Do you carry your Handgun chambered? Why, Why not?

[Vineet]

If in India we had access to brand new Glock, Sig, CZ, Beretta, H&K, Colt etc ..etc then I would have carried it with a loaded chamber but currently what we can get is either Ashani or 40-50 years old handgun, I would not take a chance.

[Bhargav]

Sigh!

[goodboy_mentor]

Gentlemen let us also keep in mind the Indian scenario where an average gun owner is hardly familiar with the inner workings of his gun due various reasons and also the opinion about IOF product expressed in this post http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 35#p159047

[pran80]

I carry a revolver in a ready to fire condition - i.e. manual safety is not engaged.

[DOM]

Interesting replies.

[YogiBear]

Slightly OT

only32owner, Thank You for the complement.

I married her Because she was OK with my Full Size Dodge 4 x 4 pick up truck with warmed over V-8

She likes trailer boats and can drive one well.

Being from the American midwest, she likes guns.

She had all of the criteria I was looking for in a Wife.

I had 2 medical emergencies, she helped me thru both.

She is a NRA Certified instructor in several differt firearms.

When push comes to shove, I can count on her to cover my back.

Consider Her a Mean Momma Bear that will Protect her Yogi.

About your Wife. Do you have children?

If so, Ask her who will proect them when you are not around in an Emergency.

When we have a Hurricane or other major problem. My Wife is at Battle Stations before me.

Ask your Wife what will she do in similar situationss. Will be be helping or will she

escalate an already bad situation?

Put it to her in those terms.

PM me if you want more info or help.

[tirpassion]

Friends,

It is always better to assure the safety. Nobody can vouch that the gun will not have any mechanical error. Nobody can vouch that he/she will not forget the one in the chamber later on. I know a person here who forgot the ONE while starting to clean the weapon. It went off... thankfully, it hit the wall corner. No he is neither a gun novice nor an idiot. It was just a human error due to distraction of mind.

My father, who was a policeman (OC of PSs in difficult mafia prone coal belt areas and later in the CID) in India, used to carry his .38 service revolver with 5 rounds for the sake of safety, the blank chamber being just the first shot. Well, I can say that he had more dangerous situations in his life than most of us here probably (was shot thrice, 2 crude bombs thrown at him in two occasions and hit by 2 out of a deluge of arrows shot at him in a tribal area). He survived all of them with major or minor injuries, luckily. He told me that he shot back for self defense but never took one's life; a life which he could not give. That was obviously in older days.

I have been seeing either a Webley & Scott or a Colt in .38 caliber (service revolver of my father) from my childhood. My father was the first to allow me to touch and see the guns and even talking about the safety aspects but he never let me shoot them. He only gave me the interest in guns which I nurture today with his principles.

Regards
tirpassion

[ssmickey.32]

Initially i was slightly skeptical about the first round... but then i questioned myself, will the trigger pull on its own??? If i do not have the awareness to handle the gun with first round in the chamber, better not carry.

Since then, i carry all chambers loaded on my Revolver... i always feel it's dangerously loaded and this feeling keeps my awareness level high. I also maintain a very strict decipline to keep the gun at a safe place, away from children if the gun is not holstered in my waist. Point to point check. By the way, my revolver does not have any safety.

[james]

I carry my smith&wesson snubby revolver all chamber loaded from many years but when traveling to remote areas i carry my Pump action shotgun with 6 rounds loaded in magazine ,chamber empty, as a back-up Weapon. Sarkari guards traveling along does not carry in chamber and i dont stress on that.
Safety is something that happens between your ears.
James.

[shooter]

Sigh!

32only, you made my day.

[xl_target]

Friends,

It is always better to assure the safety. Nobody can vouch that the gun will not have any mechanical error. Nobody can vouch that he/she will not forget the one in the chamber later on. I know a person here who forgot the ONE while starting to clean the weapon. It went off... thankfully, it hit the wall corner. No he is neither a gun novice nor an idiot. It was just a human error due to distraction of mind.

If your gun is prone to mechanical malfunctions, you should not be carrying it around. By your thinking, since the safety is a mechanical device, won't it also be prone to failure at some time or another.? Your friend who had the Negligent Discharge broke the first rule of gun safety; "All guns are loaded, always". Apparently he also broke the second and third rules; "Never let the muzzle cover anything that you are not willing to destroy" and "Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target". I agree with you that he probably isn't a novice or an idiot. He just forgot some of the very basic rules of gun safety.

I carry different guns in different ways. My SIG's have decockers and no safety so I carry them decocked but with "one up the pipe" . My Tanfoglio is carried in condition one; hammer back, safety on and one in the chamber. My CZ's have a decocker so I carry those the same way as the SIG. I don't own any striker fired guns. All my carry guns are DA/SA pistols. I usually will carry one gun for an extended period of time before I rotate to another. Before I switch carry guns, i will usually run several range sessions with that gun to assure function and then shoot it every time I go to the range. I guess it really isn't any of my business how someone else carries his gun but a gun carried for self defense is useless to me with out a round chambered.

I always try to minimize my handling of a loaded gun. One thing that I do is put the gun in the holster and put it on as an assembly. Unless I am at the range, I don't mess with the gun till I take the holster off at night and put the gun in my bedside safe. If I have to enter a prohibited place where guns are not allowed, I take the gun and holster off as one piece. All my carry holsters are configured with snaps and it takes about 15 seconds to unsnap and remove the gun/holster combo. When I get back to the car, it takes about 30 seconds to re-insert the holster/gun combo into my waistband and do up the snaps.

[Bhargav]

I currently do not carry but yes, I totally agree with xl_target and +1 for always carrying the CCW with "one up the pipe" . You have to be prepared for that split second and at that time your mind will not have time to pull the action and load it.

Also +1 for following all the gun safety rules always. I get bit tensed when I am watching the "gun review" videos especially on revolvers where some old guy is showing off his S&W with all 6 in it and cocking and decocking it. A big no-no.

[timmy]

A loaded firearm is a weapon.

An unloaded firearm is a paperweight.

When I carry, I do have a round in the chamber if I'm carrying a semi-auto, and I have a full cylinder if I'm carrying a revolver.

As XL mentioned, this has been discussed on the boards before. Also as he mentions, I have a Soviet-style semi-auto that is not safe to carry with a round in the chamber. So, it is used for recreation only, as I do not feel at all confident in bringing such a pistol into action. I am not willing to give an assailant the time it takes to bring it into a ready condition. I'm not interested in Marquess of Queensbury rules when it comes to self defense.

[timmy]

If your gun is prone to mechanical malfunctions, you should not be carrying it around.

For sure! There can be no doubt about it! There's no doubt that one simply cannot trust a mechanical device that's known to be faulty.

Gentlemen let us also keep in mind the Indian scenario where an average gun owner is hardly familiar with the inner workings of his gun due various reasons...

I question this point. Is there a valid excuse for not knowing enough about the workings of the weapon to ensure that it is operated safely under any expected condition the owner may use it for? Frankly, I think not. I will agree that one may operate a mechanical device -- an automobile, for instance -- without knowing all of the particulars of its operation. However, one ought to be familiar enough with the inner workings to know better than to operate the device in an unsafe manner.

So, what would be the excuse for not knowing these sorts of things? Can the public really be expected to agree with an RKBA stance if gun owners (or, should I say "operators") are not conversant enough with their weapon's workings to know how to operate it in a safe and effective manner?

In my opinion, "various reasons" ought to have been worded as "various excuses." I would expect any gun owner to be conversant enough with the operation of his weapon to ensure safe operation.

[DOM]

As I had written earlier, I personally carry chambered but with the safety on; I do so because I can easily reach & manipulate the safety lever with my thumb without having to break my grip or use my reaction hand (the advantage of having rather large hands ). Infact, I've gotten into the practice where I switch the safety off as I'm drawing from the holster.

I've been told by some people on a few occasions that carrying chambered is "unsafe". Quite frankly, if a chambered firearm is unsafe in your possession, then you're definitely NOT competent enough to carry in the first place and SHOULD LEAVE THE GUN AT HOME UNDER LOCK & KEY! I personally believe that a majority of altercations can be resolved and/or diffused peacefully, without having to rely on punitive force. But, on the rare occasion when I may be forced to defend my life or the lives of my loved ones, then I will have absolutely no qualms about resorting to violence. In such a situation, my primary objective will be to neutralize the threat as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. And that means drawing my firearm and getting the shot off at the threat in as little a time frame as possible. The only way I can do that is if I minimize the time it takes between my weapon hand landing on my holstered firearm to getting the shot off at the target. Having to rack the slide, especially under dynamic stress where my life hangs in the balance, simply adds a whole series of wasted motions and wasted time.

A firearm, IMHO, is carried primarily for personal safety & protection, irrespective of any imminent threats or not. If your firearm is NOT in a "shoot-ready" condition as soon as it leaves the holster, then it's nothing more than a glorified paper-weight. Period.