Thomas Howard of Precision Response Training put together another good article and video testing a long-held popular truism of the defensive shooting world. The “New York Reload” involves drawing a secondary firearm under the assumption that this is faster than reloading the primary. “The fastest reload is a second gun” is the buzz phrase that “proves” it.

Is it actually faster? Here’s a test to find out.

That being said–there just doesn’t seem to be much of a time difference between the two “reloads” when going from shot to shot. And in my case, my standard reloads are actually probably going to be faster than any backup gun that I’d actually carry.

https://precisionresponse.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/is-the-new-york-reload-faster/

“I was really curious what the actual time difference was. So I thought I’d test it out.”

This is the most important lesson here. So many people take a popular “truism” at face value without question. I see this often with novices, including those in military and police service. For example, working with deploying Soldiers receiving new equipment via Rapid Fielding Initiative we found many would strap on every piece of Picatinny-compatible gear handed out. Forward hand grips were especially popular. We found they mostly just got in the way during qualification. Everyone claimed they were faster but almost none of them ever tested them out.

I am not saying forward hand grips are bad accessories, only that using a tool or method offering zero advantage that only gets in the way is foolish. If there is a tested benefit, use it! If not, don’t. Especially if it’s “better” based on untested claims.

This video also disproves another popular myth concerning training scars. A skilled person that knows how to train became accustomed to dropping his primary after three tested repetitions. Despite being now “used to” dropping the gun and experiencing a slight bobble (gasp! a training scar!) it took all of two more reps to get “used to” not doing that.

For a person with good fundamental skill, any “training scar” can be addressed about that quickly.