This article appears in my long-running Handguns column in the current issue of GUNS magazine, now on the newsstands.
It’s the serious (read: high round count) shooter who really needs the pair and the spare. But if the budget allows, it’s good to have at least the spare.
When bird hunting season opens, if you only have one shotgun and it’s broken, a rifle or handgun just ain’t gonna do it for you. It’s a lousy time to have to borrow a shotgun from someone else, or go out and buy a new one, and in either case have to break it in and pattern it to do your best with it. The ideal, of course, would be an identical shotgun to the one you had planned on using, and were already familiar with.
Target shooting? In the late 1960s when I started shooting bullseye pistol competition, my gun box held my primary, a High Standard Supermatic Citation .22 target pistol and in case anything went wrong with that gun, there was also my ancient pre-war Colt Match Target Woodsman from my early teen years. Never needed it, but was reassured it was there.
On the street? Back in the early 1970s when they first pinned a badge on me, my then-chief of police Maurice Boisvert was a mentor to his officers. He carried the issue gun most of the time, a four-inch barrel Model 10 Smith & Wesson .38 Special. However, when he prosecuted cases (as cops themselves sometimes did in that time and place) he showed up in court in uniform with a two-inch barrel version of the same gun. He explained to me that it was always good to be in uniform and remind the judge that he was “only a cop” up against a real lawyer who spoke for the defense, and that back then a short-barrel gun in uniform was the mark of a supervisor, which told the judge that the cop in question had some time in grade and was competent. He let me prosecute my own cases sometimes, before I went through the State Academy’s grueling Police Prosecutor Course, and when I did so the gun visibly on my hip was the little snub-nose S&W Chief Special .38 I then carried as a backup on duty, not the privately owned/department approved .45 I wore in my duty holster. The backup, part of the patrolling “pair,” had become the spare. By the time I got certified as a police prosecutor in 1988 I was a lieutenant on my second department, so then I testified in uniform with my regular duty belt and .45 auto, still “just a cop, go easy on me Your Honor” and the bars on my collar took care of the other part.
When I hunted big game in Africa I took a .458 Magnum Ruger Model 77, a Steyr-Mannlicher .375 Magnum, and a .308. If one of the big guns had gone down when we were stalking big, brutal Cape Buffalo, there was an adequate “spare” even though they weren’t exactly a “pair.”
As my friend Clint Smith famously said, “Two is one and one is none.”
“Beware the man with one gun because he probably knows how to use it.” If it breaks, however, he is SOL. 😁
This was epitomized in the movie “Last Action Hero”, where Schwarzenegger’s character, Jack Slater, opens his closet to reveal a row of identical brown bomber jackets, a row of identical red t-shirts, a row of identical blue jeans and, on the top shelf, yes, a row of identical Desert Eagles.
When even Hollywood understands the value of multiple spares, none of us have any excuse!
And, should something happen to your defensive item, you don’t want to be learning a new one. It may be some time until the other returns. If it does.
This also applies to concealment holsters. When you (finally) find the right holster, buy a spare. If yours get soaked with sweat, water etc, it’s not usable until it’s dry. Also, holsters wear out. Sure as the sun comes up, it’ll get discontinued, something I should have realized before it happened.
That is also an argument for running fairly run of the mill handguns. If something happened and I needed to replace a $3500 staccato that is tough to do. If something happened I had to run out and spend $600 on a new Glock, I could do that. So even if I don’t have a spare, I could get one pretty quickly. It’s also a good idea to have a spare optic in your drawer in Case your primary opted breaks or you need to throw an optic on a spare or new gun.
The first person who I read who articulated this was John Bianchi in his classic Blue Steel and Gunleather.
Yeah Mas, I have heard the same quote from Clint when on his gun range. I believe that quote pertains to anything important, not just guns. I have thrown it out to my younger generation when they are trying to prep/acquire anything that is critical.
My concealed carry is a Glock 19. My backup to that one is a Glock 23 with a drop-in 9mm barrel and 9mm magazine. Both fit the same holsters (Kydex) and operate identically. The only problem with my backup is it is technically a “modified” pistol which could be a problem if you end up in court. I never carry my backup. It is simply there if the primary piece “breaks” and is in the shop. But who ever heard of a Glock breaking? 😏
BTW, back in the day in IPSC, a pair and a spare translated to primary, backup and one in the shop for rebuild. Power factor for major started dropping for a reason.
As a beneficiary of Mas’ willingness and ability to loan his second gun on one minute’s notice when my primary decided to eject its sight in the middle of The Pin Shoot, I am a firm believer in the Pair/Spare philosophy (and very grateful for Mas’ help). I also now keep at least one immediately available replacement for any “gaming” gun and at least two replacements for each of my regular EDC guns.
For a number of years I have kept a spreadsheet of round counts through each gun and perform scheduled/anticipatory replacement of springs and other wear parts. But only last week did I discover (at a Sig armorer’s course) that Sig recommends replacing the iron sights every 20,000 rounds! Who knew? In retrospect, maybe the sight flying off in the middle of a match last year was a clue.
If you modify a gun to make it easier to shoot accurately or to make it more reliable, that’s easily defensible. It’s like buying tires with better traction performance–it makes things safer.
Anyway, the article was great if for no other reason than I can tell my wife that no less an authority than Massad Ayoob says it is very important for me to keep buying more guns. They wear out like shoes and purses.
As an old-time shooter at “The Pin Shoot” I heartly agree with Mass. With multiple people shooting & using my guns and “Murphy’s Law” still in effect I bring a lot of extra guns. For instance, 4 pin guns, 4 stock minor guns, 3 PCC, 3 CCW guns and 3 stock guns. And every year “Murphy” appears in some form or fashion of a gun that refuses to run or breaks a part. There is a strong but unproven correlation that once you cross the 45th Parallel in Michigan Murphy’s law waits for people at “The Pin Shoot”!!
I am a tiny 105 lb female who is frequently in a state w/ capacity restrictions, & I will only carry on my person (i.e., no bags). Combine those physical challenges w/ the logic here = 3 Sig 365s. The ideal is to carry all 3; I call them my triplets.