So How Many Times Do You Do A Press check

If there is no loaded chamber indicator... Once

With a loaded chamber indicator... None

Checking clear is a different matter.
 
I have a loaded chamber indicator on my only current pistol that is both visual and tactile. On guns that do not when I am done shooting range ammo I load a mag with hollow points, I rack the slide from a fully loaded mag and then top the mag off so I'm always sure it is chambered. Then I holster it. It stays loaded until next range visit so I have no need to press check. I see no reason to be continually loading and unloading my firearms.


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When I hunted pigs and coyotes 3-4 nights a week I would do a check. Didn't know it had a name at the time.

Daylight and plinking, I just watch the round go in.
 
Thought a press check was something done with pistols.
Isn't this a rifle forum?
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Press check... Chamber check...loading verification....

Different terms with the same goal. Different processes for different platforms. With some long guns its really hard to even see into the chamber, except under perfect lighting conditions (MP5's come to mind).

With a properly set up M4/AR, you can open the bolt just enough to verify a round and then ensure the bolt is fully seated using the forward assist (about the only use i have for a F/A,btw)

I check the chamber everytime i load the gun (if practical).
 
I may be a little odd, but I will check everytime the weapon has been out of my hands, whether I am checking to see if loaded or empty is moot, but check it I will. If I hand it to someone, I check it first, then check it again when they hand it back, just a habit I guess.
 
I have shot well over 1 million rounds and I have never done a press check on a rifle. Never dropped a hammer on an empty chamber that I wanted to be loaded. I have however seen many press-checkers have a failure to fire because their rifle was not fully in battery when they pulled the trigger. If you know your firearms, there is no need at all. When the bolt is dropped, the feel is very distinct if a round does not go into the chamber. So too when the last round has been fired.

I won't accept, or give, a rifle from anyone without verifying totally empty.
 
I load all my mags with the top round on the right. When I rack the bolt and check the mag, the top round had better be on the left.
When I'm hunting and fire a single shot, I pocket the chambered (#2) round and top round is on the right again.
 
When I carried regularly as a LEO, I had no need for a check of any kind. If I was carrying a gun it was loaded. Always.

Jim
 
I may be a little odd, but I will check everytime the weapon has been out of my hands, whether I am checking to see if loaded or empty is moot, but check it I will.
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^^^^^^^^Yup^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When I carried regularly as a LEO, I had no need for a check of any kind. If I was carrying a gun it was loaded. Always.
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^^^^^^^Sort of. Still check it when I get it out of the gun locker after I've been in the jail. If it has been out of my sight, I check it.
 
I have however seen many press-checkers have a failure to fire because their rifle was not fully in battery when they pulled the trigger.
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Very good point. It can happen with pistols too--in fact virtually any semi-auto firearm can malfunction if it is taken slightly out of battery and the bolt/slide released to go back forward under the pressure of the recoil spring. It's especially likely to happen if it is eased back forward.

I'm not aware of any manufacturer that provides an approved method for press checking a firearm or otherwise verifying that the chamber is loaded by taking it slightly out of battery. There are reasons for that.

Figure out a way to load your firearm so that you know it's loaded and then refrain from playing with it after that. If you really get into a situation where you think it might be unloaded or feel that it's critical to verify that it's loaded then load it following the proper manual of arms for the firearm.

If you need to verify that the gun stripped a round from the mag, that can be done during the loading process.

In a double-feed gun, one can check the top round in the mag before and after loading to verify that a round went into the chamber. If the top round was on the left side, after it feeds, the top round will now be on the right side. And vice versa.

For single-feed guns, one can check the magazine round-count holes to verify that a round fed, or can load the chamber from a mag containing a single round, if no mags with round count holes are available.
 
Several auto pistols have finger grooves at the front of the slide as well as the rear. They facilitate press checks. If it's not in your training, you probably won't do it. I'm fairly certain I'm not alone in the world!
 
Shucks, I even press check muzzleloaders by sticking the ramrod in them. Point is, I check everything. Welcome to the North Corral!
 
If it has been out of my sight, I check it.
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This is one of the basic, standard rules for gun safety. Not doing it is how people get shot with "unloaded" guns.

Other than when the gun has been out of your sight (and out of your direct control) the only point of a "press check" is to confirm a memory lapse on the part of the user.

Faeries are not going to come and steal the round out of your chamber. If YOU put it in there, its going to stay there, until you take it out. Having to check, (sometimes repeatedly) is OCD.

"Press check" has become a somewhat generic term, but really can only be properly applied to SOME 1911A1 pattern pistols, and others using a similar tilt barrel system.

One "presses" on the recoil spring plug area of the slide (below the muzzle), pressing the slide back just enough to unlock so one can see the case in the chamber.

This cannot be done with some designs, and is difficult on a 1911 pattern gun with a full length guide rod as well.

All other designs I can think of require a "pull" on something, not a "press", so "press check" referring to them is a misnomer.

You cannot "press check" any rifle I can think of, nor a LOT of handguns.

How many times do you do a press check? How many times do you check that you turned the stove off, or locked the front door?? (or that your fly is zipped??:rolleyes::eek:)

oh, and I'd like to add that the guns that have serrations on the front of the slide did not get them put there to use as an aid to a press check, (although they can aid in a "pull check") they have them as a style feature, copying popular "race gun" looks, and the race guns that originally got them, got them because they were using a sighting system (optics of some kind) where the mount got in the way of using the usual rear located grooves.
 
Just to clarify, my earlier comments are not meant to be a primer for determining if a gun is UNLOADED. One should be exhaustively assiduous in checking to verify that a gun is unloaded. It's best in that case to check ALL of the following to verify that a gun is unloaded:
  • Mechanical means. Remove/empty the magazine and then operate the extraction/ejection function of the firearm.
  • Visual means. Look in the chamber(s).
  • Manual/Physical means. Poke your finger in the chamber(s) or use a range flag.

All the checks should be redone if the user is distracted or the gun changes possession or leaves the observation of the user.

My comments were specifically directed at the practice of checking to verify that a gun is LOADED by slightly retracting the slide/bolt to determine if a there's a cartridge in the chamber.
 
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