Backup Guns

Should you carry one?  I don’t always, but I always have a backup plan.  That plan answers one simple question: “What am I going to do if my primary weapon fails?”  I always have a knife.  So if I don’t have a backup gun, my backup plan is simple, I’m going to fight with my knife or run away, depending on the distance.  I do carry a backup gun quite often for a variety of reasons.

Years ago I didn’t really believe in backup guns for concealed carry and thought cops should carry one for times when they couldn’t get to their primary weapon.  I did carry a backup gun as an armored car guard for years but it was for the same reason as cops and because I could do a New York reload (draw my second gun) faster then I could do a normal reload.  Iraq in 2003 changed my answer about backup guns.

I was a Marine with Golf 2/23 and part of 1^st RCT (Regimental Combat Team).  We were the “tip of the spear” during the invasion and tasked with taking Baghdad.  After the first firefight, I was feeling pretty good and thinking we might actually survive this.  The second one is what caught my attention.  Our convoy was stopped outside a couple of houses in the middle of nowhere.  I was leaning back against a sandbag in the back of our truck when a couple of people opened fire on the convoy.  One was shooting from the building directly to my front and one was shooting from a dirt mound to my right.  I snapped my M16 to my shoulder to open fire on the building.  My reaction time was slow because a machine gun started shooting at the dirt mound before I got off my first shot.  I fired one shot and my rifle malfunctioned.  I started cursing and yelling while doing a malfunction drill.  I got my rifle running again and fired another shot, just to have my rifle jam again.  I got it up and then fired only to have my rifle again malfunction.  I had a single shot M16.  It would give me one shot, malfunction, and then double feed.  It was the worst possible thing to happen in a gunfight.

I would have given my left arm for a backup gun.  Luckily I was with a squad of Marines and had machine guns in support.  They quickly took care of the problem.  My buddy next to me said I was yelling so loud he thought his rifle was down.  After we moved and secured the next area, I broke down my rifle looking for the problem.  I couldn’t find one until I started comparing parts.  My buffer spring was shorter than everyone else’s.  So it wasn’t pushing the bolt carrier hard enough to chamber a round.  It was sure nice of the Marine Corps to send me to combat with a rifle that didn’t work.  Such is the life of a grunt.  I got the rifle to run by making my spring the right size.  I just pulled to stretch the spring.  After that, every couple days, I checked the length versus someone else’s and just fixed it weekly.  My rifle didn’t malfunction again.  With enough motivation you would be surprised at what you can fix.

That one gun battle put it into my mind how important it was to have a backup.  It’s the old saying, if you have it and don’t need it, who cares?  But if you need it and don’t have it, it could mean you life.  Think about getting, training with, and carrying a backup weapon.  Now I carry a backup gun when I go out with a group of people.  If my primary weapon goes down and I don’t have a backup it could mean the life of my friends and me.  I can also arm one of them if I need to.  My backup gun is small, but it’s better than nothing.

And for all those people that carry X that never malfunctions.  Take your handgun and another handgun out to the range.  Now put your X gun down range and shoot it with the other gun.  Does it still run?  It’s been known to happen that a weapon takes a round, saves the holder, but will no longer work.  It would suck to be that lucky and have someone kill you later because now you don’t have a working gun.

Stay Safe,

Ben