One in the chamber? Or not!!

[DrDavidM]

Puppy, I personally don't see any draw back to the single action such as the 1911. You practice with it and have mastered it. I however, have not. I practice with double action and am used to that. I am not used to having to manipulate a safety. It is simply what someone is accustomed to. I am afraid in a stressful situation, I will draw the gun, pull the trigger and nothing will happen. This is simply because I have not trained in moving the safety.

 

[Puppy]

Puppy, I personally don't see any draw back to the single action such as the 1911. You practice with it and have mastered it. I however, have not. I practice with double action and am used to that. I am not used to having to manipulate a safety. It is simply what someone is accustomed to. I am afraid in a stressful situation, I will draw the gun, pull the trigger and nothing will happen. This is simply because I have not trained in moving the safety.

Actually I am far from mastering the 1911. It's new. I was just talking theoretically. My carry guns are a Kahr PM 9 and an XD 9.

 

[kwo51]

Master presenting gun and diving for cover. I don't want to go to a gun fight.I want to go to a shooting. I won.Type of trigger or ammo = personal pref. Duck and cover ,no cowboys Protect self and love ones first.

 

[flounder22]

One in the chamber? You bet I do. My main carry is a Kel-Tec p-3AT. They are DOA, no safety, fairly heavy and long trigger pull. My safety is between my ears.

 

[tattedupboy]

I carry double action pistols and most don't even have safeties. My Taurus PT140pro does have a safety. I initially carried it with the safety on, but realized it was perfectly safe without it because it is double action only. I won't carry a single action because you must keep the safety on with them and I am not used to having to use the safety. There certainly is nothing wrong with keeping the safety on as long as you practice with it and learn to deactivate the safety as you draw the gun. Again, it is necessary to use a safety on single action only and there are certainly a lot of people that carry 1911's cocked and locked. I simply choose a double action so I don't have to risk a pull of the trigger with the safety still engaged.

The only safety that's necessary, whether in SA or DAO, is not touching the trigger. Unless you know something I don't know, I've never known a gun to discharge unless the trigger was squeezed.

 

[oscarswanson]

Yes, But you better know what the heck your doing.

 

[kwo51]

Well if you were to include shotguns you would be wrong. They have fallen over and gone off. The one that I know personaly was an Itaca pump.

 

[Bersa]

My Smith & Wesson 6906 9mm has a hammer that fits flush into a "trough" so when hammer is down, there is no way for it to snag on anything, such as with a revolver. The only way to fire the one in the chamber is to give the trigger a good pull as DA. I carry with one in chamber and safety off, so it's ready to go without thinking. My Bersa is similar and takes a pretty good pull on the trigger for the first round, and as long as it's holstered the trigger is covered.
I agree also that it's really no different than having a revolver that is loaded. Always just be sure that there is no chance for the trigger to pull back and release, such as catching on something while walking, and nothing can get to the trigger. As has been stated already, the BG will likely already have his weapon out and cocked, so every millisecond counts. The most important aspect is to practice, practice, practice, until you feel comfortable with your memory muscle. stay safe,

 

[MANDRIX3791]

One in the Chamber or Not?

I have seen this posted on some of the other boards. But I am still not clear! It still comes down to personal preference. Do you have one in the chamber? Is the safety on? Or none in the chamber???
I carry with one in the chamber and the safety on. I do not want to shoot my foot or any other body part off that I may not finished with yet. I seem to me that their is + and - no matter what you do. So let me have it, what is best????

What's goin on? My opinion on that is per the type of gun that your carrying.. Like me I have a Glock 19 that is my daily carry gun, and I do not carry one in the chamber simply because of 2 reasons.. 1) The owners manual states not to if your are using the gun for civilian carry. and 2) I'm just as fast pulling it and chambering a bullet(with lots and lots of practice), Because of the style and the shape of the frame of the gun. But.. if i'm carrying my Browning Hi-Power 1911 I do carry one in the chamber because of its external safety and hammer. Glocks don't feature these, only a "Safe Action Trigger"... so I say that (Depending on what your daily tasks are and your job Ex. Police, Security....) and Pistol that your carrying.. should make your determination. (ALL OF THE ABOVE IS ASSUMING THAT YOU PRACTICE PROPER GUN HANDLING TECHNIQUES)

 

[kwo51]

I might also add this is more a legal statement than a safety one. CYA

 

[StevePVB]

What's goin on? My opinion on that is per the type of gun that your carrying.. Like me I have a Glock 19 that is my daily carry gun, and I do not carry one in the chamber simply because of 2 reasons.. 1) The owners manual states not to if your are using the gun for civilian carry. and 2) I'm just as fast pulling it and chambering a bullet(with lots and lots of practice), Because of the style and the shape of the frame of the gun. But.. if i'm carrying my Browning Hi-Power 1911 I do carry one in the chamber because of its external safety and hammer. Glocks don't feature these, only a "Safe Action Trigger"... so I say that (Depending on what your daily tasks are and your job Ex. Police, Security....) and Pistol that your carrying.. should make your determination. (ALL OF THE ABOVE IS ASSUMING THAT YOU PRACTICE PROPER GUN HANDLING TECHNIQUES)

Good reasons for doing that. After all, they are your reasons for doing what you do. It would make no sense to carry any way other than what felt best to you. Personally, I'm afraid I'd "forget" if I had one in the chamber if I varied it from day to day or gun to gun. We all need to do what works best for us. I'm comfortable with one in the chamber of my XD.

 

[HK4U]

What's goin on? My opinion on that is per the type of gun that your carrying.. Like me I have a Glock 19 that is my daily carry gun, and I do not carry one in the chamber simply because of 2 reasons.. 1) The owners manual states not to if your are using the gun for civilian carry. and 2) I'm just as fast pulling it and chambering a bullet(with lots and lots of practice), Because of the style and the shape of the frame of the gun. But.. if i'm carrying my Browning Hi-Power 1911 I do carry one in the chamber because of its external safety and hammer. Glocks don't feature these, only a "Safe Action Trigger"... so I say that (Depending on what your daily tasks are and your job Ex. Police, Security....) and Pistol that your carrying.. should make your determination. (ALL OF THE ABOVE IS ASSUMING THAT YOU PRACTICE PROPER GUN HANDLING TECHNIQUES)

So it is o.k. to carry a glock chambered if you are law enforcement but not if you are a civilian you are not supposed to be smart enough to do that? Or is it just that only police should be fullly ready to defend themselves and not the public?

 

[StevePVB]

So it is o.k. to carry a glock chambered if you are law enforcement but not if you are a civilian you are not supposed to be smart enough to do that? Or is it just that only police should be fullly ready to defend themselves and not the public?

I'm just a lowly junior member so I'm sure I'll hear about it if I'm not allowed to take issue with the post of a "senior" member -- someone that has posted on this forum more than me -- unless they are cashing their Social Security check they are actually junior to me

Lighten up and read the post. His point was what made sense to him and was comfortable for him. He didn't even come close to suggesting that the police were the only ones welcome to defend themselves. For starters, I think it makes sense to assume that most folks on this forum have assumed the responsibilty for self defense. Next thought is that these forums are for expressing opinions -- some of which we don't agree with. I give extra respect to those that express their opinion and let us know the reasons.

Disagreeing respectfully is the best way for us to learn. Give me a good reason why I am wrong and I might agree with you. Tell me I'm an idiot and I tune you out.

 

[DrDavidM]

Steve, sonny, you juniors have just as many opinions as we seniors do and you are always welcome to voice them. As you said, that is what these forums are all about. We always welcome input. If there was no input, we would have no forum. . Sometimes opinions are strong. A large portion of communication is nonverbal. These expressions cannot be seen here and, at times, things appear offensive when that's not the intent. As you said constructive information is always best. The members of this forum are the best. I don't think any of us want to offend anyone. Except maybe anti 2A people

 

[kwo51]

Very few of us here like only one round in wheel gun. Barny Fife condition 69. Train the way you carry pratice the way you will be in the fight. Train with what you carry.

 

[P35]

I can't believe that this subject comes up on ALL the firearms boards.

1. If you are afraid that you might shoot yourself with one in the pipe, DON'T CARRY THAT WAY

2. If you ARE confident in your firearm handling skills and chose to carry with round chambered, Carry On

3. I DO carry with a round chambered.
Always have, always will.
Safety or non,
Glock or Sig, or 1911 or P35 or revolver. Works for me
Regards
James

 

[Hondov65]

Always anything less would be like carrying an unloaded gun.

 

[Ziggy]

Anything less

No, carrying an unloaded gun is like carrying an unloaded gun. Carrying a loaded gun is like, uh, carrying a loaded gun.

 

[John Wesley]

I carried without one in the pipe for about a month.

This might be off topic and maybe it was a bad idea but here is how I gained some confidence in carrying with one in the chamber:

Since I was carrying with an empty chamber anyway, I deliberated COCKED my DA handgun and left the safety OFF. I was SURE that the chamber was empty when I holstered the gun.

Anyway, every day I'd check the hammer to see that it was still cocked. It always was. After seeing for myself that guns with their triggers covered didn't allow the hammer to fall I decided I would be very safe with one in the chamber and the hammer down.

If I need a FAST shot it will be a DA shot. If I have time (unlikely but you never know) I can always cock it manually.

I don't want to spot myself any time trying to chamber a round though. Might not even be that easy under pressure... or in a pouring down rain... or with one already injured hand.... etc.

 

[benzuncle]

I never considered carrying a piece without one in the chute. For this reason, I purchased a DAO piece that does not incorporate a safety for my carry piece. While the sound of a round being jacked into a shotgun might give a BG cause for alarm , I don't think the same can be said of a handgun, and that's if you are allowed the privilege of the time it takes to make that kind of move.