullet goes bang. With a semi auto, you may need two hands to clear a malfunction/jam.

Again, for a BUG, a revolver is best. You can't beat the J-frames airweight models.

[Triad]

Pocket carry (weak side) S&W 442/642

Ditto

[Notorious]

Carry it in your pocket with a thin leather type holster to keep holes from forming in your pocket.

Mika pocket holsters FTW!

I think I had mine for more than a decade and it looks and works as good as day one.

I think he's still in business and LAPD Academy Store used to have a whole bin of them there so you don't have to order from his shop and wait forever.

[SoCalDep]

I think he's still in business and LAPD Academy Store used to have a whole bin of them there so you don't have to order from his shop and wait forever.

That's where I got mine about ten years ago. I really like my Remora holsters, but the Mika is a really good holster as well.