Chambered round or not when carrying?

For myself 1 in the chamber. If "YOU" choose not to carry in this manner then you best be practicing the draw, rack the slide. You will have to practice, practice, and practice some more to become efficient.
For a little fun at home. EMPTY GUN UNLOADED wear the gun as you would when carrying. Have someone run a stop watch and time you getting the gun out of the holster, racking the slide as you would to load the chamber and then get the gun on your target. My guess is unless you have been practicing this for hours on end, days on end, and months on end you would be dead by the time you get the pistol out of the holster.
Just my opinion here.
I would have suggested having someone charge you at a distance of 21 feet while you attempt the draw/rack/presentation, BUT it violates one of gun safety rules. DO NOT POINT YOU WEAPON AT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.
 
My carry weapon is a 1911. I carry it as a weapon, and a firearm that is not loaded is a paperweight. Frankly, I cannot imagine why anyone would consider carrying an unloaded sidearm.
 
well...

I feel that all defensive firearms should be safe to carry fully loaded and a round chambered. When you need your weapon it needs to be ready to go.

I carried my .45 cocked and locked for years. Now I have a .357 Glock in the truck as my back up and that .45 on me, or on the nightstand...STILL cocked and locked.

You have to have complete confidence with your set up. You have to KNOW that all weapons are dependable when you need to drop that hammer and that there will be no confusion or second guessing when an emergency arises.
If your unsure or won't do this then you should consider another weapon for carry.

Without a round ready to go....well...it's a modified paperweight.
 
As a 1911 fan, I would be remiss if in the course of this discussion I didn't repeat the allegedly-true story of the Texas Ranger and the helpful citizen. So I will do so herewith.

Texas Ranger Charlie Miller was minding his own business when a concerned citizen came up to him, noted the hammer cocked back on the big 1911 dangling from the Ranger's belt, and asked, "Isn't that dangerous?" Charlie replied, "I wouldn't carry the son-of-a-bitch if it wasn't dangerous."
Click to expand...
 
As you can tell from the replies so far, there is a very strong consensus that a defensive firearm of modern design and good manufacturing can and should be carried with a round chambered. Those opinions are so strongly held that they are sometimes accompanied by hyperbole like, "the gun is useless," or "you might as well carry a brick." These statements are exaggerations, of course, but it is a valid point that working the slide of a semiauto takes a small but finite amount of time that you may not be able to afford in an emergency.

I am really curious about this question coming from a veteran LEO and a 4-decade gun enthusiast. What training and/or experience have you had that causes you to raise this question at this point?
 
Buy a revolver with a transfer bar. And yes, there is such things as a stupid questions. Not sure if this is one of them but the fact remains that if you don't know the answer you have no business carrying a gun. Any gun and it's that simple. Buy a gun, get some training and lot's of trigger and then worry about how you should carry it. If you still don't know after all of that then give up on guns and buy a brick.

LK
 
Last edited:
Like Mike Irwin, and I'm sure other, I carry a revolver and load all 6 chambers. Old style revolvers, without a transfer bar need to be carried with the hammer resting on an empy chamber to make them drop safe, but thats not the kind of gun one should carry in this day and age.

When I carry an auto? You betcha.


I can understand why people have some timidity about carrying with a round chambered, but that is how they are meant to be. If you ever need to use the gun, God forbid, it better be ready to go because the badguy isn't going to wait for you. Modern guns are all designed to be carried loaded and are safe to do so, provided you use the main safety (your brain) and don't fool around with them. A good holster covering the trigger guard goes a long way, too.
 
If the gun is so mechanically unsound that you can't trust it not to fail and discharge a loaded round, you shouldn't carry that gun.

If you are so untrained that you cannot trust yourself with a loaded gun (NO offense intended, I truly believe training has few, if any negatives), YOU shouldn't be carrying ANY gun.

That said, here are some other threads that cover this topic.

1) Chambered round or not when carrying?

2) Do you rack a round in the chamber in your semi in your home?

3) Are there any owner's manuals that suggest carrying one in the chamber?

4) Proof that slide release on an emtpy chamber is bad....lets see some

5) More one chamber empty carry

6) Why Chamber empty carry is such a bad idea

7) PPKS one in chamber question

8) SA Autos Carried With Loaded Chamber

9) Glocks, one in chamber or not?

10) A round in the chamber?

11) Loaded chamber limitations?

12) round in the chamber

13) You keep one in the chamber right?

14) Loaded chamber practical issues...

15) Is it really safe to carry a round loaded in the chamber?

16) 1911's... Designed to be carried with one in chamber?

17) Fairly new.... With 1 in the chamber ??

18) had an argument with a buddy of mine about keeping 1 in the chamber.

19) One in the chamber.

20) One in the chamber?

21) Chamber or not.

22) Kel-Tec: "To chamber or not to chamber, that is the question."

That's all I found by running a search for "chamber" in Hogan's Alley. I'm sure there are many more as this comes up frequently.

VR

~Matt
 
Loaded, cocked, locked and practice with it often. Things are bad enough in a high stress adrenaline situation you should be able to draw and get on target safely without shooting your neighbors dog or your wife's candy dish.

Bad guy won't wait for you to call 911 then wait for the police and he isn't going to wait politely while you get your gun ready to shoot.
 
That said, here are some other threads that cover this topic.
Click to expand...

Same question repeated multiple times, and same answer.
An empty gun does you no good when you need to protect yourself in an instant!!!
No offence to LEOs is meant. I understand the logistics, but it's kind of like the saying
"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!'
Short answer. YES!
 
I've carried a revolver by choice for years, but on the rare occasion that I carried an autoloader it was in condition one every time.
 
IIRC many older semiautomatics-such as my Star Model B-do NOT have a floating firing pin although whether they can or should be be carried with a loaded chamber, is a matter of debate. Revolvers with a rebounding hammer-such as my trusty old Colt Trooper .357 or my S&W M-27 are safe to carry with all 6 chambers loaded.
 
ALWAYS and thanks for asking, I wouldn't have time to attempt to rack on just after the perve (hit my strong arm) and spun me around because I knew that I would have to remove firearm,rack,lift, aim,pull the trigger.
 
Let's see... yes, no, sometimes, what do ya mean?, that's foolish!, an accident waiting to happen, just as JMB intended!

Does that about cover all the answers you'll get?

Here's some more...

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439928&highlight=chambered+round+while+carrying

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=437003&highlight=chambered+round+while+carrying

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409261&highlight=chambered+round+while+carrying

Read these and get back to us.

tipoc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top