Carrying pistol with/without round chambered

[Acmemfg]

Not meaning to pull a Lazarus here with a topic that has been beat on often...perhaps too often, but it does get one to thinking....

Dad Isn't Carrying With a Round Chambered, Gets Self and Son Killed on Video - AllOutdoor.com

Not suggesting anyone do anything which makes them uncomfortable.
Me? I’ll keep one in the chamber.

 

[bberg100]

The number of customers I get who refuse to carry one in the chamber, even with 2-4 safeties on most guns today. Along with that, they carry so deeply concealed they are never going to get the gun out, let alone chamber one, before the fight is over.

 

[Ad Astra]

Man. Never saw that news story ... in those close quarters, might not have helped even if he HAD one up the spout. Sometimes the good guy gets beat to the draw- that apron, etc. The world is full of evil and bad things happen 50% the time.

Revolver? All six, all-a time.


AA

 

[Red One]

Always one in my chamber. Agree with the comment above - concealed, got to get it out, then chamber? Will be easier just to click the safety off with my thumb and shoot if needed. Hopefully never.

 

[FarmerTan]

I carry a revolver. I also would just let them have my stuff. It's not worth dying over. But if I ran into him again later, I would have trouble living out my belief in turning the other cheek.

 

[Acmemfg]

Watching something like this also has a tendency to play down (or dismiss altogether) the “tacticool, over-the-top, you live in Beruit”
point of view.
Much talk about how many spare magazines you should carry, the capacity of said magazines, How effective your night sights are, etc., etc.
I suggest in a real world situation like the one shown here, your major concern should be...
-how quickly you can get your weapon in your hand and on target.
-how effectively you can place one or two shots in the second or so you have to do so.
-the stopping ability of the rounds fired.
.....period.
And yes, a revolver is by far and large an excellent choice for such encounters.

 

[bberg100]

View attachment 886863 Watching something like this also has a tendency to play down (or dismiss altogether) the “tacticool, over-the-top, you live in Beruit”
point of view.
Much talk about how many spare magazines you should carry, the capacity of said magazines, How effective your night sights are, etc., etc.
I suggest in a real world situation like the one shown here, your major concern should be...
-how quickly you can get your weapon in your hand and on target.
-how effectively you can place one or two shots in the second or so you have to do so.
-the stopping ability of the rounds fired.
.....period.
And yes, a revolver is by far and large an excellent choice for such encounters.

Yep. Semi autos are fun, and with training and practice, which many pistoleros don't do, can be reliable. A revolver gives you 5-7 for sure bangs, no clearing malfunctions, no fumbling with a safety, etc.

 

[Mick]

Never with a sear gun

Always with a DA only.

My carry does not have a safety. DA only. NO sights (smooth rib). Effective range is 10 feet TOPS.

In 35 years I've only had it out to clean and at the range to stay comfortable.

I am not there to "protect and serve". I'm going to run away. I don't care what happens to anyone other than myself and my family.

I'll call the police as soon as I am clear and safe.

.

 

[simon1]

I always carry with round up the pipe. The only exception is the rare occasion I have an Ortgies made in the early 1920s on me, and that's very rare. Empty chamber on that one is due to the design. It is a very well made German product, but the firing pin only has one "leg" that engages the sear and the only safety is a grip safety. I've "heard" of the leg on the firing pin breaking after time and when that happens it goes full-auto until the magazine is empty. Oooops. That's one of the firearms I carry when I'm not carrying a gun.

99% of the time I have a revolver, or my 1911 in condition 1. If I'm ever inside somewhere and something goes down my plan is to let them get the money and leave. I don't want to get into a shooting inside a store where other people are present.

 

[jkingrph]

I'm 72 years old, grew up shooting lever action rifle, and a revolver. I graduated to a bolt action rifle in 1963 and finally got my first semi auto pistol about 1983, a Browning Hi Power. After it I picked up and shot several 1911 variants, both full size and compact. Ranges are not too convenient so I don't shoot as much as I would like, and now most of the time with a S&W M41 22LR. Last year I bought a Sig P238 and P938 and have been using as my carry gun after my wife spotted my S&W 342 Airlite Ti in my pocket, it was just a bit too large to conceal. I carry the P938 in a pocket holster, round chambered, hammer cocked, safety on. It's basically a micro 1911 lacking only a grip safety. As I get older, my hands have mild stiffness, probably arthritis and I would not trust myself to 1, have to get it out of my pocket and holster and 2 rack the slide properly to have it ready for use. I would much rather just worry about getting it out and flicking the safety off.

Talking to a couple of sheriffs deputies over in an adjoining state, their comment was if I were to carry it should be ready for immediate use. I'll admit when I first started carrying it in condition 1 I was nervous, but soon got used to it.

I'm like Simon1, they can have everything, just don't try to hurt my wife or mself, then everything changes.

 

[Raissermesser]

I'm just reading and learning. I have two horror stories, one a fatal slam fire from a spring semi-auto .22 (sorry, I don't know the make or model), and a non-fatal shooting where a friend got shot in the leg when a patron's pistol fell out of of his coat pocket and went off. The pistol was in the era when revolvers were the most common carry, and that's all I know about it.

Obviously, this is going to depend on the firearm. I'm reminded of that in the old SA days (as in 19th Century), it was common to keep an empty under the hammer, but that was then.

Then there was the shotgun that tended to leave a little dent in the primer. Never felt comfortable about that.

 

[jason10mm]

I've always found it strange that "chamber empty" was common in the early days of cartridge revolvers where a sharp blow to a lowered hammer COULD set off a round (or was at least a widely held belief at the time) but seems to have gone away in the modern revolver world. But this technique/superstition carried over to semi-automatics, especially the single actions with that big old hammer cocked back, just waiting to fall. It has to be a psychological thing, I'm pretty sure striker fired pistols are carried condition 1 FAR more often simply because there isn't an exposed cocked hammer to freak folks out and anyone with a DA/SA pistol like a Beretta 92 almost assuredly decocks it when carrying (in most [all?] cases the safety does this for you anyway). I also think the Israeli's, who seem to have a very high rep for all things fighting, popularized it quite a bit in the 80s and 90's and folks just adopted it blindly.

 

[Bhugo]

642 38+p. All 5 holes full all the time. Pocket carry only. Carrying a semi automatic Kahr CW9 makes me a little nervous. I’m not sure why, but it does.

 

[nortac]

(Almost) Everything has to go right to survive a lethal encounter. Any gun carried for defensive purposes needs to have a round chambered and in it's highest state of readiness. If you are uncomfortable in doing so, then you need more training and familiarity with your gun's manual of arms and you should not carry until you are prepared to do so properly. Safety is dependent on proper training and technique, not by preventing the gun from doing what it's supposed to do.

 

[dreadpirate]

I always carry with round up the pipe. The only exception is the rare occasion I have an Ortgies made in the early 1920s on me, and that's very rare. Empty chamber on that one is due to the design. It is a very well made German product, but the firing pin only has one "leg" that engages the sear and the only safety is a grip safety. I've "heard" of the leg on the firing pin breaking after time and when that happens it goes full-auto until the magazine is empty. Oooops. That's one of the firearms I carry when I'm not carrying a gun.

99% of the time I have a revolver, or my 1911 in condition 1. If I'm ever inside somewhere and something goes down my plan is to let them get the money and leave. I don't want to get into a shooting inside a store where other people are present.

I also have an Ortgies and I don't blame you.

 

[dreadpirate]

(Almost) Everything has to go right to survive a lethal encounter. Any gun carried for defensive purposes needs to have a round chambered and in it's highest state of readiness. If you are uncomfortable in doing so, then you need more training and familiarity with your gun's manual of arms and you should not carry until you are prepared to do so properly. Safety is dependent on proper training and technique, not by preventing the gun from doing what it's supposed to do.

Well said!

 

[simon1]

(Almost) Everything has to go right to survive a lethal encounter.

The loudest sound in the world in a gunfight...Click.

 

[OkieStubble]

The loudest sound in the world in a gunfight...Click.

QFT

 

[simon1]

I also have an Ortgies and I don't blame you.

Have you replaced the springs in yours? Dad brought the one I have back from the war, and it worked fine a couple of years age even after setting in a file cabinet for decades. I bought a spring kit, from Brownell's I think, and replaced all springs in the slide and the magazine spring. The firing pin and spring are a pain to get out and put back in. When I tried to twist the barrel out it was stuck, apparently from gun oil gumming up over the years. Need to soak in in kroil for a bit so I can get to the springs in the frame. It stove piped on me the first shot after I replaced the recoil spring then went back to working like a Swiss watch.

I also got a new firing pin that said it "may" need some fitting...it does...it's too big in diameter to fit the channel. Here's the detail stripping instructions if you haven't seen them yet. There are also vids. from field stripping to complete detail stripping on youtube. I've looked for a .380 barrel for it to change it over from .32 but those are hard to come by.

Ortgies Pocket Pistol Disassembly

 

[machinisttx]

I've mostly carried "modern" revolvers...always fully loaded. Virtually impossible to fire one without the intention to do so, thanks to the falling "block" safety design. When I have carried an autoloader, it's always been cocked and locked for SAO guns or SA/DA guns with a safety....or hammer decocked in the case of my newest CZ...at least until I get around to swapping the decocker out for the safety. No reason to carry a gun that isn't ready to use.