The Chamber Check - WHY?

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Sleuth

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I was a Federal Agent for 27 years, and I never did a "chanber check", nor did I ever see any fellow officer do one. The 'why not' was simple.
After shooting at the range, I would unload and clean my carry gun. Then I would reload it by inserting a full magazine, chambering a round, and topping of the mag. No need for a chamber check, if the mag took another round, the 1st round was chambered.

The gun was on my person or in arms reach 24/7. No one else touched it (no kids, my wife is a former State Trooper and Fed. She has her own guns!) If I had to do a raid, make an arrest, etc., there was no need (and usually no time) to chamber check my gun - it was loaded.

This comes to mind after watching 'The Fugative' again. Tommy Lee Jones chambers a round just before every action scene, as a cue to the audience.

Besides, the more you 'play' with your gun, the greater the chance there will be an unexpected loud noise, followed by the words "Aw Sxxt"!

I say leave the carry guns alone. Or have any of you done a chamber check and found your pistola unloaded? That, to me, indicates a system failure, allowing a mental lapse. Change your system, so you cannot have that mental lapse.
 
Sleuth what you wrote makes sense - I think TV & Movies do it because some uninformed person likes the noise that cycling the action makes.

I see alot of movies where a character pumps his shotgun or cycles his lever action everytime he goes into a room - I'm always telling my wife don't those moron writers know that since this is like the 5th time he's done that - that shells would be ejecting? Its just a bit dumber than the movies where they never need to re-load.

I also see movies (it seems escpecially popular lately) where everytime a character touches a knife or sword you here the "shing" sound like its being drawn out of a metal scabbard.

I think very few screen writers have ever handled or seen a real firearm.
 
Sleuth,

Checking the chamber is a good habit to become obsessive about. I see two reasons.

One is moot if the firearm never leaves your possession. I cleaned my pistol one day and left it empty-empty magazine and empty chamber. Left it on my nightstand. Went to work. Came home and picked up the pistol. Aimed it at the floor, cocked it, and pulled the trigger. BOOM! My father had loaded it while I was at work for some unknown reason.

And, as Biker mentioned-I've been known to make a mistake or two as well as forget doing something or not doing something. Before I holster my pistol in the morning before leaving the house, I check the chamber, check the magazine, and check the spare magazines. I examine the holster and magazine pouch weekly.

Ever had an assumption rear up and bite you on the butt? I have. I endeavour to avoid assumptions wherever possible. This includes assuming my pistol is loaded since I loaded it yesterday and it hasn't been out of reach since. Hmmm, was that yesterday or the day before. I check the safety's position often also.

Murphy's out to get me.
 
The USN and USMC, and I presume the other services, ALWAYS did a chamber check by both the oncoming and offgoing watch standers. Closely supervised by the Petty Officer of the Watch or the Corporal of the guard. I am only certain of 1956 - 1975, but I would be very surprised if this wasn't still SOP.
 
why chamber check...

Simple
The loudest sound in the world is a click when you wanted to hear a bang...

and I imagine a bang when you expected a click is the second loudest.


There have been more than enough story's about cop's walking around for day's with empty gun's until inspection time comes up's. I check it when ever I put my gun on, and would check it again before I expected something bad to happen.

Being OC over you gear is a good thing.


Chris
 
The opposite of check is certainty. Certainty is often based on assumption. Assumption is bad. Check is good. Good habits are there to protect us from our bad luck and inevitable screwups.
 
I've done one for years now. All started when I strapped on my G17 one night en route to a friends party. Long story short I was the victim of a road raging idiot. The guy waved a hammer at me screaming obscenities. I was still in my truck, and drove away without incident. I did unholster my G17 and had it ready out of sight. Later at the party a friend asked to see the Glock and when I went to make it safe, I found no round in the chamber. Turns out my wife had decided to hit the range earlier that day while I was working. She cleaned it and put it back, just didn't rechamber it, or tell me. Ever since then it's become second nature for me.
 
Because checking has to be such an ingrained habit that you cannot handle a weapon without clearing it, unless you want it to be loaded. Your carry gun may be in your possession 24/7/365, but your buddy's gun or your wife's gun is not, and you need to be in the habit of checking every single time, without fail. You only need to be wrong one time to have an accident you'll regret the rest of your life.
 
I remember reading last year about a guy who's wife was about to leave him. He was LE and didn't know for a month or so that the now x-wife had super-glued his Glock. With luck, he found this out at the pistol range.
 
Besides, the more you 'play' with your gun, the greater the chance there will be an unexpected loud noise, followed by the words "Aw Sxxt"!
Click to expand...

Gotta disagree. I say that the more familiar you are with your gun, the LESS chance of an accident. "Playing" with a weapon in the correct manner (i.e. safe) ingrains the proper habits. Only messing with it at the range and at no other time (unless you're at the range all the time) means not a lot of familiarity with the weapon.

The worst gun handlers (and least aware of how bad they are/were) I've ever seen have been LEO's who shoot at the range for qualifiers once or twice a year (and maybe plink on occasion) but who, because they carry a gun on a daily basis, think that they are firearms experts. Most unsafe guys I've ever seen.

You guiys make some good point, but they're all moot if you loaded the gun and put an extra one in the magazine, and the gun is on your body all the time.
Click to expand...

Yeah...but it only takes ONE time for it to NOT be loaded or for it to BE loaded when you didn't think that it was for it to make a difference.

Because checking has to be such an ingrained habit that you cannot handle a weapon without clearing it, unless you want it to be loaded. Your carry gun may be in your possession 24/7/365, but your buddy's gun or your wife's gun is not, and you need to be in the habit of checking every single time, without fail. You only need to be wrong one time to have an accident you'll regret the rest of your life.
Click to expand...

THAT sums it up about as well as I've ever seen.
 
+1 on Sleuth's philosophy.

Of course, in my case, it was a "cylinder check." Never could understand why other agents would check their cylinders before going on a raid. I knew very well mine was fully loaded. I'm not so inompetent as to go around with an empty gun on my hip.
 
Murphy always has the last laugh

I worked briefly for an air ambulance. Before every flight, the pilot took a clipboard and went over the aircraft with a fine tooth comb. When we arrived at our destination he did the same thing. We usually ate lunch after we dropped off the patient and when we got back to the airport, he checked out the aircraft again. Same when we got back.
The pilot was retired from the USAF. He had flown F4s from the time they were first introduced until they were phased out. He flew in combat in Vietnam for a couple tours. Flying this little puddle jumper with me should be small potatos, right ? Afterall, he was a jet fighter pilot with considerable experience.
Wrong.
He was a professional. He took nothing for granted. Lives hung in the balance and he wasn't willing to count on the fact that he checked it out and it was fine the last time. He wasn't willing to say, "I do it that way every time so I don't need to check it now".

I have been shooting since I was a small child. I owned my own handgun when I was 9 years old. I have attended 16 formal firearms training classes. I was in the military.
Just last week. I took a gun out of my safe. Put it in a case and drove around town all morning with it on the seat. I was eventually going somewhere to pick up a part for it. Around noon I realized I should do a chamber check before I handled the weapon. While sitting at a traffic light, I held the gun low and did a chamber check. Guess what ? Yeah, a round ejected out on the seat. Even though I was sure it was unloaded when I put it in the safe.

I can tell you right now that I am not experienced enough to NOT make safety a top priority. Whether it is my personal safety with a defensive weapon or my personal safety when just handling a weapon to admire it. I WILL do a chamber check every time. I have the two seconds to spare.
You can suit yourself.
 
I think some of you are mistaking what the original post meant. No-one has advocated assuming it's not loaded, because you unloaded it at some point in the past.

But if you load it with a full magazine, chamber a round, eject the magazine, put another round in the magazine, and reinsert the magazine, there is no no doubt whatsoever that it is in Condition 1. If you then holster it, then as long as it has not left the holster and the holster has not left your body, you may safely assume that it is loaded.
 
I chamber check (or press check) to check the status of the gun. If people make it a habit to always check to make sure the chamber is empty, why not also make sure that the chamber is always loaded.

Seems pointless if people always wanted to make sure that before they handle a firearm they check to see the status of the chamber is empty, but on the flipside assume that the gun is always loaded.

Chamber checking/Press checking only takes a quick second. I rather know the status of my firearm than assume its condition.

Always chamber check to make sure its always empty.
Same applies. Always chamber check to see your firearm is always loaded also.
 
Because I have a beautiful loving wife to come home to.

I check it every time before I snap it into the holster. That way I KNOW for 100% certainty that it's loaded if it needs to come out. If I have time before I have to go through a door, I'll check, so I KNOW for 100% certainty that it's loaded if I need to pull the trigger. You're right that there's no reason it should have magically unloaded itself, however why take a chance?

I do everything in my power to shield my wife from the unpleasantness that can go with work, and my own funeral I think is the most unpleasant thing she could deal with.

-Jenrick
 
Loaded Chamber Indicator on my auto's take care of this for me.

However I agree somewhat. If you are proficent with firearms, you either know the state of your weapon, or you don't. Not everyone is that comfortable.
 
I'm somewhat backwards about this, strangely enough.

I check my carry gun every time I holster it. Mostly to make sure there *IS* one in the chamber.

I'll also check it when It should be unloaded, because, as far as i'm concerned, the gun IS always loaded, and if i'm going to clean it, I better prove to myself that it's not loaded.

As an aside, being lazy with the chamber check is just as bad as not doing one at all. A friend of mine ND'd in his garage while cleaning his Glock. He dropped the mag, and cycled the slide, and saw empty space, and no round came out.

He pulled the trigger and BANG.

there was a round caught in the feeder.

EDIT: I've got a loaded chamber indicator on my XD. I can think of reasons why it would fail in either manner, so I don't trust it when it counts. I've been known to screw things up that matter far less :/
 
twice a day.

I check my carry gun chamber twice a day. The first time is when I put it on. Insert mag, drop slide. Drop mag, press check, top off and re-insert mag. The second time is unloading for the night. Drop mag, rack slide. Lock open for inspection (by me), lower slide and stow. I can see repeating this if the weapon is out of your control for any reason, but doing it over and over at any oportunity seems excessive.
 
Sleuth,

If you have a system that works for you, fine. Not everyone else is in exactly the same situation you are. Some people have different enough circumstances that they have their own system that works for them.

Contrasting your situation with the movies though is counter-productive. Movies are not real life, they are made-up situations, and they depend upon action to keep people's attention. That's most likely why you see so many weapons racked, checked, and actions operated when they should not.

People who depend upon firearms in real life should use real-life procedures, not movie "moves".
 
You took the words out of my mouth. Both my guns I use as my primary carry guns have LCI's so whenever I pick it up the first thing I do is slide my finger along the extractor to feel if it is protruding with my G22 or look to see if the red spot is visible with my Beretta 92fs Brigadier, but I prefer the Glock because it's LCI is both visible and tactile. More than the beretta anyway. I see everyones point's though. Different people look at things differently, thats just the way it is. Maybe I should check because anything can fail but I am the only person who handles my weapons and I have no kids or wife so I feel okay. When I pick up my Glock I know a round is chambered anyway because I always keep it that way but if I am not 100% sure or if I want to be 100% sure I check the LCI. If I am leaving and carrying I top off all three of my carry mags and at home I keep 14 rounds in all my mags that way they are not stuffed full in order to stave off spring fatigue (if there is such a thing and I sure don't want to get into a debate on that) because I figure it cant hurt and I am fine with 15 in the gun and 14 in backup mags anyway. Same reason I download my AR mags to 28 rounds. At the end of the day we all do what we know and feel comfortable with but it never hurts to be careful. In fact it never even hurts to be obsessively careful for that matter. All it takes is one goof and a millisecond to end a life.
 
Me personally, I check twice.

"The loudest sound in the world is a click when you wanted to hear a bang...
and I imagine a bang when you expected a click is the second loudest."

+Infinity.
 
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