The 'New York Reload' .. Paired Pistols:

This phrase from recent times NEW YORK RE-LOAD entails carrying an appropriate SECOND GUN on the person accessible as "back-up" for the Number One Gun should it become unusable or empty before the threat to life is resolved ..

Hollywood liked to show the cowboy gunslinger shooting simultaneously with both paired six-guns blazing - but that is typical cinema bull-dust .. if you want to hit a target .. one gun at a time eh.

NY Police Adopted Revolvers in 1895 

 Fully Transitioning To "Auto-Pistols" 2018:

The story goes that some of New York's Finest chose to carry a second revolver rather than the bulky speed-loaders in belt pouches .. I get that idea as personally I find revolver speed-loaders awkward & fiddly to use and the variety of ways that they work certainly calls for solid PRACTICE to eliminate the push/twist/ or peel FUMBLE.

The revolver's six shot capacity limit strengthens the chances of exhausting them all before termination - did the old timers manage a better hit-rate than the 85% misses that prevails now?

This INEPT Gun Handling Is Thankfully From a Movie Actor ..

The use of multiple guns would go way back further as the earliest firearms were mainly single shot (If you were lucky) so it was the wise man who might mount a further tool somewhere on his unwashed body - A wealthy Captain of Property might have mounted a pair of vest pocket pistols at the fore .. a greatcoat pocket-sized pair on either side and two more matched to fit in his coat-tail pockets.

A FINE Matched Pair Of Miniature Vest Pocket Guns In 24 Gauge

(- You could play Spot the changes with the inlay):

That pair above are (is) a Wealthy Woman's toys - but I'd say most multiples would have more likely been a case of "Bring what you got".

- Among the valid reasons for packing the second gun is that it might be passed to a trusted supporter* - or even for frontier family to reload the emptied guns while maintaining the warfare to the front.
*Under current NZ Police regulation that support to aid a Law enforcement Officer would be totally unlawful - illegal.

Currently Ruger Vaqueros are being sold as matched pairs with consecutive numbers for SASS 'Cowboy Shooting' - lovely guns they are too. - I guess historically you might have bought two guns from a retailer anytime that you had the money and a need .. but they likely may have been sold in individual leather or cloth covers or merely wrapped in plain paper .. "Boxed Pairs" may have started when the fashion for dueling for satisfaction graduated from swordplay to pistol-play ..

Certainly .. The Ladies Also DUELED For Honour.

Modern high capacity 'autos' with 15 plus capacity can also be rapidly magazine reloaded .. but there might still be a small chance of malfunction tying-up the mechanism or of losing control of that piece that could maybe justify toting a second instrument  .. in a real 'life & death' situation.

Massad Ayoob quote - from a friend when asked why he carries THREE guns -

"Because to carry four would be ostentatious.".. Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUxYXwbP3nI

It seems to me that any "system" that you choose will have both 'pros & cons' that will be personal to you - so think about it properly and PRACTICE.

Marty K.