any semiauto should have some sort of tactile loaded chamber indicator, and I don't consider a little peep hole to be adequate.
DONT TRUST THOSE!! Ive seen em stick out with no round in the chamber and lay flush with a round in the chamber.
Of course you shouldn't trust them entirely. You see, this all ties in together. A tactile loaded chamber indicator is just another step. I can sweep my index finger up the slide of my glock and
know that the indicator is out. Meaningless, obviously, there are risks in assuming that that chamber is empty, and we are supposed to assume that it is loaded anyway. Counting rounds, empty holes, counting as you shoot, there is NOTHING like looking carefully in chamber and magazine or cylinder, and then still treating it like it's loaded.
When I am out shooting, out at the range, even at the table, I still check the chamber before I aim and fire. Heck, it may have been several minutes since I dropped the slide and chambered a round, but I still check the chamber before I fire. There isn't anything much more embarrassing than dry firing the first round with people watching, I guess.
So, redundancy, redundancy, and checking over and over until you get so tired of redundancy that you cut the word out of the dictionary.
I say that I
always do all of these things, but I should say
always intend to. If I forget that last second check, the worst that happens is I'm left standing there after that 'click' that everyone hears.
I was with my nephew, letting him see my shotgun. three times in a row, I threw it up at the target, and didn't push off the safety as I did. There I was, swinging at a target and saying bad words. I just handed it to him and said that I'd had enough.
Brain tumor. It can cause things to happen. sometimes I find myself quite disoriented, and
that is dangerous. I try to use every step possible. I quit reloading for a couple of years and did very little shooting. The fact that my range is remote and I didn't want to be so isolated was also a concern. So I try to use every level of redundancy possible.
Frankly, the last time I went, I had knelt down for my brass, and when I stood up my knee gave out. I wound up scrambling backwards in the gravel until I went on my back. I tried to stand, and wound up going down again onto my face. Of course, not a soul around, and stupid me, my phone was on the bench.
But my gun was empty and locked and on the bench as well, so there was absolutely no chance for a negligent discharge when I went splat.
Stupidity and evil are similar, in that there is no lowest limit to which one can aspire.
There's also that old cliche that you can never be too rich or handsome.
you can never be too careful, and just because you never heard it as a rule, you can still make up your own rules as you go along. I like the bright orange magazine followers that I have seen. Those are a great way to know that your pistol
probably doesn't have a round in it when you drop your slide.