2 of the same gun?

[ACC]

I took a firearms training course over the weekend and the instructor said something that I had never really thought about, but make sense.

He highly recommended that you have TWO of whatever gun you carry. One exclusively for practice and one exclusively for carry. His reasoning is that you need to practice a lot to be good with your CCW and that wears out parts of your gun. Therefore you should not carry the gun you practice with as it would be more likely to have a broken part (ex. sheared off extractor)

So...obviously, it costs money to have two of the same gun. But I am wondering how many of you out there actually DO have two of the same gun for exclusive carry/practice use.

 

[Bigtanker]

Just replace the worn out parts, mainly springs. This may have been a hard rule 30 years ago but with todays modern guns going 20,000 rounds, I don't see a NEED FOR it.

Personally, I don't train enough to wear out my gun. I do what I can but that's life. I'd rather know my EDC inside and out also.

Of course it is a reason to buy another gun so you really can't go wrong.

 

[jblomenberg16]

I sort of have 2 of the same gun. I carry a Glock 19, and also have a Glock 32 that is .357Sig. I also have 40S&W and 9mm conversion barrels for it, so I do have a nearly identical gun to my carry piece. I don't necessarily do it for practice / carry as much as just commonality in controls so I don't have to constantly be retraining my brain how to run the gun.

I think its a good concept to consider, but I'm personally not sold on it for a few reasons:

1) Unless you shoot A TON of rounds each year (like 10's of thousands) you probably aren't going to wear out your gun.
2) Having put several thousand rounds through my G19, I know it functions and I know I can depend on it. If I never shot it I might not be as confident in it.


The flip side of that could be that having a practice gun that you shoot most of the time, but still put a few hundred rounds a year through your carry gun could be a nice balance.

 

[pudly]

I don't have a problem with having two of the same firearm, but I can't agree with the instructor's emphasis. Any modern, quality handgun is designed for a lot of use. There are certain parts (recoil spring, extractor, etc) that are expected to require replacement over time, but you will be more likely to notice it and act if you are using the gun and breaking it down/cleaning regularly. You are far more likely to do this with the firearm you are practicing with as it will need cleaning more often. Your carry gun will tend to get dirt/lint in them, but if you never handle them much other than to put them on/off every day, you will be less likely to keep them as clean as you would otherwise and notice any physical problems.

So, have a second copy of the gun because you want one that you can keep as a backup in case of any failure where you can't use the primary for a while, in case you need to hand one to a spouse/friend in an emergency, or so that you will have one to use if you end up in a shooting and your primary is being held as evidence. But my main concern wouldn't be about wearing out your primary gun.

Exception- If you end up being active in competitions, then you may actually fire 10s of thousands of rounds and may want to have a dedicated competition gun.

 

[walt o]

shoot a std.steel S&W chiefs special .carry a aluminum CHIEF .Same gun less wear on the light wt.
And you just cant have just ONE You are out of balance

 

[chezuki]

Just replace the worn out parts, mainly springs. This may have been a hard rule 30 years ago but with todays modern guns going 20,000 rounds, I don't see a NEED FOR it..

I think people drastically underestimate how much modern pistols can take. I hit 20,000 rounds in my carry M&P9 somewhere between the second and third year I had it.

There are several reasons to have multiples of the same gun, but in my opinion, not putting rounds through your carry gun isn't one of them. I'd much rather have a tried and true workhorse in my holster than a barely fired pristine pistol still sporting the copper factory lube.

 

[VERT]

Same type of gun absolutely! I see no problem if a person shoots a G34/G35 at the range and then switches to a G19/G23 for carry. I just used Glock as an example. I shoot my full size 1911 more then my carry compact 1911.

Two of the exact same gun. Sure why not?

 

[17 squirrel]

I have been carring the same 226 since sometime in 1978 +- .. Tens of thousands of rounds have been through this pistol in its working life. The only thing I do with it is when Sig runs a respring / overhaul special I send it in say every 4 to 6 years for this service. It's never broken any part nor has it ever failed to go bang when its supposed to. It's my only daily carry still.

I will also say I have more than one 226, but the only time one is used is when my son wants to shoot one or when my daily carry is at the service center.

But personally I really don't need the reason to own two of the same firearm for carry / practice purposes.. I would say shoot what you carry and carry what you shoot.

 

[88E30M50]

I took a firearms training course over the weekend and the instructor said something that I had never really thought about, but make sense.

He highly recommended that you have TWO of whatever gun you carry. One exclusively for practice and one exclusively for carry. His reasoning is that you need to practice a lot to be good with your CCW and that wears out parts of your gun. Therefore you should not carry the gun you practice with as it would be more likely to have a broken part (ex. sheared off extractor)

So...obviously, it costs money to have two of the same gun. But I am wondering how many of you out there actually DO have two of the same gun for exclusive carry/practice use.

I agree with the idea of having two of the same gun, but for different reasons. I started my career as an aircraft mechanic, so the idea of replacing broken parts is not in my comfort zone. You replace tired or worn parts, and if you run something until it fails, then you have failed to maintain it correctly. I subscribe to the idea that a properly designed, built, used and maintained item cannot possibly fail.

I have multiple carry guns that are near identical because I want to have something to carry if my EDC is retained by the police after a good shoot in self defense. I try to practice with all of the carry guns to be as good as possible with each of them, even though they are all almost identical.

Edit: I used to practice with an RIA compact 1911 because I was afraid of wearing out a Kimber aluminum framed 1911. Then I did the math and realized that I can run 100 rounds through the Kimber every month for the rest of my life and not have to worry about wearing it out. Even if I do push close to its life expectancy, I have no problem replacing it well before hand.

 

[cosermann]

LOTS of good reasons to have multiples of the same gun. Here's an INGO poll on it from 2012.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...scussion/211582-who-owns-two-same-gun-10.html

 

[VERT]

I agree with the idea of having two of the same gun, but for different reasons. I started my career as an aircraft mechanic, so the idea of replacing broken parts is not in my comfort zone. You replace tired or worn parts, and if you run something until it fails, then you have failed to maintain it correctly. I subscribe to the idea that a properly designed, built, used and maintained item cannot possibly fail.

I have multiple carry guns that are near identical because I want to have something to carry if my EDC is retained by the police after a good shoot in self defense. I try to practice with all of the carry guns to be as good as possible with each of them, even though they are all almost identical.

Edit: I used to practice with an RIA compact 1911 because I was afraid of wearing out a Kimber aluminum framed 1911. Then I did the math and realized that I can run 100 rounds through the Kimber every month for the rest of my life and not have to worry about wearing it out. Even if I do push close to its life expectancy, I have no problem replacing it well before hand.

Agreed lots of reasons that a second gun might be needed. Think about it, Police confiscate your handgun and Mr. Thuggly's family/gang thinks your shooting him is wrong. Better have another gun. Maybe you want something bigger for the range and home use and smaller to carry. Lots of reasons to have two. These can either be identical or a compact and full size version.

 

[Birds Away]

I may have overdone this theory a bit.

 

[88E30M50]

I may have overdone this theory a bit.

That's an understatement. You are the poster child of owning multiples of the same basic gun.

 

[Mark 1911]

I don't have two of the same gun for carry just yet, but come January I will.

 

[edporch]

I took a firearms training course over the weekend and the instructor said something that I had never really thought about, but make sense.

He highly recommended that you have TWO of whatever gun you carry. One exclusively for practice and one exclusively for carry. His reasoning is that you need to practice a lot to be good with your CCW and that wears out parts of your gun. Therefore you should not carry the gun you practice with as it would be more likely to have a broken part (ex. sheared off extractor)

So...obviously, it costs money to have two of the same gun. But I am wondering how many of you out there actually DO have two of the same gun for exclusive carry/practice use.

I would also have two of my favorite carry gun because if God forbid you ever have to use it in a self defense scenario, the police may take it as "evidence" and you will be waiting a LONG time to get it back (if ever).

In the meantime, you'll be defenseless.
Which is the worst time for this if the perp's family/friends have an idea about getting even.

I've read of cases where a gunowner has to sue the police department just to get their gun back.

 

[GNRPowdeR]

I actually have taken this approach, but for different reasons... My carry firearms are not "stock", so when I have students who want / need to borrow a firearm for a class, I don't want to hand them something that is necessarily modified for me. Everything I carry, I'm trying to build a factory stock group & keep my EDC stuff only in my hands.

With that said, I also have a "gamer" that mimics my typical EDC & keep feeling that I should make it closer to my EDC's feel.

 

[Bfish]

I see no reason not to have 2 of the same gun, especially if it's what you carry and will stick with. I would love to have another carbon copy of a rifle I have as well as a handgun but it's not necessary like the guys are saying you just need to keep up on it.

I do wish I had two sets of all my carry gear though, then if anything goes down at all you can just grab the 2nd while the 1st is being fixed. Again not necessary but is a great luxury if you have the ability IMO.

 

[KG1]

I have two similar guns. I own two Lionheart LH9's. One version is a carry gun without a rail and the other is a home gun with the rail and weapon mounted light attached. Other than the rail they are both identical in every other way. Same barrel lengths, stock triggers, magazines...etc. If something should happen to my carry gun I can just pop off the WML on the house gun and it will fit in the same kydex holster that I use for carry and I'm G2G.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Just two? 8-)

I EDC several different kinds of guns and train with all of them regularly, and I have at least two of each of my primary weapons if not more. I agree with the reasoning behind having a backup weapon identical to your carry in case the one you are carrying is detained by law enforcement, but as several posters point out, I disagree with the "keep one pristine" philosophy as any gun that can't go many tens of thousands of rounds with nothing more than spring replacement is not worth relying on as an EDC. The gun itself is the cheapest part of shooting and by the time you wear out a quality gun you will have spend far more in ammo costs than the gun itself.

 

[Leadeye]

Nothing wrong with more than 1.