Your perfect duty pistol and backup?

tarosean said:

I'll see your 15rds and raise a few more..

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is the first round in that picture backwards?

Nevermind, i see the other comments after i posted the question.

roo_ster said:

Not sure if you post in jest, but I still have mine. Given the short bbl and that I don't want +P recoil, I stoke it with hardball. I did polish the OUTSIDE of the bbl to make it easier to work the slide and gently polished the feed ramp so it feeds super slick. Also, several thousand dry fires with snap caps smoothed out the trigger, though it is still heavy..but smooth.

I keep it around because it is 100% reliable me with hardball and is my most natural point-shooting pistol. Draw, point at target 10 yards away, fire, see holes appear COM. No sights needed.

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Dead serious. I carry it almost daily. Sometimes as primary sometimes as back up. I had a good smith slick it up, too. Mine will feed JHP’s just fine.

I go with Xd mod2 Service and subcompact in either 9 or 45 with option to go even smaller with XDS as backup if needed

What? No Highpoints?

All kidding aside, most back problems associated with police officers are from the seats of the police vehicles that they are forced to drive around in for many hours. Most departments take average family cars, upgrade them a little bit in the electrical and brake systems, declare them "safe" for police use and then have field cops use them. Trouble is that most modern day cars are designed for tiny Oriental people and don't even come close to fitting a larger American frame at all. Because of this design flaw, too many American cops end up with back problems and politically appointed chiefs tend to look the other way as far as officers becoming long term disabled from the lousy seats.

I would actually opt for a 9 mm Glock for a duty firearm with a Glock 26 as a back-up. G-34, G-17, G-17L or G-19 would be my primary firearm choices. The G-26 would be my duty back-up if possible for magazine changing abilities. If no G-26 then I'd go with a thin and slim Ruger 9 mm PC-9. A good PC-9 is so slim and yet so accurate that they're awfully hard to ignore for a good back-up gun.

roo_ster said:

Not sure if you post in jest, but I still have mine. Given the short bbl and that I don't want +P recoil, I stoke it with hardball. I did polish the OUTSIDE of the bbl to make it easier to work the slide and gently polished the feed ramp so it feeds super slick. Also, several thousand dry fires with snap caps smoothed out the trigger, though it is still heavy..but smooth.

I keep it around because it is 100% reliable me with hardball and is my most natural point-shooting pistol. Draw, point at target 10 yards away, fire, see holes appear COM. No sights needed.

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I had the AMT backup in 380, with the single action trigger. Would only feed FMJ rounds, which was fine for me as I never intended to carry it as a primary weapon. AMT gets a hard rep for lemon weapon but mine really well, just not well enough for me to keep it.

It would be a CZ-75 or a clone, all steel with rubber wrap around grips. Or my Sig P226. But my Tanfoglio TA/90 "Mossad" is a better shooter, so it would be my pick. This is it from the pics on GB. I have rubber grips on it now. The wood grips are on another gun.

primary: a steel taurus 38sp snubbie, which i carried unobtrusively while working in the third world. backup: a naa 22lr mini with larger rubber grips, which i didn’t have then.

For duty carry, I would choose a SilencerCo Maxim 9. Without question. As reliable and accurate as any semiauto pistol I have used, but hearing safe in a platform far more compact than any suppressed standard pistol.

Backup then would be a 26 to utilize the same mags if needed.

jeepnik said:

Dead serious. I carry it almost daily. Sometimes as primary sometimes as back up. I had a good smith slick it up, too. Mine will feed JHP’s just fine.

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I stoke my Cdr and GM sized 1911s with JHP.

My AMT will feed JHP(1) too, but I have serious doubts that a standard pressure 230gr JHP will open up with the 3" bbl and if it does, it may not penetrate enough. Tests I have seen in the past all required sub-230gr and +P to get a JHP to work. Well, until the Federal HST, which I have yet to test in my .45s.

Neither worry with hardball.

I would really like a FMJ truncated cone or RNFP with a large-ish meplat for every day AMT carry and my larger 45ACP pistols when out in the woods.


(1) But not target wadcutters.

Just one “back-up” gun? I like the idea of an ankle gun, for the times I might be on/near the ground, and another, at a higher level, perhaps secured to/in my external armor carrier, if that is socially acceptable. If I can have two SP101 revolvers, as “back-up” guns, I would be OK with a GP100 as a primary duty handgun, as all could share the same spare ammo. Another GP100 would be readily available, inside the passenger compartment of the patrol vehicle.

If only one “back-up” handgun is acceptable, for this scenario, well, I might well rather have an autoloading primary duty pistol. I shoot a full-sized 1911 better than any of them, with less need to train as often to maintain that level of skill, so, primary would be the 1911, with SP101 secondary.

This is not an entirely theoretical exercise. When I was still driving a Tahoe, as a patrol vehicle, in 2016, and part of 2017, I carried a Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special on my duty belt. My ankle gun, at the time, was actually a G26, as my Alessi ankle rig had become too loose to properly retain a heavy SP101. When I was issued a Ford make-believe-utility-vehicle as a patrol vehicle, I had to down-size my duty pistol, in order to be able to smoothly exit the vehicle, in a hurry, so I reluctantly carried a G19 on my duty belt, for my final several months, before retirement.

I voluntarily carried a 4” .357 on my duty belt as recently as April 1997. I continued to keep a GP100 or other 4” .357 stashed in the passenger compartment of the patrol car well into the 21st Century, perhaps into its second decade, because of the desirability of the flatter trajectory and greater penetration of the .357 Magnum, for some situations.

Rexster said:

Just one “back-up” gun? I like the idea of an ankle gun, for the times I might be on/near the ground, and another, at a higher level, perhaps secured to/in my external armor carrier, if that is socially acceptable. If I can have two SP101 revolvers, as “back-up” guns, I would be OK with a GP100 as a primary duty handgun, as all could share the same spare ammo. Another GP100 would be readily available, inside the passenger compartment of the patrol vehicle.

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Keep in mind, that while you are choosing backup guns FOR YOU, that backup gun without proper weapon retention is a weapon FOR THEM. An open carried duty weapon, even in a Level 3 retention holster, is a tasty morsel to a criminal with nothing to lose. I have helped many officers fighting someone who really, really did not want to go to jail. Even someone who is already handcuffed will be somehow willing to reach for a holstered pistol while surrounded by close to a dozen police and detention officers. And if you have a backup just hanging around on your vest, that is easier to grab at than a BUG on your ankle or in your back pocket.

Hardly any officers I worked with carried backup guns. They started to drop out of favor with the local departments when Tasers, OC, and expandable batons were easier to carry than a second (or third) gun. I always chuckled at the signs where officers (police and detention) would enter the compound. "Please lockup all weapons. Including backups guns. And yes that one too."

In Smalltown USA, a Smith and Wesson model 629 with .44 spl Keith SWC loads and a Ruger LCP as a backup

In the vibrant metropolises of this nation, An M&P Smith in any duty caliber, Smith model 386 Nightguard 7 shot .357 as a backup.

GunnyUSMC said:

I would go with a Glock model 45 as my duty gun and a Glock 43 as my backup.
If your duty gun capacity is less then 15 rounds, you will be out gunned by the average street thug these days.

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This is a good combo. We carry Glock 22 and Glock 27.

I have an “approved list” to choose from and currently run a Glock Model 45 with a Surefire X300 Ultra light and a Glock Model 43 as a backup pistol.
I have carried 1911s, Smith and Wessons, Berettas, and Sig Sauers along with Glocks of several calibers over the years but this combo works well for me currently.

I run my dept issued Glock 21 and a S&W 642 for backup. Will hopefully soon switch to a Glock 17 with rmr optic. The 642 will ride with me till the end of my career.

Hi...
I carry a full size Springfield Armory 1911 in .45ACP.
My backup is a Colt Combat Commander in .45ACP.
If I were in law enforcement and could choose, I would do the same.

As a retired police officer/detective, in southern CA. at first we had the S&W19, and then went to the 9mm S&W59, in both cases as a back-up I had a .380 AMT back-up. However as a detective I carried a Colt Officers Model in .45ACP or a Detective Special, in which I still have the Detective Special, as a rule when I went on duty as a detective I usually just thru on a handgun and holster (Colt .45ACP or the Detective Special) and went out in the field.

My everyday carry FNP-9 and LC9s with Gerber skeleton and Buck tanto.

Labguy47 said:

My everyday carry FNP-9 and LC9s with Gerber skeleton and Buck tanto.

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I cannot think of a single department that allowed officers to carry a large fixed blade knife. Some even have to get permission from the police chief or otherwise high rank officer just to carry the TDI style knives.

herrwalther said:

I cannot think of a single department that allowed officers to carry a large fixed blade knife. Some even have to get permission from the police chief or otherwise high rank officer just to carry the TDI style knives.

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I’ve carried a NY sling under my BDUs to on top of my shoulder holster or on miles gear. If there’s a will there’s a way.

Service pistol? Of my own strict choice?
Sig P320.
As a backup?
Sig 230. .380 is still in wide use today.

Labguy47 said:

I’ve carried a NY sling under my BDUs to on top of my shoulder holster or on miles gear. If there’s a will there’s a way.

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In the Army I carried a full size Kabar strapped to my thigh overseas. County police officers where I live use concealable body armor under their uniform shirts as opposed to the cheaper over vests of the smaller departments around. As a police officer, duty belt space is at a premium anyway. So adding a full size knife, if it were allowed, isn't feasible for the officers I worked with.

I am currently able to carry my own duty pistol (within certain parameters) and I chose the Glock Model 45 in 9mm with factory night sights and a Surefire X300 Ultra weapon light.
I qualify with a Glock Model 26 9mm, a Glock Model 43 in 9mm, and a Smith and Wesson Model 642 in .38 Special.
9mm Duty ammunition is Federal HST 147 grain bonded duty ammunition as issued by the agency.
Over the past 25 years I carried a Smith and Wesson Model 686 in .357 Magnum.
A Smith and Wesson Model 4566 .45 ACP.
A Glock Gen 2 Model 19 9mm.
Glock Model 21 .45 ACP.
Glock Model 22 .40 S&W.
Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP.

The Glock Model 45 in 9mm currently meets my needs as a law enforcement duty pistol and is an approved duty weapon for my Agency.

earlthegoat2 said:

So for me my choice would be the boring ol G19 with +2

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Why not just carry a17?

My "carry rotation" is a Glock 26 and a Glock 19.

About 4 months ago I decided to quit carrying a spare Glock 26 magazine as a reload for the 26. Now I just carry a 19 magazine as my reload all the time