You know what does not happen in civilian self-defense shootings? Reloads. Maybe it can be found, but it is exceedingly rare. Still, I am a proponent of carrying a reload, but there is an argument to be made either way on this due to the rarity of reloads actually occurring.
You know what actually does happen quite often in civilian self-defense shootings? Malfunctions.
Autoloading pistols rely on the platform of the human behind the gun to function correctly. In real defensive encounters, the majority of which involve poorly trained people to begin with, induced malfunctions are common. Often, the gun just coming out and a shot being fired makes the bad guy late for a different appointment, but I believe many concealed carriers discount the likelihood of needing to clear a malfunction for reals. Your perfectly reliable pistol, when shooting under no pressure at a range, can quickly turn into a choked pistol when fired with a poor grip, or impeded by clothing, environmental objects, or the like.
One reason that I am a huge proponent of shooting an occasional competition match with the gun you actually carry is that such failure points are likely to show up. I have seen many new to competition shooters dump their magazines halfway through a stage, or cause a malfunction just due to nervous hands and a sub-optimal grip. Do yourself a favor, and go to the local IPDA or USPSA match, and shoot it with your actual carry gun, from concealment. If there are failure points in your technique or your gear, you will discover them there.
Prioritize the malfunction clearance skillset. While this is a “fundamental” gun handling skill, I have found many pistol classes don’t teach it because a more advanced class runs on the assumption that the participant already knows this skill. Do you? You can practice clearing all the possible malfunction types in safe dry practice with snap caps. It is a skill that you are more likely to need than reloading in a real fight.
Reflex Handgun 
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