Backup Plan: When The Quickest Reload Is A Second Gun

Back in the day, cops called it a “New York Reload,” a term dating back to the era when New York City stake-out detectives carried two snob-nose revolvers so they could, according to longtime pal and former cop-turned-private investigator Paul Huebl, “instantly switch guns in a gunfight to avoid slow reloads.

“In those days,” he recalled, “semi-autos were too unreliable.”

How’d you like to be the dumb crook who suddenly finds himself suffering from a case of .38-caliber double-vision?

Lots of people carry revolvers, and some carry two; their primary sidearm and a backup. The logic of this made sense the first time I heard about it. Rather than duck for cover and try to reload under stress, just draw the backup and stay in the fight.

Author Workman has found a good combination of wheelguns for those occasions when he “doubles down.”

Probably the guy who perfected the New York Reload was the late Jim Cirillo, a legendary NYPD detective who spent several years on the stakeout unit and, according to various published stories, was involved in seventeen gunfights. He carried a pair of Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers along with a 12-gauge Ithaca shotgun, and he is sometimes remembered as the “last of the real gunfighters in America.”

I never met Cirillo. Wish I had, because the stories he shared were educational as well as entertaining. He put a lot of them in a book titled “Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights,” published 30 years ago and it is still available on Amazon. A second book, “Jim Cirillo’s Tales of the Stakeout Squad,” authored by Paul Kirchner, is also loaded with Cirillo lore, and can also be found on Amazon.

Sadly, Cirillo died in a traffic accident in 2007. However, his habit of packing two revolvers was a stroke of genius which is still practiced by a surprising number of folks today, rather than a semi-auto with more firepower in a single magazine than a pair of wheelguns. The downside to the single gun strategy is that if something goes wrong, you might as well have a brick. With a second gun, you’re still in the game.

I’m guilty of occasionally carrying two at a time, and I’ve known police and sheriff’s deputies who have carried backup guns in ankle holsters or in deep-cover chest holsters inside their shirts. Others have carried 5-shot Smith & Wesson Chief’s Special snub guns in coat pockets, on the opposite side from their duty sidearm. It might be impossible to accurately estimate the number of lives saved by the presence of a backup gun, but if you’re a revolver afficionado, packing double is certainly worthy of consideration.

Better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it, eh?Thanks to the light weight of a small alloy-framed S&W revolver, Dave has found that carrying such a revolver in the pocket of a sport jacket or nylon vest is unobtrusive and immediately accessible. Speed loaders go in the opposite pocket.

In Self-Defense

What brought this to mind is that March 13 is the tenth anniversary of an incident involving a guy I slightly knew—and interviewed one week after the fact (the only working journalist he would speak with)—who fatally shot a hatchet-wielding assailant after the man entered a 7-Eleven in a suburb south of Seattle. The hatchet man took a swing at him, barely missing what could have been a fatal head wound, and then turned his attention toward the clerk. The good guy was simply drinking coffee and had never seen this nut before.

I watched the store security video at least a dozen times. It was a textbook example of justifiable self-defense, at least under Washington state’s use-of-force statute; what is generically called a “clean shoot” within the parameters of the “reasonable person doctrine.” The armed citizen shot the attacker three times at virtually point blank range with a J-frame Smith & Wesson chambered in .357 Magnum, an act determined by investigators and prosecutors to have been what any reasonable person would have done in a similar situation. The attacker died at the scene, ending an incident which unfolded over the course of only about 30 seconds. Violence frequently happens without warning, it is so fast one may not have time to really think, just act.

As it turned out, the five-shot revolver was one of two such handguns he was carrying at the time, one in each pocket of his jacket. He remained at the scene, was interviewed by sheriff’s detectives who reviewed the security video, and released. They even let him keep his second gun, since it had not been fired.

Six months later, the county prosecutor’s office announced no charges would be filed. The incident has faded into history, my pal eventually got his gun back, and so far as I know, he went on with his life.

The classic lightweight Colt Cobra is another good choice for either a primary carry piece or a backup gun,. It offers six shots worth of attitude adjustment, and such revolvers can often be found
used in gun shops or at gun shows for very reasonable prices.

Wheelgun Magic

What’s the best way to carry double? There is no one-size-fits-all formula. When I carry a backup revolver, it’s often in a pocket holster stuffed inside of my cover vest’s cargo pocket. My lightweight S&W snubbie can also be carried in a jacket pocket without the holster. It doesn’t print, and I can carry a couple of HKS speedloaders in the opposite pocket. Otherwise, it might be in a Mitch Rosen ankle rig.

Others will used the aforementioned ankle holster for their second gun, or an IWB rig on the opposite/weak side, or even front or rear, depending upon one’s cover garments. It is a very fast way to stay in the fight, should the circumstances require, and by the time your ten, eleven or a dozen rounds have been fired, you will have made a lasting impression.

Remora offers a handy pocket holster with a surface which keeps it in the pocket when the gun is drawn, via friction.

Years ago, I worked with a guy who carried a small S&W .38 Special in his pants pocket, as he typically wore neatly-pressed cargo pants. Nobody could tell he had that gun. He also had, close at hand, a Colt .45 Commander.

What handguns would I recommend? Here’s where it gets fun. There are so many great revolvers for this practice from S&W, Colt, Ruger, Taurus, Charter Arms and Kimber; new or used, you can find some very good deals on revolvers since they’re not as popular as semi-autos. The carry combinations are virtually endless. One might obtain a pair of S&W Model 10 snub guns, or a Colt Detective Special backed up by a Colt Cobra.

Personally, I have carried a Colt Diamondback and a J-frame Model 442 Smith, both in .38 Special, or a .357 Magnum Model 19 S&W with a 2 ½-inch barrel, backed up by a .38 Special at times. One might opt for a pair of J-frame five-shooters, as my acquaintance mentioned above.

Thanks to collaborations between S&W and Lipsey’s, there are new wheelguns in .44 Special and .38 Special available, and they do not have the internal locking mechanism. I suspect the majority of two-gun packers carry .357s or .38s, either with hammers or hammerless, and having one or two of these little shooters beats the heck out of having no gun at all!

There’s no trick to carrying two revolvers, outside of practice and the right choice of holsters and carry positions. You’ll burn up a lot of ammunition, with the ultimate goal of speed and accuracy. Of course you should practice shooting with both hands.

Packing a backup gun is a sign of preparedness, not paranoia, and carrying revolvers doesn’t limit anything. Instead—as in my case—it has broadened my perspective, and given me plenty of time to think about all the various carry options.

Carry with confidence and do it discreetly.