When is it time to chamber a round?

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Jakobs Gunworks

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Howdy all, just a thought that keeps coming back to me, and I keep finding myself different answers. So I thought I'd try the community's thoughts.

Starting info, my only option for HD gun is my Mini-14, so be it, I love that, gun has always served me well. So let's stick to rifles/carbines for this discussion, if you don't mind.
Also, I live in quiet suburbia.
And I'm the kind of guy who doesn't keep a round chambered. It just makes me uncomfortable. Even it does take me an extra half a second to work the action as the three hypothetical bad guys with handguns charge though my front door(this happened in my town recently, they never caught/arrested the gunmen), I'll take that extra half a sec to Think about what I'm doing/about to have to do.

My most recent experience of indecision, sitting outside on the back porch(which shares a wall, with a man-door into, the garage), with my girlfriend late at night having a smoke before bed and dog is asleep next to us. Something SLAMS into the inside of the man door, scares all of us, dog growls, I get up to go check, chambering a round into my rifle as I stand. I look, and find... Nothing. Still to this day dunno what made the noise.
But the thought stuck in my head. 'Did I Need to chamber that round?' 'Or was it an act of momentary paranoia, that could have put something in danger that I didn't want to destroy(even though nothing important was. Just ground)?'
Or was it an appropriate response?

How do you react when you hear a bump in the night you can't explain? When do you chamber a round(in your rifle)?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

-Jakob's.
 
Immediately after loading the magazine. Having said that, when my kids were younger, I did not keep a round chambered in my Mossberg pump. Now that they're grown and moved out, my HD guns are all locked and loaded.
 
Fill the mag, insert, chamber a round, remove and top up the mag, re-insert.

Every gun, all the time.
 
Long guns I don't keep loaded at all. Seems we're talking Home Invasion.

Defense for home invasions, in reality rule out long guns. They don't always occur while you're in bed with a rifle/carbine/shotgun laying against your night stand, or worse, in the closet.

But too many happen while we are setting on the couch watching TV, cooking/eating dinner, or on the internet playing on TFL.

It takes 3 seconds for someone to kick in the best of doors or windows. It takes much more time to get to the bedroom or closet to get your long gun and get it in action.

It takes me less then a half second to get my revolver out of my pocket.

One of the greatest fears in my life is one of my grand kids, or their little friends getting a hold of a gun.

I know that can't happen here because they wont be able to get my gun which are locked in a large gun safe (two actually, one for pistols one for long guns).

So the only gun available is the one in my pocket, its always available, fast to get into action and I doubt any of my grandkids or their friends can pick my pocket.

I'm the kind of guy who doesn't keep a round chambered. It just makes me uncomfortable.
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This is the statement that concerns me the most. Not being comfortable with your gun.

If you are not comfortable then that means you are afraid of your gun. You're not familiar with your gun. If you own a gun, whether you carry it, plink with it, target shoot or hunt you need to be comfortable with that gun.

You need to take it out and shoot it, you need to dry fire with it, you need to train with it.

I teach self defense classes and target shooting. The thing I stress is that the gun should be as comfortable in your hand as a cell phone in the hands of s teenage girl.

Chambered round, or no chambered round, you should be totally comfortable and confident in your gun. Any gun you have. I hunt, but while hunting I don't chamber a round in my rifle until just before I shoot. This is not about a round in a chamber. Its about being afraid of your gun or your ability with your gun.
 
My 2 cents:
Chambering a round in an emergency might go as planned, might not.
Guns are just that way.
Round in the chamber, loaded magazine securely seated, safety on, finger off the trigger.
Use it, don't use it - instant choice.
That bang on the garage wall sounds familiar.
Our house does it every night as the walls and ducts change temperature.
 
Generally, I keep firearms I am using in Condition 1 and stored firearms in Condition 3. If a longgun is coming out because of possible defensive use, it goes to Condition 1 just as soon as I can get it out and point it in a safe direction.

It is important to remember the 4 rules though, even when scared. Firearms have slamfired when being chambered, and while it is an extremely rare occurence, it is important to keep that safe direction in mind when chambering or unloading inside your home. I use an old CRT monitor for my backstop.
 
And I'm the kind of guy who doesn't keep a round chambered. It just makes me uncomfortable.
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I'm with kraigwy on this one, . . . if you are uncomfortable with your weapon, you simply need to get done with that part of your personality.

How do you get comfortable with your new car? You drive it.

How did you get comfortable with your girl friend? Spending time with her and exploring things together.

The same goes for that weapon. Get it out, . . . take it to the range, . . . shoot it, . . . play with it, . . . get to know it.

Then realize without a doubt, . . . you can chamber the round, put on the safey, lay it on the dinner table, and never worry, . . . it will not get up in the night and go out shooting people. It will not go bang by itself, . . . you have to make it do so.

Finally, . . . someone else hit this point, . . . but it is worth re-iterating: there are two things that can happen when you go to chamber a round. One is, everything goes well, . . . the other is that it does not go well.

I will guarantee you, without any doubt whatsoever, that if it fails to chamber when you need it, . . . you probably will not live to regret it. You probably will not live, . . . period. Bad guys take a bad view of people trying to shoot them with rifles, . . . and if they don't turn and run, . . . they'll shoot you real, real, dead.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
I teach self defense classes and target shooting. The thing I stress is that the gun should be as comfortable in your hand as a cell phone in the hands of s teenage girl.
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As the father of 3 teenage girls that has replaced more than 3 phones due to misplacements and mishaps, I think this is a poor analogy. If someone handles a gun as negligently as I have seen teen girls (mine and others) routinely handle their phones, I'm running the other way!
 
I'm the kind of guy who doesn't keep a round chambered. It just makes me uncomfortable.
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This is the statement that concerns me the most. Not being comfortable with your gun.

If you are not comfortable then that means you are afraid of your gun. You're not familiar with your gun. If you own a gun, whether you carry it, plink with it, target shoot or hunt you need to be comfortable with that gun.
Click to expand...

Wow. That statement is so presumptuous it is borderline condescending and insulting.
 
Bartholomew Roberts said:
Generally, I keep firearms I am using in Condition 1 and stored firearms in Condition 3. If a longgun is coming out because of possible defensive use, it goes to Condition 1 just as soon as I can get it out and point it in a safe direction....
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I think that's really the best answer.

Beyond that, I don't think the question has an answer. If you decide that you're not going to chamber a round as soon as you take the gun in hand for defensive use and can have the gun pointed in a safe direction, you will have to make some kind of a decision as a situation unfolds. And when the right time will be during an unfolding situation will depend on what is happening and how.

Of course in any case, you will need to chamber a round before you need to actually shoot the gun.
 
If you do not have one in the chamber, the time to put one in is when you feel that you need to hold the weapon. Standing guard with an empty gun is supposed to do what?
If you keep your finger out of the trigger hole until you have a target, the gun will not go off on it's own.
 
Fill the mag, insert, chamber a round, remove and top up the mag, re-insert.

Every gun, all the time.
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Why not have a Barnie mag, as in Andy giving Barnie Fife just one lonely round in Mayberry that he kept in his shirt pocket:eek:
mag with one round=Barnie mag
 
Its kind of hard to holster the OP's Mini14

I think either way, condition 1 or 3 is fine....as long as its consistent AND you train that way.

Guns are machines and machines fail. Its true it will not go off by itself but what if it is knocked over inadvertently? I saw the results of an 870 that had a round left in the chamber and then stuck into a rack of a patrol car.

Pursuit.. Railroad tracks...car bottoms out....kaboom!!! NO finger on the trigger, not even a hand on the gun. So "stuff" does happen. Made a MESS of the light bar:eek:

Longguns put into "cruiser ready" (condition 3) are fine. Train to chamber a round as you pick it up... Just like you did

Does this take extra time? Sure, but its a second at most. Any early warning system, a stout door, some good locks and a DOG should give you ample time to rack a round into that Mini

Some people think the badguys are going to instantly teleport into your face.

That said, my preference is my EDC handgun on me at home. Gives me something at hand, RIGHT NOW. Knock on the door...got it covered

Dogs start going crazy about something in the garage....grab the longgun and rack a round before going to look
 
^^ Agreed. As long as you train the same way every time to chamber a round immediately when you retrieve the rifle to respond to a threat, it should be a non-issue and only a split second "delay". The "time" to chamber the round would be whenever you deem it necessary to pick up the rifle to use it. Not after you go to check out the noise, not after picking up your phone or flashlight.. the very moment the rifle is in your hands. If the decision is made to retrieve the rifle, the same decision includes chambering the round.

That being said, that split second can also make the difference too, it's a personal question of preparedness vs. comfort and safety inside the home. There's a long list of those personal questions...
 
Seems to me that if the long gun is in a quick-access safe, there is no point in leaving it un-chambered.

If it's sitting "at the ready" in a closet ... there is some sense in having a mag inserted, but an empty chamber. This depends more upon living circumstances, presence of others, etc.

I carry a handgun almost 100% of the time at home (semi-auto in Condition 1 or a revolver) IF time is of the essence, because it's really going down that fast, I think this is best first line of defense.
 
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I am a CCW holder so there is a pistol close at hand at all times with one in the pipe.
With that said I also have a M1 30 carbine with a 30 rd mag handy but I do not keep a round chambered in that rifle.
This rifle leans up against the wall in the corner right inside the garage door which is off the living room.
I am very comfortable with guns.
I've been shooting over 40 years and handling firearms is pretty much second nature.
The reason I do not keep a round chamber is this rifle is it can fall or be nocked over but also in certain situation I fell the sound of that bolt flying forward can be a good deterrent.
Just like when a round is chambered in a pump shotgun or a auto pistol.
That's a sound that has a tendency to unnerve folks.
 
Posted by Jakobs Gunworks: My most recent experience of indecision, sitting outside on the back porch(which shares a wall, with a man-door into, the garage), with my girlfriend late at night having a smoke before bed and dog is asleep next to us. Something SLAMS into the inside of the man door, scares all of us, dog growls, I get up to go check, chambering a round into my rifle as I stand.
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How long did that take? How long would it have taken for a violent criminal actor to do mischief?

Posted by kraigwy: Long guns I don't keep loaded at all. Seems we're talking Home Invasion.

Defense for home invasions, in reality rule out long guns. They don't always occur while you're in bed with a rifle/carbine/shotgun laying against your night stand, or worse, in the closet.

But too many happen while we are setting on the couch watching TV, cooking/eating dinner, or on the internet playing on TFL.

It takes 3 seconds for someone to kick in the best of doors or windows. It takes much more time to get to the bedroom or closet to get your long gun and get it in action.

It takes me less then a half second to get my revolver out of my pocket.

One of the greatest fears in my life is one of my grand kids, or their little friends getting a hold of a gun.

I know that can't happen here because they wont be able to get my gun which are locked in a large gun safe (two actually, one for pistols one for long guns).

So the only gun available is the one in my pocket, its always available, fast to get into action and I doubt any of my grandkids or their friends can pick my pocket.
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I agree. Unless you just happen to be very near to where a firearm is stored when a break-in occurs, you had better have it on you--and ready to go, instantly.
 
Wow. That statement is so presumptuous it is borderline condescending and insulting.
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I would agree with the above statement. Read the advice and decide for yourself what you feel comfortable with. I know when someone tells me what way I should do something and then goes on to tell me that I obviously don't know what I am doing when it comes to firearms I ignore them. Just because people think they know everything doesn't mean they do.
 
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