What condition do you like to carry in?

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... Seems like some carriers of defensive pistols treat the pistol like a Lady chooses a fashion accessory.

Subject your body and brain to a massive surge of adrenalin! As in an attack by a criminal, now you have to drop a hand to a concealed weapon, and decide which gun are you wearing today!
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This is a compelling argument for two things:

1. Limiting the number of steps or controls to as few as possible (as in my earlier comment about "just the trigger" versus a separate manual safety and also keeping a round in the chamber).

2. Staying relatively consistent with your carry rotation.

In those emergency situations when getting the gun out, on target, and doing what it needs to do to save your life; all the "just a trigger" guns, whether DA/SA, DAO, or traditional double-action revolvers, should be close enough for most people.

As far as accessorizing, there is nothing wrong with having the right gun for the right weather, season, or style of dress. It can be pretty too, within reason. ;)
 
I have two striker-fired pistols, one full size, one single stack carry size. They both have the same manual of arms: manual external safety, chamber indicator on the top. Makes things easy and I can transition between using them very easily. When carried, they both have a round in the chamber, full magazine, with an extra mag on my weak side.
 
I don't feel the need to carry my 1911, but if I did it would be cocked, unlocked on an empty chamber. Reason being if a attacker got control of my gun and pulled the trigger, it would go click, giving me seconds to respond to the attack. I practice racking the slide as I draw at the range !!! hdbiker
 
I carry a 1911 with one in the chamber with the gun cocked and locked.

It takes three events for the gun to fire:

1. The grip safety needs to be engaged.

2. The thumb safety needs to be disengaged.

3. The trigger needs to be pressed.

Knowing that it takes all three to to make the gun go bang, it is therefore safe to carry cocked and locked and in the event, heaven forbid, that you ever have to draw the gun, you save precious time by being ready to fire far sooner than if you had to chamber a round.

I would also add that no matter what condition you carry your self defense gun in, you must practice, practice, practice. I go to a range where I can draw from the holster. This is not always the case at public ranges. If you are stuck at a public range, put your gun on the bench at the firing line in the cocked and locked position with the thumb safety engaged. Pick up the gun and practice getting on target while disengaging the thumb safety.
 
One in the tube with semi-autos. Full cylinder with revolvers.
My choice when I carefully consider everything that could possibly happen. With the additional knowledge that the modern firearms I have the opportunity to cary are designed to be drop safe.
An empty chamber is an empty gun, and an empty gun is a rock!
As for a manual safety, nothing I carry has one. One reason I don't carry a 1911.
 
When it comes to choosing a condition, your psychological comfort is a real factor. However, how well you can actually make use of your weapon under stress in an actual emergency really needs to be a factor. For those who don't know, there is an excellent YouTube channel called "Active Self Protection" that analyzes real footage of those kinds of emergencies. It is well worth spending some time looking at some of those videos, which cover a pretty wide range of events and outcomes. (Obviously, viewer discretion is advised.)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsE_m2z1NrvF2ImeNWh84mw
 
That's a good channel. The take away from modern trainers like John Correria and folks like him, is that unchambered carry is the poorest choice.

There is some legit debate about TDA, DAO, Striker, SA/DA. All need practice but no one like the kind of folks who go to Tom Given's TacCon (like John) suggest unchambered carry. To announce you do that is getting to the point of announcing you are really not up to speed to carry a gun for self-defense.
 
I have SA, DA/SA, and DAO guns that are suitable for carry. The latest two pistols I've bought specifically for the purpose of carry are DAO autoloaders and are thus carried hammer down. If I carry the biggest/best carry guns I have they are SA autoloaders and are carried condition one. Practice enough to be proficient with what you carry is the only thing to do.
 
Single action guns (1911, HiPower) carried cocked and locked
DA/SA guns hammer down, safety (if equipped) off

All autos carried with a round chambered, DA Revolvers with full cylinders.

I dont carry SA revolvers as protection weapons.

As an aside, longguns are “cruiser ready” until needed.
 
Since I carry either a revolver or a DA/SA pistol, I ALWAYS carry in a condition that only requires a trigger pull to fire. If the DA pistol has a mechanical safety, it's in the OFF position.
 
Kimio asked:
What condition do you like to carry in?
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First, this has been asked and answered many times, please use the search function to see if a question has been asked and thoroughly answered (and this one has been answered to death).

Second, it seems more than a little short-sighted to revisit your decision on how you carry (or get affirmation on how you carry) from an internet chat room without also asking the circumstances under which the respondents made their choice.

Third, the choice of condition is less important than that you are proficient at employing the firearm from the condition you choose. Pick a condition and then train employing the gun from that condition and stop worrying about whether I carry in Condition X or Condition Y.
 
The problem with carrying with a round in the chamber is - you give up the opportunity to pull it, rack it, and say some really cool tough guy cliche which is a very important tactic :D

Seriously, though, it is entirely a personal decision one needs to make based on many things - does your weapon get taken off and laid down alot? How nervous does it make you? How good is your situational awareness and avoidance (more likely to have a little "heads up")? How good is your carry system? All of these are individual specific and the choice should be based on your individual circumstances.

I totally get the attraction to a manual saftey. A lot of it is from the idea of a preemptive command. Think "about.... Face!"; "click.... bang". Some folks have been working with preemptive commands for a long time and find they help their "rhythm".

All I would suggest is - anybody who prefers to carry with an empty chamber should practice drawing and firing from that condition while taking a moment to visualize possible scenarios. That is when i, personally, decided I didn't like it much.
 
When I started? Nothing in the chamber. Israeli style.

Once I was more confident? One in the chamber, striker fired, a great holster.
 
Condition 1 with either a DA/SA, SA 1911, cocked, safety on, one in the chamber, and ready to brush off the safety & fire. Fast Action Condition 1 with the Daewoo K5 (Lionheart or DP51). DA, chambered, I never use the safety. I only ever "sometimes" carry condition 2, with a Browning Hi Power. I knock the hammer back with my left hand, and ALL of my Hi Powers have either Browning or Fegyvar commander ring type hammers, or the Cylinder & Slide bite free ring type hammers, so NO SPUR HAMMERS, on any Hi Powers. Hate'em! Any Beretta decocker on the slide guns were converted to G "decock only", ages ago. S&W 39-59? I was glad to be shed of those bricks. Range guns ONLY, now. There are a few old .32s, 9mms and .380s I carry empty chamber, because the safety is in such a goofy location, but I rarely if ever use them. Revolvers? DA, full cylinder. Generally, no SA revolvers for carry. I machined rest notches in the cylinders of any SA repops, so they do get carried full cylinder. Rifles, safety on, round chambered. Shotguns? Depends on the model. I have ventilated the roof of a vehicle. That shotgun rack was unbolted on the spot, and unceremoniously chucked out in the desert. The gun chambered itself, then went off, when I hit a rather violent bump in the dirt road. My ears didn't appreciate it much either, especially the right one! I PREFERRED THE SIG P-226/P-228 BECAUSE IT WAS DECOCKER ONLY, AND THE GERMAN SIG SAUERS WERE AS SMOOTH AS BUTTER, AND COST LESS THAN A HI POWER. I HAD PROBLEMS WITH BREAKING FRAMES ON LATE 1980S & EARLY 1990s GLOCKS, THAT MADE ME AVOID GLOCK FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS!!
 
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https://www.shootingillustrated.com...itical-mistakes-made-by-defensive-gun-owners/

Mistake No. 3: Not Carrying with a Round in the Chamber

Speaking of coming second in a fight, another easy way to give a bad guy the jump on you is carrying a semi-automatic pistol with an empty chamber. In those crazy milliseconds in which your life hinges on your ability to respond quickly and accurately, having to use both hands to chamber a round could be the last mistake you ever make. Not only are you wasting precious time, you are counting on having both hands available for this task, which may not be the case. If, for whatever reason, you just don’t feel comfortable with a round chambered in your semi-automatic pistol, the smart thing would be to switch to a double-action revolver.
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That pretty much says it all, as other trainers and high end users have said many times.

You can argue about double action, safeties, strikers, etc. but it is no longer viable to carry unchambered. Israeli carry is a technique from a defense force training from the days of yore. If you are not comfortable, carry a revolver until you are trained up.

Anymore to say?
 
My wife can't rack my Colt 1911s. Arthritis prevents it from happening.

This is the reason she handles a striker fired weapon.

Also, she feels safer and more ready without a safety....just pull the trigger and we are in business. I feel safer with her carrying the striker fired weapon as well, with no safeties involved.

All carry guns are fully loaded and a round chambered. I feel our lives depend on it. She can protect me and I can protect her.

If we are ever out together and the need arises, whom ever is starting a ruckus is going to get plugged twice most likely, once from me and once from Little Red.

If the good Lord is willing, it will never happen.
 
The problem with carrying with a round in the chamber is - you give up the opportunity to pull it, rack it, and say some really cool tough guy cliche which is a very important tactic :)
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If you carry a double-action revolver or semi-auto with an exposed hammer, you can always thumb-cock it. It comes right after the transition from Sabrina stance to pointing the muzzle directly at the bad guy. :D

Seriously though, the question about taking off a concealed-carry gun and laying it down could be a tricky one. How often does that happen and why? When it does happen, presumably when doing some bathroom reading or having to enter legally prohibited areas, does it leave its holster when it does? Forgive me if it already came up but I think the holster is a crucial safety device that rarely gets the credit it deserves in these conversations.
 
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