Regarding the mentions of the FBI incident, in Dade County, Florida, well, I actually kept bringing my 4” full-lug GP100 to work, with me, as a “bag gun,” well into this century, specifically for such things as felony vehicle stops, while my duty rig’s pistol was a .45 ACP 1911, from 1997 to 2002, a .40 Glock G22 from 2002 to 2004, and then a .40 SIG P229R. Finally, some time after 2008, when I added a second and third P229, my “bag gun” became a second P229, rather than the .357 revolver. Yes, indeed, I was willing to start with a sixgun, when I anticipated a fight, relegating my duty autoloader to temporary back-up status*
Why? Well, a big part of it was that long-stroke DA was, and still is, my most-stress-proof, and least-perishable, trigger-pulling skill set. On a good day, I could shoot a really good 1911 about as well as I could shoot a GP100, or S&W K-Frame, assuming that I had recently trained with the 1911. I could never shoot my several .40 glocks, which were Gen3**, nearly as well as a 1911, or a GP100 or K-Frame. Most duty and personal-carry .40 SIGs were DAK, which does a decent job of mimicking a good DA sixgun trigger stroke. (DAK was my choice. Most of my colleagues, who chose SIG, chose DA/SA. We bought our own duty firearms, within PD rules.)
A lesser reason, but still quite relevant, was that the better accuracy potential enables longer-range shooting, and the .357 Magnum has a flatter trajectory than most autopistol ammo.. Unlike many large cities, Houston, Texas, has plenty of, well, breathing room. There is much open space. If I want to flank a bad guy’s position, I want to be well away from my colleagues’ line of fire. (I will concede that some 185-grain +P .45 ACP ammo has a decently flat trajectory, but I never got around to working with any of it, to determine longer-range POA/POI, compared to my usual 230-grain standard-pressure JHPs.)
Another reason is that I could get good factory-loaded hardcast ammo, for .357 Magnum, during that time frame. I kept 125-grain JHPs in the cylinder, but brought some hardcast ammo, for specialized situations. When Federal Cartridge started making HST Tactical ammo, for auto-pistols, with bullets constructed to stay together while penetrating vehicles and barricades, it became less necessary to have some hardcast .357 ammo with me. By the time I resumed toting .45 ACP 1911 pistols, on duty, in 2016, I had good access to Federal HST Tactical. (I retired, from LEO-ing, in early 2018. In hindsight, I should have taken some serious time off, to work out some stress, and work on some injuries, and then worked until very early 2020.)
Well, here I go again, writing a book, or at least a pamphlet. Stopping now.
*Yes, I would have to justify this choice, in official correspondence, up the chain of command, as normal procedure would be to first use the primary duty pistol, and only resort to a secondary weapon for a specific reason.
**Gen4 and Gen5 Glocks fit my hands better than did Gen3. In 2002-2004, when I used those Gen3 duty Glocks, it was not yet established that grip and frame modifications would be allowed, on our duty pistols. I switched to SIG for a better fit.
