Carry in condition 1?

[NavyLCDR]

You should never carry in condition 1.

Let's see....that's like not putting on a seat belt until just before the accident because it's just to darn uncomfortable. Or not putting batteries in the smoke detector until the night of the fire to keep the dang thing from beeping when the batteries run low. Not putting new tires on the car until the old ones blow apart, why not run them down to the cords... what a waste of money. Come to think of it, I don't think I will fill my tank up with gas until it runs out either - use all that cheap gas in the tank that I can before the prices go up. I should stop looking both ways before I walk across the street, too - those drivers will all see me and stop in time, right?

Just because you can't keep your finger out of the trigger when you draw your gun from your holster does not mean that applies to me. My life and my family's lives are not worth betting on that a bad guy will be scared of the sound of the racking of a handgun slide, especially when it is just too darn easy to fully load the gun in the relative safety of my house behind the locked doors.

Carry your gun however you want to, I certainly don't care, but don't tell me how to carry my gun.

 

[ironmike86]

Always carrying condition 1. May as well not carry for protection.
Too close - dont underestimate the knife - YouTube

 

[Rhino]

You should never carry in condition 1. Too many tough guys on this forum. When the day comes when you are actually in that position, the natural sense become so different you slightly panic. Muscle memory muscle memory. Training training. Train your withdraw. I found that when you pull your weapon and cock it, that sound really makes that person think twice. Whereas if you have to pull and there is already one in the chamber, depending on your offender, he may think it is a fake and test your abilities. Sound scares. Trust me. I had to do it. Everyone thinks that they are good with their price until they really have to use it when they are in immediate danger.

If you're really relying on the sound of your gun for defense, maybe you aren't smart enough to carry one. You certainly shouldn't be giving advice to others. I know two people in my local area who would be dead now if they had been crazy enough to follow your so-called advice. Their attackers never gave them a chance to get their second hand on their firearm in order to chamber a round. Luckily for them, they already had one chambered, and they're alive today as a result. So you go on carrying a clicker for self defense. I'll carry a gun.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Although.... my daughter was talking to her boyfriend on the phone the other night. I came in the room and she put him on speaker phone. I racked the slide on a shotgun near the phone and said, "Now there's a sound you never want to hear at my house in the middle of the night."

 

[Rhino]

Absolutely. But telling someone to rely on the sound of their slide racking or their hammer cocking instead of actually relying on the firepower of the gun itself strains credulity, especially when you consider that many self defense scenarios won't give you the chance to rack that slide or cock that hammer. And the mere premise that a sound constitutes a good defense? I'm sorry, but that's totally ridiculous.

As for the shotgun, that's a completely different story than a concealed handgun at close quarters. I keep the chamber empty in my home defense shotguns as well. That's mainly because they're available to more members of the family who aren't so familiar with the safeties on those guns, so I leave the safeties off. But I have made the same point to my wife that you made in that phone call. The sound of a round being chambered in a pump shotgun is almost unmistakable and incredibly intimidating. But a home defense shotgun is not employed in anywhere near the same manner as a concealed handgun for self defense, so you aren't relying on that sound as your first, best, close quarters line of defense, as was suggested earlier for a concealed handgun here.

 

[Nightmare45]

I carry condition 1 always and always have colt combat commander, only noise you will here from me is get on the ground no click, if you fail to get on the ground or if you have a weapon, I don't think the sound of the hammer falling will be louder that the bang.

 

[jtg452]

I carry a round in the chamber for the same reason I keep air in my spare tire. I figure if I end up needing either one of them, I need them in working condition right then and there, not after I work on them a little.

 

[JohnLM]

I have just become comfortable enough to start carrying in condition 1. I have a Glock 27 and and an SR9c. No nervousness at all. I think "Safety " all the time and that help

 

[Shawn Jarman]

I always carry in condition 1, good holster, belt and practice are key to staying safe

 

[BattleSwine]

I carry a round in the chamber for the same reason I keep air in my spare tire. I figure if I end up needing either one of them, I need them in working condition right then and there, not after I work on them a little.

Well said. I carried condition 1 for years in USAF. Never had an issue. Saw more issues down range while imbedded with sister services and NATO. What issues I saw was training and complacency. With modern firearms human error is the cuase of the negligent discharges in reports I had access to.... Most of the rounds where contained by clearing barrels... Why so many thought pulling the trigger was part of clear weapons is beyond me... Keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to shoot your target and always treat every firearm as if it is loaded.... Never "think" it is.... Most reports containned " I thought it was unloaded". Always practice safe handling procedures and you will have mo problems with modern firearms. Antique firearms are another story....

 

[SCresERVOIR]

In my CWP class a guy told the instructor he didn't have to carry with one in the chamber because of how quickly he could rack the slide. The instructor replied, "that's good. now let me see how fast you can do it with one hand." That sold me. In any confrontation you can't be guaranteed that you'll have both hands free.

 

[Danieljoe1]

I do believe this horse is just about dead, but I will interject one more "condition 1" reason. I have been taught the 5 point draw for the last 10 years, give or take a few. Position 3, where you rotate the handgun from indexed down twards the ground to indexed down range, is a firing position as long as you have one chambered. If the attacker is right in front of you, your weak hand should be employed defending vitals, while your strong hand is drawing and firing from that 3 position. Once that first round goes off messing up the OODA loop of the perp, you can start\continue moving away from them giving you the room to bring your firearm up to obtain a decent sight picture. I would rather be able to employ my strongest defence at that point than be fighting weakhanded while trying to figure out (while under stress and adrenaline dump) how to hook a sight on either a belt or my holster to chamber a round. I am just not that good. As it takes an average of 1.5 seconds for a person to cover 21 feet to attack, I will keep carrying condition 1. If you are good enough to draw, chamber 1 handed, and fire from extremem close proximity VERY quickly I commend you for the ammount of time and practice you have given to that discipline.

Now, you have my reasonings. If your not comfortable carrying condition 1 or 2, carry condition 3 or 4. As long as your carrying, you are ahead of the curve depending on the situation.

And apparently Im not smart enough to bold and underline the parts I wanted to... and what I thought were the proper tags are not working for me, crap.

 

[David Manley]

It was kind of scary at first, seeing the hammer cocked back and 1 in the chamber on my Kimber Custom TLEII while in a Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe, Even with all the safety features a 1911 has it was nerve racking wondering whether or not that thing could accidently fire. I spent hours researching the different condition stages you could have and the best is condition 1 Cocked and locked. To make myself feel warm and fuzzy about carrying this way I carried my gun in the house empty and cocked in my holster with the safety off for 2 weeks and not once during any activities did the weapon fire, even when practicing quick draw with the safety off and bumping into stuff and sitting. Now I carry condition 1 Cocked and locked with Hornady Critical Defense +P ammo. Practice your draw everyday, know your gun, and trust it!

 

[njsportsman]

Well I carry condition 1 but, I must admit not always. I used to carry a 1911 and I didn't carry condition 1 I was uncomfortable with it so I bought a gun I was comfortable with. The bottom line if you are uncomfortable with it get one you are comfortable with because as someone already stated the BG is cocked and ready to go. Although the 1911 was my first gun and carry pistol I believe now that it would be different now because I am more comfortable with carrying a gun but, now that I am used to carrying light pistols like my Glock 19 and SIG P250 and i think it would be hard to go back to the 1911's size and weight.

 

[ironmike86]

I think the 1911 condition one is safe. You have the safety,the grip safety and the trigger. The Glock you only have the trigger and the trigger safety
.

 

[sig p6]

Always one in the tube of my sig p6

 

[CR Williams]

A seven-part examination of Unchambered Carry can be found here:

Link Removed

It starts on the third one down.

 

[NavyLCDR]

To me, it comes down to this:

First, who is to say in a self defense situation I am going to have both hands free? There are a number of reasons I may want/have to draw/shoot my gun with only one hand available.

Two, there is always the chance of a malfunction when chambering a round, and that chance is compounded under stress. Where do you want to deal with a malfunction? On the street with the criminal actively attacking you? Or behind the relative safety of the locked doors of your house?

I just see no added benefit at all to carrying a gun in a proper holster without a round in the chamber.

 

[Dragonbreath]

That's why there are DA-only guns; for those who are nervous carrying SA weapons cocked and locked. I have both types, and carry both in Condition 1, one in the tube over a full mag. My SA is a Taurus PT 24/7 Pro .45, and it gets carried cocked and locked. My DAO is a Kel-Tec P11 9mm, so there is no safety to lock, just a long, smooth but fairly heavy trigger pull similar to a smooth S&W revolver trigger. Carry holsters for both weapons completely enclose the triggers and cover the safety, so the safety won't get tripped off by accident and the trigger won't get accidentally pulled. Still, if Condition 1 in an SA weapon makes you nervous, just change to a DAO weapon and go practice to "groove your new swing".

 

[NCIC105]

A weapon without a cartridge loaded in the pipe. Is like sitting in a car with no keys and needing to get to the hospital quickly!