Do you carry a BUG (Back-Up Gun)?
Do you practice with the BUG? By that I mean all the same skills you practice with your primary piece.
Do you practice drawing the BUG from where you carry it? Do you carry your BUG in an ankle holster? Do you practice drawing from it? Maybe you can’t at the range, but at least you can dry practice it at home. Can you draw from this location? Do you carry in a pocket holster? Can you get the gun in a good grip, out and on target in time? If not, reconsider your BUG carry location, or at least acknowledge to yourself the limits and constraints of the location and work within those bounds. Or perhaps you just may need more practice.
Do you practice transitioning from your main carry gun to your BUG? In the heat of a confrontation, transitioning to the BUG may involve dropping your carry gun on the ground and going for the BUG. If the S is H’ing TF, I don’t care what happens to my main gun (i.e. hits ground and breaks), but in practice I do care. I will practice this sort of transition over the bed, so when I drop I know my main gun is landing safely. This isn’t practicing so much about dropping my gun as it is drawing the BUG, but I also want to allow myself to know “yes it’s OK to just drop the gun… don’t waste time trying to find it a home like in the holster… the ground is a perfectly acceptable home when the fur is flying.”
If you carry a BUG, by definition it’s a second gun. That means the likely way you’ll get to it is because your first gun is no longer operational, thus transitions are something to practice. And don’t forget, practice going the other way too (BUG to primary) because sometimes it may go that way.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Just remember this, if you have to draw your primary, then your life is worth more than whatever happens to it. Your primary can be re-conditioned to get the dings and scraps buffed out, your life can’t be replaced.
On the topic of BUGs and training…
If you carry a BUG, can you easily draw your BUG with your off hand (or weak hand)? Can you accurately shoot your BUG one handed with your off hand? Can you draw your BUG from any position, such as prone or on your back? Can you manipulate the controls (i.e. safety, slide locks, mag catches, etc) to both your primary and BUG with only your off hand?
Yes, I realize 99% of everything I covered is off hand, but training with your off hand is just as critical as training with your main hand.
There is a quote I’d like to cite, but I don’t remember who said it. It stuck in my mind when I first started the academy last year. It goes “We don’t rise to the occasion, we fall to the highest level of our training.” If you lose the ability to use your main hand, what’s the highest level of training you have with your off hand? If Murphy wants to pop by and say Howdy at the wrong time, I want to make sure I’m ready to deal with it.
Yup. Dings, dents, broken pieces… all can be fixed. That’s why I wrote what I did, because it’s good to condition yourself to allow yourself to just drop the gun.
All good points about drawing, and I’d say those apply to your primary as well as your BUG.
And you’re right. We don’t rise to the occasion. This is why it’s important to train hard. Karl mentioned something… I forget the exact details but it came from a guy that I believe was head of APD SWAT for numerous years. His one key piece of advice was that when the fur flies you’ll probably be about 70% of your worst day on the range. That’s not that good, eh? So if you want to be a certain level when the fur flies, consider then how much better you need to be in practice so that you have that fallback.
So excuse me… need to go practice some more. 🙂
Ye gads… you must clank when you walk. 🙂
Gun, flashlight, leatherman, BUG, spare magazine… There’s got to be a phone, keys, and wallet in there somewhere.
My Adidas are my backup. (Probably more accurately, my Glock is the backup for my Adidas.)
I can’t easily carry one gun during my workday, let alone a backup. Where’s a mechanic supposed to carry a pistol that isn’t going to get in the way? 6 o’clock position, maybe, but I end up on my back under cars way too often.
You don’t know the half of it, brother. 😉
But that’s the thing. We have different situations and contexts to deal with in a day. You gotta do the best you can given your circumstances. I’ll admit… getting on my back to change the oil in both cars this weekend was um…. not 100% comfortable. 😉
Such a thing like you have? Maybe that’s an argument for something like a snub .38 in a pocket holster?