Ideas for back up carry gun?

[Colt4530]

Colt Mustang or one of the little Beretta .380s.

[Guest tngw1500se]

LC9 or LCP

[cch2a]

Big fan of the cm9. Small, light, and comfortable to shoot. Trigger has smooth long double action feel.

[A.J. Holst]

My opinion on selecting a bug would be partly based on how well I could shoot it with my off hand. Makes sense since it is probably carried from weak side draw. If I present my bug I figure: 1. Can't access my primary (time/body position in relation to direction of threat)2. My primary fails and I don't have time with weak side draw to switch the bug to strong side shooting 3. Strong side is immobilized from injury 4. I'm a southpaw and get car jacked- its nigh impossible to left hand draw from the driver's seat and target a threat in the driver's window. My bug is a car gun for that very reason. I don't carry my bugs since they are not lightweights and have been primaries - MK9 and a pair of SP101s (and the MK9 is currently in primary rotation) Edited June 7, 2014 by Gotthegoods

[tightshot]

I second the LCP.  Avoid the first generation...you want a post-2013 LCP.  If you get the Custom it even has pretty decent sights.   Weighs nothing, carries almost like a wallet. 

[Randall53]

Seecamp 380.  It's the smallest 380 made and is all SS.

[willis68]

My Glock 43, it fits that role perfectly and is the smallest BUG I would want to have Edited February 27, 2016 by willis68

[jgradyc]

If you're a big guy, you have a lot of options. If you're a small, skinny guy, then your ideal tiny gun is the P3AT, LCP, or TCP inside a thin pocket liner. You can carry front or hip pocket with the right holster. The Seecamp and Berettas are okay too, but heavier. If I was going to carry something as heavy as those, I'd just step up to the PM9, P938, or the Shield.

[dcloudy777]

Where (on you, not geographically) do you intend to carry your BUG? Pocket? Off-side? Ankle?

[Kevo]

I'm just gonna echo what others have already commented. Where is your primary and where do you plan to carry your backup. My votes would be a S&W J-frame, a KeltecP32 or just another magazine/speed loader for your primary. Or a brick, never needs reloading...

[JAB]

Here is something to think about:

 

I like my P3AT and my S&W 642.  I often pocket carry one or the other as my primary with the 642 usually being preferred.  I can shoot either of them accurately enough with a two handed grip or one-handed in my dominant hand.  With my non-dominant, left hand not so much.  I can shoot larger handguns (like my Ruger P95) okay left hand only but the size relative to recoil of the P3AT and 642 makes it difficult to impossible to reliably do so with them.  It isn't even so much a case of hand strength - although my left hand isn't as strong as my right - as it is due to the fact that my left hand has less dexterity.

 

If I carry a BUG I generally want to carry it on my left (weak) side.  Also, if I carry a BUG it is generally when I am belt carrying a primary - usually something larger than the P3AT or 642.  My thinking is that, if I need a BUG, it is less likely that it will be due to my primary running dry and more likely that it will be because my strong hand/arm is injured or I am using that hand to prevent an assailant from accessing the primary gun.  In the former situation, already having an injury and having to shoot weak hand only would be bad enough without adding a gun I have trouble controlling with my weak hand to the mix.  In the latter situation, I'd be shooting from contact distance so I'd prefer a revolver (which can be pressed into the assailant and fired without worrying about it failing to go back into battery) and a lower powered round would still have a good chance at being effective.  For that reason, I have chosen a NAA mini in .22WMR to fill the role.  Having informally tested several types of .22WMR ammo I can say that I would expect a Gold Dot out of that 1 5/8 inch barrel to give both decent penetration and expansion (Critical Defense gave a pretty disappointing performance in my informal tests although it did great out of the 6.5 inch barrel on my Rough Rider.)

 

I have also found that I can shoot my mom's Kel Tec P32 (basically the same gun as the P3AT but chambered in .32acp) just fine with my left hand.  The decrease in recoil from .380 to .32 makes a huge difference, to me.  If I were looking to replace the NAA with a semi-auto a P32 or similar would probably be my first choice. 

[Urse]

S&W 642/442