Was reading a story about the Miami Massacre in 1986

Lot of FBI agents were wounded, two killed.

The author stressed the importance of training with one hand (both dominant and weak hand)

Story recounted how everyone ended up using their backup weapon as well as all spare ammo.

Needless to say, I was seriously reconsidering my own readiness.

Definitely need more trigger time, the hit rate for the FBI agents was abysmal.

Does anyone here carry a spare mag for their EDC? Do you have a secondary weapon in your car?

Do you even train, bro? What say ye?

We would train by shooting one handed with our non-dominant hand. The idea was if we had to shoot with our non-dominant hand, the dominant one was going to be injured to the point of not being able to even be a support hand.

Spare gun in vehicle. +2 extra magazines.
one handed training from the holster to a reload with either hand.
2 extra magazines every day as part of edc.

I think you should shoot one handed just for the fun if it. Non dominant, also. And practice firing as soon as you clear the holster/quick draw.

Why not? I can tell you I would never pull a weapon unless i knew i was damn sure i’d have to use it. Probably too late to get your gun up, sight alignment/sight picture, squeeze trigger lol. More like shove it in his belly and empty your pistol. Up to that point i want them to think i am unarmed, and i am trying to find a way out. At that point it’s a gamble, stakes are too high to play with your life, and don’t let them see your cards. GTFO of there.

Unless you’re a cop doing your job. Then you have to show them your cards. That is why i love cops especially big city cops. You could not pay me enough.

I'm not going to leave behind an additional gun in my vehicle and it's rare that I would carry two. Having said that, I carry one and it's rare that I leave it in my vehicle.

See: people who have guns stolen from their cars.

Yes, I practice with non-dominant hand as ntxtrapper noted.

I don't carry spare magazines. My wallet is only essentials. I don't even carry keys other than the one for the vehicle I'm driving. Not even a house key.

And a wad of ones to toss at him lol

Spare mag for EDC...yes.

Spare firearm...yes, rifle. pistol gets me back to my rifle.

Non-dominate hand shooting...yes but not as often as I probably should.

I run old Ken Hackathorn's Wizard Drill regularly. I'd recommend trying it.

Weak hand definitely gets some practice because it's definitely my WEAK hand.

My EDC is a usually a full-sized 1911 in .45 ACP. Condition One with an eight round mag aboard. Two more eight rounders on my belt. A ten rounder in my hip pocket (if I have to reach for this one it's time to break contact!).

By my count, that's 35 rounds to solve the problem.

There was also mention about the 9mm not being an adequate man stopper.

One of the bad guys was shot near his armpit (with a 9mm) but was able to stay in the fight for several minutes after.

Author also poo poo’d the idea of using revolvers for duty weapons.

Near impossible to reload one handed.

One of the FBI agents was shot in his dominant hand, had to shoot and reload with weak hand.

Other agent had his left arm “peeled like a banana” from the bad guy’s mini 14.

Gun fighting with one hand was super important that day.

Second magazine is a yes unless I'm carrying a revolver, then speed strip.

Secondary in all of the vehicles

Working on making more time for training, seems to be a struggle last few years since I lost my shooting spot close to the house. Dry fire drills at home for the most part

You need to practice dominant and non-dominant one hand shooting. Furthermore, you need to practice drawing with non-dominant hand, reloading, and clearing malfunctions.

33% is typical hit rate of officer involved shootings. Bad guys don’t usually stand still, and LEO’s should be getting offf the X, factor in adrenaline and tunnel vision, and those guys shooting 90-100’s in qualifications are greatly reduced.

Some of the best training for being in an urban environment is gun fighting from the driver’s seat of a vehicle. There’s a lot of things that complicate it such as taking off a seatbelt the least correct way.

“Nobody that’s ever been in a fight complained about having too much ammo.” - Clint Smith

I love a 45 myself. I have a Colt Defender that's a sweet shooting gun, I just don't carry it much.

My EDC is a Sig p938. 7+1 with an extra mag. I always carry the extra mag. I never really have carried a backup, except this past weekend. We were headed down to Downtown Dallas for the girls cheer competition. I slipped a little backup revolver in my pocket for that trip. I do train one handed, and weak side one handed, but not nearly as much as I should.




218, after reading your post, maybe I should switch to my XDM with 22+1 and two backup 22 round mags?

What a lawman who’s task may be taking down a group of bad guys and joe citizen needs are apples and oranges. Most of that FBI report does not apply to what joe public needs to be able to leave, in my opinion. I probably need to qualify my comments by saying most of you city dwellers probably see more people in one day than I see in a month.
I shoot handguns a lot. I probably shoot more than most lawmen do. I know I shoot more than my friends who are lawmen. I can shoot everyday at work without going out of my way to do it. I do practice shooting one handed with either hand. My favorite is ripping and tearing one handed with a handgun in each hand. Big fun! I don’t carry an extra magazine when I’m carrying a pistol. A lot of the time I carry a revolver. I do always carry extra ammunition in the truck. It is pretty likely what is in the hand gun in the morning will get shot up, along with some more. My practice is not and has never been with gunfights in mind. I just shoot because I enjoy it. I have no insights about the quoted hit percentage of the feds. I have never tried to shoot with someone shooting at me. I suspect the person that can remain composed enough to channel the fear into focus and still put their shots on target while under fire is wired a little different than most. Whether a lawmen or not.

Bullet technology and ammo technology from 1986 up to 2024 has changed tremendously. 9mm is plenty for defensive ammo, wether civilian or LEO

We should set up a shoot where you wear head gear and throat protection with a few clay throwers throwing clays at you while engaging a moving target. I seriously doubt I could stand and deliver.

Ha! No kidding.

One of the agents talked about how the blast from the mini 14 was psychologically demoralizing at close range.

Some of the agents were just spraying and praying.

Reminded me of paintball as a kid, it was such an adrenaline dump knowing someone is shooting at you and you’re running for cover. Hard to know how you’ll react when you’re outgunned.

Admittedly I never contemplate a scenario where someone else has the jump on me.

Really need to build some muscle memory with the EDC. Practiced drawing it from my fanny pack (quickly) and it wasn’t good.

More repetitions in my future for sure.

I think this is a key that's often overlooked. Can any of us rack a slide one-handed? It's difficult enough during a low-stress practice drill, let alone in a real life self-defense/SHTF scenario.

Thankfully, some of the forward-thinking design folks have been considering this issue and have offered some rear sights that can be used to rack the slide (as this one on my Springfield DS 1911 9mm). Hook the sight against any sharp edge and shove the grip forward...it can even be accomplished by hooking against your britches pocket!

Still, fighting ANY handgun one-handed is a challenge...just try the old "tap. rack, bang" stoppage drill from the 70s one-handed to confirm that. A better answer might still be the "New York reload" but, heck, I get chided for carrying the amount of ammo that I do...imagine if it was suggested to carry MULTIPLE firearms!

Asking a question because I do not know, I’m not a big pistol/handgun guy:

What has changed with bullet technology? From what we used to see messing around, a hollowpoint would sometimes expand a little, sometimes not. Ball/FMJ ammo was worthless for anything other than targets.

We saw very little expansion with .45 ACP ammo, but it’s pretty low velocity.

I’ve shot a few pigs and a deer with 9mm and 115 grain hollow points and they died quick.


I also grew up hearing that a 9mm was marginal for self defense. Which would make a .380 really worthless.

I’m a .40 A&M fan myself but I shoot my 9’s so well

Like Chris said

Someone with an AR (clay target thrower) starts shooting in your direction, you will crap your pants and curl up in a corner.

This will happen if you are not TRAINED.......TRAINED.........TRAINED to get shot at.

Chided or not, if I was in a gunfight, I would want you and your 248 rounds to be on my side!