Just to set the record straight, NONE of the CHP officers at Newhall dumped their cases into their shirt pockets as has been purported for years, nor did they pick up their brass. Some grossly misinformed person crafted that story shortly after the incident and it took on a life of its own and became "fact".
I agree. I think that the brass-in-pocket-at-Newhall myth originated from another incident, along the border, which was actually WON by the officer/agent. The engagement was at long range, and the officer had good cover. IIRC, this is told in the late, great Bill Jordan’s book.
An actual part of the incident at Newhall, as I understand it, is that the officer completed a full reload, while behind cover/concealment, filling each chamber of his cylinder. He was then killed before he could successfully re-engage, which MIGHT mean that a partial reload would have been a better idea. Another, better idea might have been to keep a vigilant eye on the whole battle, which is why some instructors now teach a reload with the weapon held much higher that the traditional belt level. We can train to reload, by feel, at waist level, while keeping one’s eyes on the battle, but it is a very human thing to look at what one’s hands are doing, especially under stress. A second gun might be a better mousetrap.
Newhall was still a relatively fresh wound when I entered the police academy in 1983. We were required to buy speed-loaders, as we were required to buy our duty weapons. (Financing was available; the cost could be payroll-deducted, as we were paid while cadets.) Secondary revolvers were encouraged. I was rather religious about the second gun from the beginning, and went through quite a succession of J-snubs, until I up-sized to an SP101, in the late Nineties. I still have my final J-snub in that series of duty back-up guns, a Performance Center weapon based on a 642.
In hindsight, I wish that I would have kept each and every one of my succession of Eighties/Nineties J-frames. IIRC, Models 60 x 2, 649, 40, 640 x 3; all pre-keyhole. All, except the first 60, were so very nice, and that one could have had its issues solved by a talented armorer or ‘smith.
Actually, my hands are somewhat long, but are not wide, and my fingers are skinny, so there is ample room on an SP101 factory grip for my pinkie, so an SP101 performs much like a duty pistol in my hands, within the limitations of the sights, and my eyes. When I used Glock duty pistols, from 2002 to 2004, I was shooting a 2.25” SP101 notably better, overall, than a G27, and about as well, or better, at short range, than than a G22*. (I switched to a P229R DAK duty pistol, in 2004, as soon as I could buy a DAK, and immediately started posting posting much better qual scores. Notably, DAK was my choice, as DA/SA was the the norm for HPD officers.)
I used some of the considerable overtime* money earned in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, to buy a nice gift for myself, a 3” Wiley Clapp edition GP100. (It became a retirement gift, as the long hours, plus having to clean-up and mitigate flood damage at home, resulted in chronic exhaustion, on top of the assorted minor injuries. I had thought I might well retire by the end of 2018, or early 2019, anyway, so I moved-up my exit date to very early 2018.) There is something very comforting about a sturdy sixgun, with a bit of heft to it. My first GP100 had been acquired in 1990 or 1991. The original GP100 factory grip could have been designed by a long-lost twin, from whom I was separated at birth; it is that good.
*Gen4 Glocks fit my hands much better than Gen3 Glocks, and I shoot Gen4 measurably better, so I now really like the Gen4 G17. I do not shoot any Glock as well as a 4” GP100.
**The long hours of OT were mandated. Harvey hit the area quite hard. Ike, in 2008, had changed me from prime-of-life to middle-aged, and Harvey changed me to an old man.
