Do you carry with a round chambered?

[abrink]

so you pull out your weapon and jack a round into the pipe...That is one sound all bad guys know

That could be used to your benefit though. Like when you hear those "in the middle of the night" stories and a guy racks his shotgun and the burglar goes running off. Of course i see what you're saying though. He then knows you're there and can take action against you. Like FCFC said it's a tradeoff.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Like when you hear those "in the middle of the night" stories and a guy racks his shotgun and the burglar goes running off.

Sounds and their effect. Folks love to talk about the sound of racking a shotgun but an old friend of mine discovered that yelling "everyone in this house is armed and waiting for you...it's your choice" really loudly was also very effective in causing a thief to flee his house.
(He later admitted to me that he had no idea what he was saying at the time, he just blurted it out under stress.)

I'm not counting on a sound. I keep a round chambered.

 

[ar10]

It doesn't make any sense not to. Why carry one if you don't

 

[springmom]

Of course.

Springmom

 

[GRB]

Do you carry with a round chambered?

I thought about the question a bit first, and I have to admit, no I do not, but I may or may not be answering the question the way you meant it; let me explain:

When I carry a handgun, for self defense, it is always loaded to capacity. This was not always the case with certain pistols I had, but certainly is the case now.

As for long guns: I have often 'carried' them without one in the chamber. When I go on a hunting trip, and am making my way out into the woods at 0400 in the pitch black, you can bet there is not a round in the chamber. Heck half of the time, in that situation, the gun is not loaded at all.

When I go out on an operation for my job, and take a long gun, the chamber is not loaded until at or near the location where it may be needed. I do not need a Remington 870 going off in my car and taking off my head (you guessed - no shotgun racks, so it is in the trunk), and it is empty. I do the same with my MP-5 as with the shotgun, it gets loaded at or near the loacation.

If I go to the range with a handgun, or long arm that I am 'carrying', it may or may not be loaded. If it is not my defensive sidearm at the moment, such as if it is in a range bag or box or gun rag, it goes along unloaded.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

[Zedicus]

Glock 22 & I carry with one in the Pipe always.

 

[ochmude]

Think about this...you are in a stop n go and your armed but don't have one in the pipe, and god forbid some bad business starts to go down, your in the back part of the store, buying milk of course...so you pull out your weapon and jack a round into the pipe...That is one sound all bad guys know...now you don't have the advantage. Keep one in the Pipe!

Think about this...you are in a stop n go and you're unarmed because everyone told you that if you are uncomfortable chambering a round you shouldn't carry at all, and god forbid some bad business starts to go down. You're in the back part of the store, buying milk of course, and all you can do is hide and hope they don't shoot you....because having a condition 3 weapon is completely useless and you had no business carrying anyway.

Listen, if you're uncomfortable carrying condition 1, then carry condition 3, or condition 4 even. We've all heard the saying "A .22 in your pocket is better than a .45 at home." Well, a condition 3 weapon in your pocket (or holster) is better than condition 1 weapon at home. After awhile you'll get more comfortable with the weapon and begin to trust that it won't just go off as long as it's properly holstered. Everyone has their own learning curve.

 

[jcramin]

Nope Ill just plan to ask the bad guy to wait a minute while I get my Barney Bullet outa my shirt pocket and chamber it

 

[Drgong]

if condition 3 is good enough for the Israeli Miltary, it is good enough for me right now.

 

[mike7465]

Sometime yes, other times no.
Yes, if I am going to carry in a bad part of town, in a bad situation, or in a situation where I think I will need to shoot.
No, if I don't think I need to.

 

[cowssurf]

"See... if you carry a wheel gun you wouldn't have to ask that question."

How is that different from a double action semi-auto? And yet the question is still asked and being answered. It makes a good point. If you carry a double action revolver, it is assumed you'll load it fully. But if you carry a double action semi-auto, it's assumed you have to decide whether or not to have one in the hole. Isn't the risk the same for each?

 

[Glockman17366]

I carry revolvers more then semi-auto's, so yes...there's one ready to go.
When I do carry a semi-auto (normally a Glock 19), I also rack the slide when I leave the house.
Although I do leave a couple revolvers loaded around the house, I never leave a round in the chamber in my semi-auto's.

 

[jrfoxx]

yes.I have complete faith in the safety mechanisims (thumb safety, grip safty, ect) of my 1911 and its retention holster, so there is no reason not to have it chambered and ready.If I were to need to use it in a SD manner, the 1/2 second it takes to chamber it could easily be a 1/2 second I dont have to spare.Also, since I will be full of adrenaline, and likely fear/near panic, the less I need to remember and/or do, the better.

 

[Treo]

Many, many moons ago when I first started cayying a semiauto, I carried condition 3 for "safety". Then one morning in a dark parking lot in a bad part of town I got jumped I pulled my weapon & in the stress of the moment completely forgot that the chamber was empty from that day forward I carry a round chambered at all times.

Israeli Carry
Has absolutely nothing to do W/ the Iraelis "knowing what they're doing". It actually is the specific result of most of them NOT knowing what they were doing when the IDF was formed. They had a lot of different semiautos W/ different manuals of arms, and mostly fire arms illiterate troops. It was decided for safety to standardize condition 3 carry.

sorry for the long post

 

[JesseL]

Certain firearms like the S&W 10-4 are carried on an empty chamber for a reason. Otherwise if it's in the holster it's ready to go.

I wonder what that reason is? A S&W model 10 of any stripe should have a perfectly good hammer block and be safe for fully loaded carry. It's not like a SAA that leaves the hammer/firing pin resting on a live primer.

 

[Claude Clay]

all guns are always loaded. why would you want to break this rule?

 

[OOOXOOO]

Without a round in the chamber it is just an expensive rock.

 

[Stump Water]

"See... if you carry a wheel gun you wouldn't have to ask that question."

How is that different from a double action semi-auto? Isn't the risk the same for each?

Load the DA wheelgun with the hammer resting on an emty chamber.

Load the DA semi-auto with a full mag and an empty chamber.

Pick up each one and pull the trigger. It's different.

 

[JohnnyGrey]

I carry two 9mms two ways depending on how I'm dressed and the time of year.

Summer / deep concealment: XD9SC in a thunderwear, empty chamber, 16+0.

Winter / semi-concealed: CZ75 compact in a vertical shoulder rig, chambered, 14+1, hammer down safety off.

Reason is, the thunderwear is a soft holster and it's not impossible that the trigger could be pulled, especially when the gun shifts around so much from me standing, sitting, getting in/out of the car. Also, the holster violates the first rule of firearm safety, so if it went off, it would blow my left thigh open.

The CZ in the shoulder rig is a different story. The gun is never pointed at me, it's impossible for the trigger to be pulled while holstered and the the gun has that heavy first trigger pull. In a firefight, I'd rather have that first long pull than having to worry about clicking off a safety.

 

[Happiness Is A Warm Gun]

I always carry round in chamber BUT I think those that say "if you don't carry round in chamber then you shouldn't carry" or "no round in chamber = only good for throwing" aren't being completely honest.

If I remember correctly for SD handgun use in 92% of the cases the weapon was NEVER FIRED. Of the remaining 8% how many would the shooter have enough time to chamber a round. 4%, 5%, 7.99999999999%

So a weapon w/ mag loaded but no round in chamber is likely effective in 92%-99%+ of SD uses.

Also I remember seeing some SD video where the instructor (Todd Jarret?) showing a draw and rack. The time from buzzer to 2 center mass shots was <1 sec. If someone carries "amber" (military term for mag but not chambered) then they should practice that way.

To say the weapon is useless, only good as a club, or should be left home is dumb and dangerous. What if someones wife left it at home and was attacked by a perp she was approaching (3-5 sec response) time. Then raped or beaten or killed while her SD weapon is home on nightstand.

Round in chamber is BETTER (IMHO) but Weapon and skills to quick rack isn't useless.

 

[GEM]

Well, no one has ever asked this before!

All there is to this debate is a decision among risks:

1. With a chambered round, I will shoot myself or another accidentally. Maybe a bad guy will grab my gun and shoot me. An unchambered gun gives me time to use my kung-fu. Maybe, I am untrained and scared of the chambered gun.


2. With an unchambered gun, I will be slow getting into the fight and be behind the curve. I might mess up the rack. I might not be able to use both hands due to something or other and one handed racking is slow.
That's it - decide what works for you. BTW, the only difference between a chambered semi and an all cylinder loaded revolver is trigger pull. You can get a heavy pull semi (YUK!).

 

[Lady with a Gun]

When someone asked me if my gun was loaded, I said, "If it isn't loaded, it's useless."

 

[pappy]

Yep, always.

 

[JohnnyGrey]

empty chamber != empty gun

 

[bnkrazy]

99% of the time I carry a Walther P99QA with a round in the chamber decocked. The P99QA has a feature where you can decock it and the trigger is disconnected so it has no effect.

The nice thing about the P99QA is to cock it, you only need to pull back on the slide about 1/2 an inch or a little less. The holster I use is tight enough that it allows me to press down right before I draw (same movement) and that action cocks the gun and it's ready to go.

It also can get around the one handed racking problem as you can press the muzzle against a solid object to cock it as well. I find it a very nice compromise.