PanamaJane ~
Welcome to TFL.
As the others above, I'd suggest you re-think carrying without a round in the chamber. The reason for this is that racking the slide generally takes two hands and at least a brief window of time. You may or may not have the time, and you may or may not have two hands. In particular, if you need to (for example) shove a child down and to safety while drawing, you won't be able to rack the slide at the same time as you get your child down and out of the line of fire. If you can't do both -- get the gun into play,
and get the child to safety -- you'll have to choose one. But if you choose to shove the child to temporary safety, the danger becomes more extreme and you become unable to defend either yourself or the child. If instead you choose to rack the slide, leaving the child standing there, you are now equipped to protect yourself and child -- but the child may be in the line of fire. More time and more danger...
Another possibility: if you are toting an infant or toddler on your hip when trouble arrives, you may be able to
draw one-handed, but you probably won't be able to get a round into the chamber that way -- and then what? Bluff? Criminals generally have a finely honed sense of when people are bluffing (it's what they do for a living after all!) and if the guy calls your bluff, it'll be a problem. Drop the child so you can rack the slide? I don't think so...
Another one: an intruder comes to the door. You grab the kids and retreat to your safe room, shoving the safe room door shut behind you. The intruder is right behind you, shoving the door. You
must hold that door shut at all costs! So your body is tied up in the struggle to keep him out of the room where your children are. Your firearm is on your body, and you maybe could draw without allowing the door to open -- but there's no way to rack the slide once you've drawn. And pitting your physical strength against his is a losing struggle. The door is opening ... now what? Are you ready to fire or not?
There are ways to learn how to rack a slide one-handed,
but it's a last-resort technique, not something you would regularly do by choice. It takes even more time, and even under calm range conditions most people aren't 100% reliable racking the slide one-handed. And learning the technique is somewhat dangerous unless you have a very experienced person walking you through it in person.
For all these reasons, I'd really urge you to find a solid, secure holster which covers the trigger guard and holds the gun in place, and then trust that holster to do its job. Here's how to check whether the holster will do its job.
1) Unload the gun. Unload it again -- lock it open, visually inspect the chamber and the magazine well to be sure both are empty. Unload it one more time -- lock it open, and run your pinkie finger into the chamber to be sure there's no round in the chamber, then run a finger into the magazine well to be sure the mag well is empty too.
2) Place the unloaded gun in your holster, without the holster being on your body.
3) Hold the holstered gun an inch or two above a soft surface (a bed or a couch). Turn it upside down and shake gently. If the gun stays in, yay!! If it falls out, check to see if there's a tension screw; if so, tighten the screw. If not, throw the holster away. It's dangerous. Try the test again. If the holster doesn't pass, throw it away because it's dangerous. If it passes, proceed to step 4.
4) With the unloaded gun still in the holster, try to get a finger into the trigger guard and onto the trigger. Can you do it? If so, throw the holster away. It's dangerous. If not, proceed to step 5.
5) With the unloaded gun still in the holster, run your finger firmly along the
outside of the holster. Can you wrinkle the outer surface of the holster enough to move the trigger even a tiny bit? If so, throw the holster away because it's dangerous. If not -- load the gun and trust the holster to do its job.
Now some recommended reading for you:
www.corneredcat.com -- click "table of contents" and read everything in the section about kids and guns. There are several articles there that might be helpful to you.
Again, welcome! Glad you're here.
pax
(mom to five boys now in their teen and young adult years)