Tag Archives: new york reload

The old New York Reload

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Revolvers are slow to reload compared to autos, especially when talking about snubbies. Drawing a second loaded revolver is much faster than reloading, and experienced gunfighters such as those on the old NYPD Stakeout Units of the 1970s often carried a pair of revolvers. Hence the “New York Reload.”

Galco recently debuted a Masterbilt Dual Defense Rig for those cosplayers looking for leather to pull off a NYR.

With the Masterbilt Dual Defense Rig, Galco has resurrected three popular features for shoulder carry of revolvers: open front design, diagonal gun orientation, and two-gun carry.

The open front feature offers the smoothest draw, since no retention straps or other devices need to be overcome. Yet, the holsters retain the revolvers perfectly by the use of adjustable tension units.

The positioning of the holsters’ swivel keepers hearkens back to Galco’s original Jackass designs.

The butt-down/muzzle-up diagonal configuration is universally acknowledged as the best combination of draw speed and concealability.

I mean, it’s a $500 piece of leather, but Arizona-based Galco probably does leather better than anyone, as we found out on a factory tour a couple of years back. 

The 1911 and the New York Reload, a tale of a hard week

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If you are a 1911-lover, odds are you have had two of these longslide .45ACP beasts hanging around the house at one time of another. Now let us go the next step and ask if you carry at least one of these aforementioned 1911s around with you from time to time out in the world. If you do, why stop at one? I tried it out for a week.

To put it country-simple, the New York Reload is a second (or third, or fourth) loaded handgun, ready to fire as soon as it is presented. If the first handgun is empty, jammed, or stripped away, the second one can be rotated forward like a shark’s teeth and brought into action. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a solid tactic with a solid history. Gunslingers, soldiers, law officers, and those who just wanted to make it home alive have long carried multiple weapons and trained to transition back and forth between them.

The term gets its name from the old 1970s New York Police Department’s Street Crime Unit. Better known as SCU, the 60 or so members of the unit used advanced tactics for the first time including disguised officers trolling for muggers, and plainclothes intelligence units covertly shadowing suspects. The officers of this unit made as many as 8,000 arrests per year in some of the most dangerous circumstances imaginable.

Now the standard issue .38s of the day was slow to reload– this was before there were speed strips, and HKS speed loaders to help. Therefore, the fastest reload, if you went dry on your six-shooter, was another gun. Hence, many of these NYPD coppers in drag chose to carry a second .38 so that they could abracadabra it when needed.

Well, I tried it on for size for a week, only with a pair of 1911s and it kinda sucked.

Read the rest in my column at I Love My Gun

two springfield 1911s

The New York Reload

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There are many, many ways to carry a readily available handgun for personal protection. There are just as many ways today to carry extra ammunition including speedstrips and speedloaders for revolvers and spare magazines for your EDC semi-auto. However, this has not always been the case and that fact led to the rise of a tactic known as the New York Reload.

What is it?

To put it country-simple, the New York Reload is a second (or third, or fourth) loaded handgun, ready to fire as soon as it is presented. If the first handgun is empty, jammed, or stripped away, the second one can be rotated forward like a shark’s teeth and brought into action. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a solid tactic with a solid history.

Origins of the NYR

Gunslingers, soldiers, law officers, and those who just wanted to make it home alive have long carried multiple weapons and trained to transition back and forth between them. Back in the 1970s, the hardest hitting unit on the streets of New York was the New York Police Department’s Street Crime Unit. Better known as SCU, the 60 or so members of the unit used advanced tactics for the first time including disguised officers trolling for muggers, and plainclothes intelligence units covertly shadowing suspects. The officers of this unit made as many as 8,000 arrests per year in some of the most dangerous circumstances imaginable.

The standard issue firearm of the day was the Smith & Wesson Model 10 for uniformed officers and J-frame snubbies for detectives. With modern revolver speedloaders not being common issue until the end of the decade, most officers carried their reloads in loops or dump pouches. This made reloading a revolver in a high stress situation a very slow, dicey, and by no means guaranteed proposition. If the officer was in plain clothes and carrying loose rounds in their pocket, the prospect of a reload was even more daunting.

The simple answer of course was just carry to multiple revolvers. A second handgun cold be produced and fired from a holster in 2-seconds or less by a trained shooter. This was much faster than kicking open the cylinder of a Smith K-frame, ejecting six spent rounds, and reloading six fresh ones from your pocket or belt one at a time. Hence, the New York Reload was born

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk