Carrying a handgun cocked or uncocked

[RNB65]

Your roommate is either badly misinformed or an idiot (or both). Every LEO in the country carries his handgun ready to fire. Most cops carry either a DAO handgun like a Glock or a DA/SA handgun like a Sig with the chamber loaded and ready to draw, aim and shoot. The few cops who carry SA-only handguns like the 1911 usually carry with a round chambered, hammer cocked, and the manual safety on (aka, condition one).

Enjoy spending your $50.

p.s. I suggest you find better roommates because the current crowd doesn't sound too sharp.

 

[Angus Podgorney]

They both have trigger safeties to prevent non-fingers from pulling the trigger.

How does the trigger safety prevent the trigger from being pulled by anything? You never heard of GlOCKS going off when getting hung up on something by not being carried properly?

 

[Sundles]

Regarless of the cocking or firing mechanisim, a live round should be in the chamber. When speaking of revolvers, the live round should be in the chamber that will rotate into battery when the trigger is pulled or hammer is cocked.

Carrying a pistol/revolver any other way is an invitation to your own personal disaster--for a lot of potential reasons.

Who cares what your roomate thinks? Dont converse with him on this subject, unless he is open to learning.

 

[countryrebel]

I always carry cocked and locked,you might not have time to chamber a round.KEEP YOU FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER

 

[Stevie-Ray]

My 1911s, I always carry cocked and locked. My Glock I carry with a round in the chamber. My USPC I carry with a round in the chamber DA.

Everything always ready to go.

 

[MikePGS]

You definitely won 50 dollars. Not carrying your gun cocked loses valuable time when you need it. Though i seem to have read somewhere that in the military you have to carry safety on without a round in the chamber... does anyone know if this is true?

 

[Archer1945]

Unless you are in certain specified areas in a combat zone in the military you do not have any ammo in your gun, let alone in the chamber. About the only exception to this rule is if you are guarding nuclear weapons or aircraft with nukes onboard. This info is from a recon Marine who just headed back to the sandbox. Even the AP/MP/SP at the entrances to military/naval bases have empty guns, as well as the Marine guards at all embassies. These were factors in the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran years ago as well as the bombing of the military barracks in, I believe, Saudi Arabia a few years later. I do think though, in the Saudi incident, the guards were armed but with loaded M16s which were no match for the truck with the bomb. The Iranian Emabassy incident would have been a non-incident if the guards had had their M14s loaded.

 

[Archer1945]

As to the topic of this thread, unless the weapon is DA, semi-auto or revolver, it is always carried cocked and locked if it is intended to be available for a serious social function. Except for maybe one time in 100 there is absolutely no time, if you have to draw a weapon, to rack the slide back to make the piece operational. I don't know of anyone capable of knowing when that once in 100 time is going to occur so I'd much rather have the weapon ready when it leaves the holster. Besides if you have to rack the slide you are going to let everyone in hearing range know you have a gun and you might be in circumstances where that is not in the least advisable.

As for LEOs carrying cocked and locked, that was one reason very few, if any departments authorized 1911s or Hi-Powers for general use. It seems most citizens tend to panic if they see a cocked weapon. The more forward thinking departments would allow certain officers to carry 1911s but they had to show they were very experienced in handling them and were practically never an officer in constant contact with the public.

 

[DomMega]

Your roommates are idiots and obviously have little to no experience with any kind of firearm let alone handguns. If you'd like to prove to them that CCW'ers carry cocked and locked, so to speak, just purchase a Lenny McGill DVD on Concealed or advanced concealed carry. He typically trains with a Glock 22, Glock 27, and a Smith and Wesson Airweight 442 .38 Special with a fully enclosed hammer. He makes sure the weapons are empty while doing training demonstrations in front of the camera but obviously on the range and in "real life" scenarios he's loaded and ready to go. He draws and fires and that is a professional video available to the masses.

And the cop thing, really? Are they serious? :banghead:

 

[1911 guy]

Cocked or uncocked depends on the pistol.

Some handguns don't take well to being carried around cocked, single action revolvers coming to mind. All handguns, however, are perfectly safe when loaded, and quite possibly cocked with the exception noted above, when handled by someone who doesn't have their cranium inserted firmly into their rectum. As mentioned by others, every police officer in America carries a "cocked and locked" autoloader now. Most CCW holders carry autoloaders C&L. Those who carry revolvers tend to keep them properly stoked, too, I've noticed.

Yeah, you won fifty bucks. Your room-mate suffers from cranial/rectal inversion.

I just wish the constant debate over the safety of carry a loaded handgun would go away and the people who question it would get training to answer their questions. A lot more to be gleaned there than from keyboard banter.

 

[Jacobus Rex]

My 1911 is always carried cocked and locked. It is the SAFEST way to carry a 1911.

 

[doubleg]

One thing I don't understand is the problem against carrying a 1911 with the hammer down, especially series 80 type guns. It would be alot harder for the gun to fire accidentally when the hammer has to be pulled back as opposed to a lever being pressed down. People carried revolvers for over a hundred years relying on the uncocked hammer as their only safety.

 

[oldrifleman]

WestonSmith,

When I carried 1911s, it was "locked and cocked." When Glocks, empty chamber. Springfield Armory XDs, one in the spout, and keep the fingers away from the trigger guard. Now with the Beretta M9A1 w/light rails, it's one in the spout, and the safety off. Why? With a 12lb trigger pull for the first SA shot, it's safety enough. However, like the revolvers (S&W, Ruger, and Taurus) I've owned and loved, I never used DA, except to see what it was like. I ALWAYS worked the weapon SA. So too, with the Berettas... That's just me, because I have always felt that SA was more accurate and more safe...

oldrifleman, out...

 

[Bart Noir]

doubleg, the 1911 design requires the trigger to be pulled, in order to end up with a hammer-down but loaded gun. Do you see the problem with training to pull the trigger when you really don't want a "bang"????

Sooner or later, you get the bang. The thumb slips, or the brain does. If you expect to drop the hammer on a loaded gun, other than the range or real life self defense, the negligent discharge will eventually happen. You will drop the hammer but will forget to have a strong enough hold on the hammer.

That is in the category of a tired motorcycle rider getting off a bike that still has the kickstand up. Just forget that one step.......

And the 1911 is not shaped for easy thumb cocking. It can be done, but the grip you will have on the pistol is less than strong. How disturbing to be cocking in a true adrenaline-pumping SHTF situation, and then drop the gun. Do you want to participate in a pig-pile over your own gun, with your very life at stake? Me neither.

Bart Noir
Who always got his kickstand down. The other guys, well.....

 

[Bart Noir]

You will have the ability to rack the slide, if you need to defend.

Sure. Strong hand has the gun, weak hand grips the slide so to rack it back. Your third hand can be pushing away the attacker who is reaching for the gun with both of his hands. Or your third hand can be prying the fingers off your neck as the attacker tries to choke you. Or your third hand can be slapping away the knife that is headed for some tender nether regions.

Oh, no third hand? Maybe we should rethink the concept?

Bart Noir
Easiest 50 bucks he ever heard of.

 

[sorensen440]

do you think you would shoot yourself in the leg if it were cocked?
if so maybe you should leave the ammo at home....

 

[Lonestar49]

...

For me, the idea of carrying chambered and cocked, type pistol, just spooked me, so I went with a Sig P229R 9mm and a Beretta Px4 40cal. That way I can have one chambered, always, but un-cocked with the Sig, semi-cocked with the Beretta, but both need only a DA pull, or an easy fast thumb-cock of either's hammer, into SA mode, and I'm good.


Suits me



LS

 

[Super Trucker]

Invite your roommate to sit and read the forum with you. He or she doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. You can't argue with somebody that thinks cops don't carry loaded guns. And BTW your XD is very safe to carry with a round in the chamber/cocked. I own 2 and sometimes carry them myself. Take this person to a gun range and show them what they are missing.