Seeing a Ruger SP101 daily carry is a nice change. Revolvers like the Ruger are a solid choice for every day carry although I do have one suggestion: learn to use and carry speed loaders or speed strips (or both). If you have a revolver and you don’t have a speed loader, rectify that situation ASAP.

So, do you carry a speed loader – or, if you have a semi-auto, do you carry a spare mag?

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58 COMMENTS

  1. Ok Kat, I’ve asked this before here. I also understand arguments in favor of carrying a spare considering a malfunction in a semi.

    However!, how many CIVILIAN (not law enforcement) DGUs have needed/or performed a reload?

    I have yet to find even one.

    • I own speed strips and speed loaders. I never carry them. I’m a bit of a minimalist. Five shots in a 642, or seven in an LCP generally seems good enough for me.

      If I wanted more rounds, I’d carry my Glock 19 or P11 instead. Occasionally I do.

    • Not one? Really?

      So you obviously missed https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2019/01/john-boch/houston-defender-in-home-invasion-shootout-kills-three-of-five-attackers/

      Follow up reports indicate that the homeowner/defender emptied at least one full 30 round mag from an AK style rifle. You ain’t doing that without reloading your wheel gun or even most semi-auto pistols.

      Even when Recoil wrote a scathing article on this topic they couched it in terms of a “rapid reload” being “unlikely” to be necessary while openly admitting that even with that narrow parameter it has happened.

      They then go on to say that requiring a rapid reload is about as likely as winning the Powerball lotto but then they add this gem: “Somebody ends up winning that Powerball every time. And if your day has reached the point where you’ve had to pull a gun and start shooting, it’s already taken a statistically unlikely turn and is unlikely to get any more normal from that point. You don’t want to be the one to forfeit for inability to shoot back.” [Emphasis mine.]

      • I think it is matter of taking reasonable safety precautions. In my car, I always wear my seatbelt. Likewise, I’m glad to have an airbag, traction control, and antilock breaks. Still, I suppose I could make myself a bit safer by always wearing a motorcycle helmet when driving my car.

        I don’t wear a helmet in my car.

        Similarly, it is very unlikely I’ll need a gun on any given day. Still, I carry one wherever it is legal to do so. That is what I consider a reasonable precaution. Five shots out of a 642 is vastly better than nothing.

        Don’t forget the Saint James Church massacre in South Africa. There, one guy (Charl van Wyk) used a five shot .38special to fend off four terrorists armed with automatic rifles and grenades.

        Sure, I have an AR and an AK, just in case the whole world goes Mad Max. Day to day however, a pocket gun will probably do.

        If a whole gang of MS13 bad guys decide to attack me, I suppose I’ll go home to be with Jesus. By the way, bowing the knee and confessing, trusting, and following Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is the ultimate reasonable precaution. 😀

        • “By the way, bowing the knee and confessing, trusting, and following Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is the ultimate reasonable precaution. ” Amen!

      • Valid point you have.

        I wasn’t thinking of the home defender with the AK, more along the lines of a CCW going about his/her day.

        To be sure I should have worded it better.

    • Thank you sir- and I’ll go one step further.

      How many law enforcement DGU’s/OGU’s really required a reload- IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE OFFICER’S PISS POOR MARKSMANSHIP AND/OR SPRAY AND PRAY MAG DUMP?

    • The only person I’ve ever known who actually used a speed loader was a bank guard who never expected to have to do more than load his .357 in the morning and empty it at night — and when he needed it, he needed both that he carried. Twelve shots in about three minutes, keeping the mob* guys who’d gotten into the bank from exiting in less than the police response time. The moment he heard “bank in sight” from the police via the security company, his job was done.

      *Russians, it turned out

      • Why was he loading and unloading his revolver every day? It is ok to leave a revolver loaded for more than eight hours at a time😁

    • The magazine is the most likely component to fail in a modern firearm. Magazine capacity doesn’t mean jack if there is a problem with the magazine.

    • Well I’m more In the camp of I’d rather have It and not need It than need It and not have It.
      I carry two eight round speed strips In an old cell phone case with my 5 shot 38spl, I also have a basic boo-boo and ouchy kit and a spare tire In my truck, but that’s just me.

      • Very good 👍

        Personally, I’d rather carry my LCP as a backup to my 642 than carry speed loaders or speed strips in a cell phone case. Then I’d have the option of handing my 642 to my wife in a pinch, and still having another firearm.

    • I don’t know of ANY for a concealed carrier. The odds are, at the least, so remote as to make it unnecessary to worry about. You might as well not get in a car or the ocean for fear of sharks driving hummers.

      Home invasions, store burglaries, not included.

    • Edit: Bring back the edit button.
      The same guy who carries a purse for coins. Isn’t that what pockets are for?

    • When I lived in cold places and had to work outside a lot in winter, the cold very dry air would crack my fingertips. Tried hand moisturizer. Tried wearing latex gloves under the wool, but that just gets sweaty and the gloves break up anyway.

      Chapstick helped some on the fingertips. Especially when spending hours clearing snow in an unheated front end loader. Once in a while on the lower lip too, but for some reason that wasn’t so much trouble.

      So maybe that pocket dump is somebody that’s plowing snow someplace? Right time of year for it.

      Or could be a wuss. I mean, there is a coin purse … so …

      • I steal the chapstick from my girlfriends lips. It’s a much better experience.
        Right now, it’s in the low 30’s and very dry. My hands get treated with “Working Hands”, and my lips get chapstick.

      • when I worked in snow country my hands suffered like yours. Lotion did help mine. I never had problems with my lips but I had a full beard and wore a wool scarf wrapped around my neck and lower face.

      • For your fingertips try Lansinoh. It’s pure 100% lanolin, no alcohol. It’s in the baby isle of your grocery or drug store or Target . A La Leche nurse told me about it. Her husband uses it. Now mine does. Not cheap, but it works.

        • Been using Bag Balm for decades. Started over 35 years ago when our daughter would get terrible diaper rash…bag balm was much more effective (and cheaper) than the expensive stuff the pediatrician Rx’d. Living up North it works wonders on chapped hands and faces. Works for our dogs also. About -14 F outside right now…spent a good part of the day outside plowing / shoveling…BB on lips and nose feelz good.

          I’ve always been partial to the Safariland Comp II speedloaders, unfortunately they do not make them for the SP101. I used them when I carried a Ruger Security Six back in the 80’s…never had the problem of inadvertent release like so many of my peers did using the HKS twist-style loaders.

      • I like the stealing from the girlfriend’s lips part, Tom.
        I was actually skiing yesterday, it was about 10 degrees and very windy, and also very, very dry. I ski like a maniac but I’ve really just never needed the stuff. I figured it was for sissies.

        But you guys aren’t sissies, really.
        This coin-purse guy might just be though..

    • That Chapstick caught my eye before the revolver did. I always loved the basic, no fancy flavors kind. We keep one or two in each car. Love that smell. Brings back memories of childhood, I think.

    • Ah, chapstick — my friend one winter in Indiana when I accepted the challenge to literally skate all night on the frozen lake… and we’d started skating at noon. That long, that cold, that dry, it was nice to have not just for lips but the entire exposed mouth area, and fingertips as well.

    • Sounds like a comment from a man who must not spend too much time outdoors in the winter. When you’re a desk commando who only ventures outside when you walk from your Hyundai to the building where your cubicle lives, and back again at 5pm, you forget basic things…like the usefulness of chapstick.

  3. a couple spare mags, if I’m not around my residential area. Otherwise I just go with what’s stuck in the gunn hole

  6. That rubber grip looks like it would hang up on clothing pretty nicely. Some other stuff in the pocket dump kinda worry me also.

    • “That rubber grip looks like it would hang up on clothing pretty nicely.”

      The hammer as well.

      I’d bob that bad boy if I were carrying it…

  7. I usually rock a spare mag but not always. When I do it’s at about 7-7:30 in a horizontal carrier.

    Also, with regards to the coin purse, based on what it’s made of and how it’s designed I rather suspect that it’s a dual-purpose item that carries stuff like coins but has the added advantage of being something you can bash the shit out of someone with. Kinda like a biker carrying a hammer. Effective but with plausible deniability.

    That light is kinda cool at it’s price point and I wonder what the BIC is for. Not that a lighter isn’t useful but most people who don’t smoke don’t carry one around in their pocket unless they know a bunch of hot, single chicks who do smoke.

  9. When I carry my LCR, I have a speed loader and at least one speed strip.

    But I have no idea how to use them.

  10. This guy’s carry setup differs from mine and contains things I’m not sure of. I see…
    The little Ruger SP101,
    Wallet,
    EDC Knife,
    Paraphernalia/stash bag or bag to contain a pair of speed loaders or strip loaders?,
    Pen or stylus?,
    Chapstick,
    Micro flashlight or USB flash drive?,
    Swiss Army knife,
    Disposable lighter,
    Wrist watch.
    What do you see?
    The chapstick shown is worthless. If you’re on the snow or water in reflected sun all day something with a SPF 30 is called for. There’s nothing unmanly about not wanting your lips lips fried off and split from the sun & wind.
    I agree, where is the holster or pocket sleeve? Or maybe he carries in his backpack or briefcase?

  11. Nyet!

    Revolver for pistol whip assailant first, to shoot second.

    Point blank carjackers to die without reload not in Hollywood running gun battle.

  12. When I carry my .357 I carry 2 speed loaders. When I carry my G19 or P229R, I carry 2 spare mags. Will I ever need them? Probably not, but I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

  14. My SP101 is my favorite CC piece for light duty. I usually carry 2 speed strips with it. If I feel thats not enough I’d carry my Glock 19 loaded with a 17rd mag and an additional 17 round mag.

  15. I use speed strips cause thru aren’t as bulky and they are handier for topping off if I fire off a round or two.

    I generally carry an. Sp101. Idenical to the one pictured. Occasionally I switch things up and carry a 45 colt. With speed strips

  18. I carried an SP101 for a while it was too heavy for me. Great gun though, made me a life long ruger fan.

  19. If you are a revolver guy it makes sense to carry a speed loader however expect to die when reloading, especially in the winter, unless you are behind cover.

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