I agree that the possibility exists and I always carry a reload or a backup. Just curious if anyone has had to use their reload or backup.
Only time I've ever pulled a pistol, the sight of it ended the altercation, no shots fired.
I dont see it as wildly unreasonable to need to reload. What is an XDS 45? 5+1? Get attacked by a small gang...put 2 rounds into 3 people...id sure want to reload.
I think the comment about prioritizing your training to be good. How often do we practice drawing and shooting with our weak hand? Probably won't ever need it by in real life you might. Should definitely have the fundamentals locked down first.
And, it really depends on where you're at. If I had to live and work in a place like Chicago, but where they allow CCW (not likely, either), I'd wear armor, carry 15 handguns and a shotgun under my coat, maybe a Chicago typewriter. I'd rival Mel Gibson in "Beyond Thunderdome". But, I spend most of my life in the woods at the end of the road or in one of the small towns of about 2500 people 20 miles in either direction once on the highway. I normally carry my .38 snub and my .22NAA and often without a reload. If I carry a reload, it's in a speed strip for convenience. I don't feel particularly in peril. I arm up with one more, a belt gun, when I go to the big city. Now, out here, I'm more apt to need my .38 to shoot coyotes or a mangy feral dog chasing my chickens than a BG. Actually, that has happened. And, I've used my NAA to take down a couple of water moccasins since we've been here, about a year and a half. But, we already know most of the folks down the road from us, private road, we all get together and pool our money when the road gets washed out or otherwise needs maintained. Makes for good neighbors, all-be-it not exactly next door neighbors.
I walk in the woods with a shotgun checking my feeders and game camera, one barrel with 6 shot for squirrel, the other with buck or a slug for the possibility of running across a hog. I ain't worried about BGs out here. I mean, it could happen, but pity the poor illegal crossing through my place that tries to assault me.
That ain't likely to happen, either. We're pretty well north of the border.
So, yeah, if I lived and worked in Houston or San Antonio, I'd be way more worried about multiple assailants. Where I spend most of my life, though, I'm not really worried about ONE assailant.
Even in the small towns, the possibility is remote. The crime rate here is non-existent. When I lived in Corpus, I carried my Kel Tec 9, 11 rounds of +P on tap and a spare mag. I even showered with it on the counter. Rough town for being a small city. The TV news proved it every night. Lots of drug and illegal traffic funnel through that town on the way to Houston and points north and the cartels are prevalent there. But, since we've moved, I've put the old Kel Tec aside for my preferred revolvers.
Location makes a lot of difference in how I arm myself and whether I deem a reload necessary. I don't have just ONE gun nor ONE strategy. Depends on threat level. I practice for any eventuality, of course, nearly daily on my range behind the house. I practice weak hand with my NAA .22 all the time, carry it in my weak side pocket just in case I'm tied up with my strong hand fighting off an assault. I used to do a lot more reload practice and weak hand shooting of my primary when I was shooting IDPA, but still do now and then. Everyone out here has a private range. It's not a safe place for drug gangs to hang out and their sales would suffer at any rate.
