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Question about L.E.O.'s and back up gun's Login/Join 
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At my agency I would say less than 10% carry a backup gun. Mostly J frames with a couple of random .380 autos. Couple of guys that keep a compact gun in their patrol bag but don't carry an on-body backup.

I've carried a 642 as a backup for almost 15 years. It would be weird not having it.
 
Posts: 5143 | Location: Iowa | Registered: February 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Dinosaur
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They were the “NY reload” back when NYPD used .38 wheel guns and didn’t allow speed loaders. Dump pouches were a nightmare in a gun fight so a second weapon made the most sense and lot of guys, and just about everybody working rough areas, carried either the S&W Chief Special or Colt Detective Special and went straight to that when the issue weapon was out.
 
Posts: 6955 | Location: 96753 | Registered: December 15, 1999Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I've worked at 2 departments, and the AVERAGE street cop is not a gun person, and in Florida, the AVERAGE street cop shoots 46 rounds a year to qualify. That's it. Most don't shoot more than to qualify once per year. Its a dismal statistic.

In my observations, less than 50% of street cops carry a backup gun. Probably as low as 25%.

I did show a lot of guys my j-frame 642 and did get quite a few to buy them. Many of the younger guys have never actually held and or shot a revolver, so when they see a j-frame, they instinctively think "geezer gun", but once they have it in their hand, and shoot it at the range, many come around and find it a good backup gun.


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Posts: 6660 | Location: Floriduh | Registered: October 16, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I am curious to see where a backup gun could be carried with all the gear uniformed officers have on.






 
Posts: 602 | Location: NW Pa. USA | Registered: January 25, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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quote:
Originally posted by tankeryanker:
I am curious to see where a backup gun could be carried with all the gear uniformed officers have on.


My preference is the front left pocket, in a pocket holster. I started with a S&W 642, then a Kahr PM9. (Nowadays, if I still carried one, it'd be a Sig P365 in the same spot.)

There are a few other common areas too. Like various other pants pockets. Or inside the shirt on the body armor. Or on the ankle.

And some of the uniform shirts and outer armor vests nowadays have dedicated hidden BUG pockets.
 
Posts: 32421 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Been on the job just over 28 years(at my second department for 6- retired from the first after 22) I have had a back up on my ankle from day 1. Was a PPK at first then went to a J frame which is what I still carry. Most of my coworkers don't carry a back up but quite a few do carry off duty. Young guys look at J frame like it's an antique but I can sometimes shoot it better than my G17 duty gun. I tried a G26 for back up and off duty for a while but went back to the J frame quick. I recently bought a G43 but for some reason I still always go for the J frame.
 
Posts: 334 | Location: South Florida | Registered: December 14, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Road Dog
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Me and most of our people who do carry a backup do so on support side in cargo pocket. If I have on my class A with no cargo I either carry in a hip pocket or desantis Apache ankle holster.



quote:
Originally posted by tankeryanker:
I am curious to see where a backup gun could be carried with all the gear uniformed officers have on.
 
Posts: 3442 | Location: Southwest Indiana | Registered: December 12, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Needs a check up
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I always loved it when a new cop would show up at an idpa match. All shined up in the brand new nylon duty rig. Ram rod tall and asking only a few questions on protocol. Then they get smoked like a 15 hour brisket by old dudes in crappy jeans and ragged vests. One after another after another after another. Like clubbing a baby seal. They never ever saw it coming.


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The entire reason for the Second Amendment is not for hunting, it’s not for target shooting … it’s there so that you and I can protect our homes and our children and and our families and our lives. And it’s also there as fundamental check on government tyranny. Sen Ted Cruz
 
Posts: 5130 | Location: Boca Raton, FL The Gunshine State | Registered: July 30, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Wait, what?
Picture of gearhounds
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If I’m in uniform I have a backup in my outer carrier- a 220C that can share mags with my duty 220 if shit were to really hit the fan. I carry off duty every single day, usually a SC 9mm. Hell, if I’m laying on the couch with the beagles, I’m armed Big Grin




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Posts: 15501 | Location: Martinsburg WV | Registered: April 02, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
semi-reformed sailor
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quote:
Originally posted by tankeryanker:
I am curious to see where a backup gun could be carried with all the gear uniformed officers have on.


Mostly I was in a professional uniform and carried in the left front pocket or on the left ankle. I’m right handed and figured I’d be using my right to keep my gun in its holster. One of the few times I didn’t have a backup gun on me, I was attacked and had a PCP hopped up illegal grab my duty gun. Turned into a four and a half minute fight for my life....got two broken ribs and some more cracked for my troubles....after that I added a push knife behind my mag pouches on the left side of my duty belt.

Never had another assault on me that was deadly force related where I might have needed a backup.

I know of one guy who carried a AMT 380 backup in a spare handcuff case (with a flap) on his belt.

And the guy who hired me carried a 380 auto on his ankle. Several detectives ankle carried too.



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Posts: 11246 | Location: Temple, Texas! | Registered: October 07, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I’ll add...

I’d totally carry two duty guns AND a backup if they’d let me Big Grin


So how many guns did Josey Wales or John Mosby carry?? Four or more.

Do you chew tobacco?? Wink


41
 
Posts: 11828 | Location: Herndon, VA | Registered: June 11, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Age Quod Agis
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I'm not a cop and I carry a 229 and a pocket 938. Just got back from Massachusetts. Feel naked without them.

Sometimes the 229 is on the hip and sometimes it's in a Maxpedition versapack, but I always have 2.



"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."

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Posts: 12743 | Location: Central Florida | Registered: November 02, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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While on duty, I carried a BUG = always a S&W snubby (different models over the years). My duty guns were a Beretta 92FC 9mm, SIG P226 9mm or a SIG P220 .45 ACP

My agency had around 125 officers, if I remember correctly around 1/2 carried BUGs.


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Posts: 1890 | Location: Collier Twp, PA | Registered: June 08, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Everyone on patrol carried a second. I carried a model 36 in a ankle holster.

We were required to qualify monthly so that gave us some minor level of proficiency but still cops aren’t known for being gun proficient..
 
Posts: 1447 | Location: Western WA | Registered: September 11, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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1st, your results here are going to be somewhat inaccurate. Remember, this is a gun forum, and everyone here are gun enthusiasts.

2nd, not all cops are gun enthusiasts. Some of my coworkers just look at a gun as a tool. Like a carpenter would a hammer. Not every cop is or even wants to be SWAT or a gunfighter.

- I have witnessed some weird and strange shit when it comes to some of my coworkers. Some haven't cleaned their guns in YEARS. Some don't carry one in the chamber. In that subgroup, some knowingly, some out of stupidity. Some that qualify an EASY course of fire by one or two points. Some fail. There's also some that I wouldn't trust with anything more dangerous than a fish, but carry a loaded weapon. Some just flat-out have no clue what they're doing.

(Years ago, I posted on here about one of my rocket surgeons who used "The red stuff" to lubricate his AR... Turns out it was red loc-tite.)

My department, we qualify once a year for primary weapon- 50 round course, and again for secondary or back-up- 30 round course. And they are EASY course of fire with lots of time.

My primary is a G-21. I have about 6 others that are my secondary. P-226, P-220, G-19, G-17, Ruger LCP, S&W 340PD, and a few more. So I have to qualify with each of those once a year.
Then comes the AR. Those on the job qualify twice a year with that. There's some who can't pass that qualification. (Another EASY course of fire)

Then about once a year we'll get additional training. Low light/flash light, some faster qualifying times.
Me? I try to sign up for as much weapons training I can. Get paid to play on the range, and shoot company ammo? Sign me up!!!



Me- I don't leave home without one. You catch me outside, I got a gun on me.
Some of my coworkers, not so much. Some leave the gun in the locker at work, and that's where it stays until they work the next day.


Work wise, Depending on what I'm doing- I have the G-21 on me and the AR in the car. The days I was actually out hunting, I had a G-30 as back up. Wintertime, I'll occasionally toss my 340PD in my pocket. Knife in my pocket, back up knife in my vest.

I also shoot as much as I can. This past Friday, I ran through at least 400 of 9mm, probably 100 of 45, 400 of 5.56, and a few hundred of .22 out at a friends farm. I'm at the farm about 3 to 4 times a year. I also try to hit the department range about once a month. Some of my coworkers think I'm nuts, but they probably golf, and I think wacking a lil ball as far as you can, then chasing after it with some loud pants on is the dumbest thing one can do. I also will hit a class from a good instructor about every 2 or 3 years.


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Posts: 8320 | Location: Attempting to keep the noise down around Midway Airport | Registered: February 14, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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BUG when working...........always carrying off-duty unless I'm running or riding my mountain bike.


Steve
"The Marines I have seen around the world have, the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
 
Posts: 3436 | Location: Northeast PA | Registered: June 05, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have a friend who is a CPD detective, she always carry off duty. I think she carried an LCP as backup before becoming a detective.
 
Posts: 2714 | Registered: March 22, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
posting without pants
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Well... since my bendable is a bit rusty (kidding my friend)

I'll start with your question. I carry a backup on my 100 percent of the time when in uniform and on duty.

Off duty or plain clothes, depends on the assignments. (I'm referring to a backup gun, as in the past 10 years, I cannot think of a single minute where I did not have a gun on my person, unless I was literally in a swimming pool or lake, in which case it was in the boat or somewhere close.

That said, you are correct. Officers at my dept are required to qualify (and it is a whole range day) twice a year. The officers who dislike shooting (who are usually the ones who also suck at it) ONLY shoot during these times, unless forced to.

The good shooters, like to shoot, and do so on their own time, and take the dept up on their 100 free rounds per month. The ones who are scared of the gun, or don't like to shoot, don't. ANd their scores show it.





Strive to live your life so when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, the devil says "Oh crap, he's up."
 
Posts: 33287 | Location: St. Louis MO | Registered: February 15, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Sigforum K9 handler
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If I have pants on, I have a gun. Usually nothing smaller than a G19.

When I was in uniformed services, I carried a BUG. M&P compact 9mm on inside left ankle. I carry a Gen5 G19 with a reload at work these days. Have a spare Gen5 G17 with an x300 locked up in the car. Along with a rifle.




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Posts: 37081 | Location: Logical | Registered: September 12, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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My agency would not allow a BUG. It was verboten.


La Dolce Vita
 
Posts: 543 | Location: SW Florida & SNJ | Registered: July 26, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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