Clear Jam or Go For Backup

A

atlctyslkr

New member
If you were in a stressful situation and your primary jammed and you had a backup would you attempt to clear the jam or would you switch over to backup (and why).
 
It depends on how bad the jam is. Most jams I've encountered can be fixed about as quickly as you could re-holster your primary and draw your backup. I would prefer to fix the primary since it's likely to be more powerful than a backup.
 
I'd say clear the primary and get back to it, unless its jammed beyond a quick fix. A tap-rack should get you back in faster than drawing a secondary.

I don't carry a backup, though, so perhaps I am biased towards keeping my main gun operational. Of course, my choice gun is a revolver, so I just keep squeezing that trigger.
 
No backup - jam gets cleared. But, since I keep a round in the chamber and my gun has double (and tripple) strike capability, I'd pull the trigger several times, before trying to clear a bad round. I've done this in practice - let my gun get really dirty to where it becomes a little unreliable. So far, it has always fired on the second or third trigger pull. When its clean, it is completely reliable.
 
Fast clear, and if it is something that will require real thought, then it's time for the New York Reload... BTW, might be an idea to get a rubber gun, and get the muscle memory used to "just drop the thing" so that you don't flinch when the time comes to drop the $1,000 carry piece in the gravel and go for the Kel-Tec....
 
If the situation was that I didn't have adequate cover then, no. I would go for the back up gun immediately. If you watch people that are doing the shooting and they have a malfunction or an empty magazine, they seem to always be taken out during that change of magazine or trying to clear their primary weapon. It is during that time period that they are the most vulnerable. :)
 
It depends on the whole situation. Do I have cover, how easy is it to get to my BUG, I have a habit of taking a quick look at the jam and assessing how quickly I can clear it. There are so many variants to consider.
 
My grandfather introduced tap, rack, bang procedures into my training some time ago, and assuming your gun hasn't failed catastrophically, it's fast. I intend to continue running drills with the occasional snap-cap in the magazine to reinforce and hopefully make it an instinctive reaction, myself.
 
I guess it depends on a lot of factors including the dynamics of the event, where my BUG was located etc. If I was in a position where I could tap,rack,ready from cover I may consider doing that otherwise I would go for my BUG
Time to shooting the next round would probably be the deciding factor
 
No easy answer to this one. There are at least four variables to consider provided one carries a back-up.

1. Distance to the threat.
2. Accessibility of the back-up
3. Difficulty of the malfunction.
4. The use of both arms and hands (clearing malfunctions with one hand is tedious)

Obviously, the farther back you are, the more time you have to clear the jam. As stated, tap rack bang is the answer the vast majority of the time. If you've got cover and distance, I think this is option #1. If that doesn't get the job done, you probably have a double-feed and that will take just a little bit longer. If you're close up and have mere seconds, go for the back-up if you can get to it cleanly and quickly.
 
It depends on cover and distance involved. Close up, and he is armed, you will not have time for either, you may have to take him on hand to hand. Medium range with cover, use backup if you have one, then with the security of a backup available, then clear your main if you can. No cover, do which one is faster for YOU!

If you are a street cop, ALWAYS carry a backup, as you go to trouble, civilians should using their guns to get away from trouble!!! A major difference in tactics!!!

All this depends on your skill, training, and instincts ... there is no right answer as combat is chaos, and chaos is random non-solutions waiting for order to manifest out of the madness!
 
So it has to be in context....

So for the minority of folks that do carry 2 handguns (primary and BUG). Do know most (huge majority) usually only carry 1 carry handgun.

For the most part I will say going to a secondary firearm is most often practiced when you are talking about a rifle (malfunction) and then to a handgun.

But clearing a firearm is "a must" to incorporate into everyone's training program as it's muscle memory - should basically be an automatic response.

But the basic concept is in a firefight it's best to be shooting something rather than being a non shooting target (sitting duck). If it takes you more effort to clear the primary - you automatically move to the secondary until you can get to cover and distance yourself to a safer location so you can bring your primary back into operation or the situation has resolved.
 
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