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**44 AMP** · February 1, 2015, 11:57 AM

While I don't have details (feel free to do your own research) I heard the "brass in the pocket" story in the late 60s (possibly early 70s) in New York.

It may be an urban legend, or a blending of different real incidents, today, who can say?

What was the story going around back then was a New York officer (trooper IIRC), who was in a gunfight, and was killed. According to the story, he had fired his revolver dry, and reloaded it, (firing twice more depending on who is telling the story), and was trying to stuff his empties into the tight uniform pants pocket when the bad guy got him.

The explanation given was that under the stress, the officer fell back on his training, and what he was trained to do at the police range was fire one cylinder, reload, and police his brass before firing again. According to the story, because of this incident, police training was changed to policing the brass after ALL shots had been fired.

Believe what you like, the real point is that if you practice a certain way, when you don't have time to dispassionately consider your actions, you will act as you have trained. If you act, at all.

February 1, 2015, 11:57 AM	#20
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 28,820	While I don't have details (feel free to do your own research) I heard the "brass in the pocket" story in the late 60s (possibly early 70s) in New York. It may be an urban legend, or a blending of different real incidents, today, who can say? What was the story going around back then was a New York officer (trooper IIRC), who was in a gunfight, and was killed. According to the story, he had fired his revolver dry, and reloaded it, (firing twice more depending on who is telling the story), and was trying to stuff his empties into the tight uniform pants pocket when the bad guy got him. The explanation given was that under the stress, the officer fell back on his training, and what he was trained to do at the police range was fire one cylinder, reload, and police his brass before firing again. According to the story, because of this incident, police training was changed to policing the brass after ALL shots had been fired. Believe what you like, the real point is that if you practice a certain way, when you don't have time to dispassionately consider your actions, you will act as you have trained. If you act, at all. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.