BUG really needed?

I generally don't carry a backup. I'll admit, it's mostly weight and convenience. It's a pain to carry the extra hardware.

I can totally understand someone doing so, just as I could see someone carrying a knife, pepper spray, or other alternative defensive options.
 
Every person's opinion and circumstances differ...

what works for one person will not necessarily work for the next, therefore, everyone must decide for themselves what works for them and what they feel comfortable with. Personally, I live in a small, relatively safe and quiet midwestern town with a low crime rate, yet - on the basis that you NEVER KNOW what might happen - I still carry regularly. In fact, I carry nearly 100% of the time, except for times when I'm somewhere where I can't. I generally carry one handgun, usually a semiauto (since I prefer those to revolvers) with no extra mag. However, there are some rare times when I might have a second firearm on me - usually a small, drop-in-pocket-and-forget-it type. Think KelTec P32, Baby Browning 25 or maybe even NAA mini-revolver. However, I really don't think of those smaller guns as "backup" to my main firearm, since I have confidence that my main gun will be fine when/if I should ever need it.
 
I sometimes carry bug instead of extra mag. North American arms 22mag not much bigger than mag :-/ Plans for the day and weather plays big role on whats happening. Lots of times NAA mag is loaded couple chambers of rat shot in case of aggressive dogs
 
I'm sure that you're basing this opinion of paranoia on your own personal lifestyle, and experiences. Thats cool. I'd like you go back to my origonal post
and critique my logic. I am admitedly paranoid under certain conditions. But that dont make it a bad idea. I dont always have the option to, as the song says " Run through the jungle, and dont look back" And I am a civilian.

Glenn Dee
Click to expand...

Glenn,

You weren't the original post, and so I wasn't replying to your message.

That said, I never said you shouldn't carry a backup. I said I personally didn't see the need for it for most civilians. It seems like overkill. If you are concerned about your handgun jamming, then carry a revolver. If you are concerned about it breaking, then maintain it well and inspect it all the time. Maybe carry a higher quality revolver, like a S&W or Ruger instead of a less expensive handgun of not-quite-the quality. It makes more sense to me to carry extra ammo than it does an extra gun.

An extra gun means:
- Harder to conceal both.
- More weight.
- More holsters to come loose in the bathroom.
- More training needed. Unless you carry the same style handgun, it's going to operate differently.

I also believe (but don't have any evidence) that IF you end up shooting someone, you're going to come under more scrutiny when you carry more guns.

"Isn't it true, sir, that you carried two handguns because you were looking for a fight?"

"Isn't it true, sir, that you think everyone is out to get you? You carry multiple handguns because you're afraid?"

Maybe I'm wrong. I might be. However, when I think about the likelihood of ever needing to use my firearm, combined with the likelihood of it breaking at just that moment, it just seems paranoid.

If I were a police officer, body guard, bank courier, or a diamond dealer, I might think differently.

By the way, I searched Google looking for civilians who needed to use a backup gun. So far, I haven't found any. If one of you has documentation of non-LEOs actually needing to use a backup handgun to save their life, I'd love to see it. It just seems to me that the odds are like winning Powerball twice in a row. It just doesn't happen. You're money ahead to wear a bulletproof vest instead.

The guy at Tacoma Mall who tried to stop the bad-guy shooter probably would've liked to have a backup, but his primary was in such bad shape that a backup would've been just as poorly maintained.
 
Reports of incidents where private citizens have employed back-up guns will surely not number as high as LEOs, and may very well be difficult to find. This does not prove citizens need not carry them. It is simply not as common for private citizens to carry a BUG, and therefore have one on hand to fall back on. We cannot conclude that a lack of reports of the use of something that most people don't usually have on them to use means that they didn't have a use for them. It more likely means they didn't use something they didn't have.
 
As Hondo Lane once said ... "A long time ago, I made me a rule ... I let people do what they wanna do." Always good advice ... for me, a reliable, decent-caliber handgun and a reload suit me, but I'd never deny you the right to carry enough guns to pull your pants down to your ankles ... it's a matter of personal taste, and that's all ye need to know ...
 
The only time I carried a backup gun was when I was working in a gun store in the 80's and 90’s. Every one that worked there carried one minimum if you wanted to work there. The owner didn’t care one way or the other if you had a backup.
I kept an N frame smith in 44 special outside the pants holster and a Mauser 380 hsc in the pants clip holster in the center of my back.
In all the years I worked there we never had a single problem.
My own personal feeling on backup guns, if you’re going someplace you don’t feel safe without a gun, a backup is a good idea. A better idea would be to stay away from those places.
 
If my wife and I, or a friend and I are out and a shooting situation arises it would be nice to be able to hand off a second gun to them. Now we have two armed folks instead of one- odds are better now that we'll walk away!

When I'm at home or on our property I frequently have a second gun with me cause if I need help, calling out loud is useless, no one to hear me. I don't have backup men at my disposal as leo do. One has to improvise and adapt to overcome one's weaknesses, no? Most of the time there's no one to protect me and mine but me.

Just sayin'.
 
Last edited:
However, when I think about the likelihood of ever needing to use my firearm, combined with the likelihood of it breaking at just that moment, it just seems paranoid.
Click to expand...
No, it sounds like Murphy, a gentleman I've met too many times in my life, unfortunately.:(
 
If you choose to live without a plan "B" you will eventually fail when plan "A" does.
That's the only reason for a backup gun, That's how you get to be in your sixties.
 
I don't agree with one is none.

One is one, and significantly better than none.

All things are subject to failure of course, but if you have chosen well and have a reliable pistol you are likely to be fine.

That being said, I have no problem with those that want to reduce those odds of mechanical failure.
 
I think there are plenty of reasons to carry a bug:

1. Fast reloads - if you live in a frequent gang/multiple attacker areas, it would seem reasonable to have as fast of a reload as possible.

2. Draw from multiple locations - if you get in an out of cars a lot, carrying in different places will help if you ever need it.

3. Mechanical failure.

4. You drop one in the middle of a fight.

5. To arm a friend.

Everyone has different jobs, friends, life circumstances and risks. Everyone has to decide for themselves how they want to be protected. Some people's precautions may seem like overkill to others, and they may be or may not be that way. Usually, instead of judging your fellow man, unless he is causing harm, let him make his own decisions.

The mentality of 'need' is what allows majorities to dictate to the whole group by law what is 'necessary' and what is 'absurd'. Why would anyone need more than 10 rounds in a hand gun, or three shots in a hunting rifle or on the range? For that reason, Freedom is not based on the concept of 'need'.
 
maybe in the future

Maybe in the future the way the world is going we may need to carry more weapons,more protection.As for the current world in my current location,I will feel safe with one.We are still not in the mad max state just yet
 
The ONLY time I feel the need to carry a back-up, is when I'm working in the gun shop, alone on a weekend. The shop sits on a rural stretch of highway, half way between one screwed up city and a smaller, but equally screwed up city. Lot's of "unknown quantities" seem to stop in on weekends. I'm always glad to have a couple of my buddies show up and spend some time just chatting. Nice to have back-up.
 
I like the concept of a BUG for all the aforementioned reasons, but I wonder about the thought of having a BUG that's a smaller/lighter caliber than the primary gun. Back in the early/mid-20th Century, Texas Rangers who were issued .38SPL & .357MAG revolvers often carried 1911's and .44SPL's as backup. Ranger Frank Hamer typically carried a 1911 in .38Super with a SAA in .45LC as his backup when chasing Bonnie & Clyde. Jim Cirillo of the NYPD Stakeout Squad usually carried two or more Model 10's in .38SPL on a daily basis. Often, their BUG was the larger, more powerful gun. These guys reasoned that, if you needed to go to a backup, you needed something that would hit as hard or harder than your primary.

Today, that seems to translate into the following: if your primary is a Ruger LCR in .38SPL, carry another LCR as your backup (maybe even one in .357MAG). If it's a LCP, carry an LCP as backup. If you're carrying two different calibers, maybe have the "smaller" gun more accessible and the "larger" gun more concealed (like a LCP in the front pocket with a SR9c as backup in a SmartCarry or belly band or even off-body carry).

Just a thought....I'm not passing myself off as an expert...just a guy who can find his way on the Internet and type fairly well....
 
Are you kidding? I carry a BUG to the CAR WASH!! :eek:

Haha.

But I would absolutely have one on my person and another in the cruiser if I was a LEO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top