Do You Carry With a Round In the Chamber While You CC or OC?

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

Your risk analysis is faulty. The relevant issue isn't only how often someone loses a fight because they didn't have a round chambered - though we can show at least a half dozen anecdotal cases of where that was important,

The relevant issue is whether you think you have a higher risk of shooting yourself than you do of defending yourself. If you assess that risk as positive, then a chambered round makes no sense; but it does raise the question of why you are carrying a tool you assess as more of a risk to yourself than a benefit.

I respectfully disagree, a statistic demonstrating the number of failed defense attempts in non-condition 0/1 versus failed defense attempts in condition 0/1 would be very relevant in this discussion. In fact it would basically be half of the equation of your proposed risk analysis.

 

[Ironicaintit]

I think carrying with an empty chamber is an invitation to become complacent.

 

[Schwing]

Let me preface this by saying, I carry most often on my body in condition 1. I do know other's including my wife, that chose to carry differently and I tire of all of the "carry in condition 0 or 1, or go home" talk.

I don't understand the rhetoric either. It is akin to all of the caliber vs caliber debates. Anecdotes are not statistics or facts and, the real fact is, there are no reliable statistics to end this debate with any kind of statistical certainty. There is only opinion and preferences that people have learned as a result of experience or training.

My personal belief is that you are far more likely to be able to successfully defend yourself carrying in condition 0 or 1. It is how I carry and I would encourage anyone who carries to become familiar and proficient enough with their firearm to be able to comfortably carry in this way.

My other personal belief is that those who carry in condition 0 or 1 are far more likely to have a ND than those who don't. It is impossible to have a ND without a round in the chamber.

In the end, you have to decide what your preference is. I just don't think it is in any way constructive to tell anyone that they have to do it one way or the other or not carry at all. I would dare say that a lot of people new to concealed carry don't feel comfortable carrying in condition 0 or 1. I was that way when I started out. Time and training will most often change their minds. If we lead people to believe that they have to carry with one in the pipe or not carry at all, we are going to see a lot of new folks letting those permits lapse.

As people who strongly support 2A issues, we want to win as many new shooters over as we can. I just cringe any time I see a new shooter confronted by someone on their soapbox who doesn't like something the new guy is doing. Even safety issues can be addressed calmly and courteously. By being condescending and/or having the "My way or the highway" attitude, we do nothing by push these new folks away.

 

[Fiv3r]

To play a very minor devil's advocate here, I think folks that OWB carry an unchambered pistol are going to get their gun into action faster than those that tuck their pistol so deep IWB that the grip is nearly below their belt like and blouse a shirt around it.

I generally only carry IWB if I can just have a tee shirt untucked. If not, then I carry OWB with an unbuttoned over shirt. Now, my gun has one in the chamber, but I still think I could draw it, rack the slide, and aim it faster than a gun untucking 4" of shirt, fishing out the grip with a pinch, and getting the gun on target.

 

[Deanimator]

It is impossible to have a ND without a round in the chamber.

It's also impossible to have an ND without a firearm.

Without a chamber, it's impossible to have one in it.

 

[Elkins45]

In fairness, I also carry several rounds outside the chamber too.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

My 2 cents.
99% of the time I carry without one in the chamber, the situation doesn't demand it. If I am in a dangerous part of town then I will lock and load with the safety on.

 

[fmcculla]

got my ccw last year. I always carry one in chamber.took class that recomened this.

 

[larryh1108]

99% of the time I carry without one in the chamber, the situation doesn't demand it.

If you look at this logically, you wouldn't need to be carrying at all because the situation doesn't demand it. I don't know what that means (situation doesn't demand it) but if we all knew we'd need it we'd always have a round chambered. We carry for the chance we need it not because we know we need it.

 

[Deanimator]

My 2 cents.
99% of the time I carry without one in the chamber, the situation doesn't demand it. If I am in a dangerous part of town then I will lock and load with the safety on.

Define "a dangerous part of town".

Did this guy live in "a dangerous part of town"?

Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders

I don't know about where you live, but our anti-criminal force field has been on the fritz for YEARS. I hear that criminals (like the one about fifteen years ago who got shot to death by police after robbing a sports card shop) can just walk across the borders from Cleveland, Fairview Park, Westlake and Lakewood!

I even hear that there are EXITS off of I-90! Why somebody could conceivably drive here from New York or Chicago... and commit a CRIME!!!

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

My 2 cents.
99% of the time I carry without one in the chamber, the situation doesn't demand it. If I am in a dangerous part of town then I will lock and load with the safety on.

I believe it would be more accurate to say that your situational awareness at any given moment leads you to believe that you don't need a round in the chamber most of the time.

Which brings up an interesting question: If your situational awareness has determined in advance that you need to "lock and load", then why are you intentionally placing yourself in harms way in the first place?

 

[Deanimator]

Which brings up an interesting question: If your situational awareness has determined in advance that you need to "lock and load", then why are you intentionally placing yourself in harms way in the first place?

+10,000

Given that I no longer carry a green ID in my wallet, if I KNEW that I'd need a gun where I was going, I'd go some place else.

 

[Drail]

Not carrying with a round chambered is like keeping your gas tank empty all the time except when you plan a long trip.

 

[george burns]

Anyone who carries with no round in the chamber is wasting their time, and is carrying a gun for no reason. When it requires any explaining past the obvious it becomes an exercise in futility. I would certainlly ask anyone who has ever needed to use their gun, how that would have worked out for them if there was no round chambered.
Think about it this way, if you carried a revolver, "unless you carried a single action Colt back in the Wild West, would you have the hammer resting on a live round, or would you take a round out for the hammer to rest on?
Well if you wouldn't take out a round, why would you carry an unchambered semi-auto pistol?
Guns only fire when you pull the trigger, so if you don't trust yourself enough to not pull the trigger, why carry at all.
Any semiauto pistol that was made during your lifetime, is not going to suddenly go off by mistake, Most of us have fallen off roofs, ladders, had car accidents, plane crashes, etc, and never had a gun go off without pulling the darn trigger. You won't have time when the crap hits the fan, so if you carry an unloaded gun, just leave it home so someone dosen't take it away and shoot you with it.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I think it's more of a handling issue rather than it just "going off".

We all (who EDC) have to handle our loaded guns at a couple of points during the day. That thought process is fixed through proper handling and repetition.

 

[RX-79G]

Best of both worlds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fobvYJVXqBQ



I wouldn't carry chamber empty, but I don't see anything wrong with a nightstand gun not being chambered instead of being in a holster.


If I want to carry something that is pretty inert, I carry a decocked single action. Impossible to 'set off', but you can still fire it with one hand.

 

[curly84]

Dead man's gun

As it's known a dead man's gun with no round in the chamber [emoji51]

Sent from my SM-S820L using Tapatalk

 

[RTR_RTR]

Yes. I had to stop appendix carrying out of superstition though. Holstered or not I didn't really like a pistol pointing at my jiggly bits or femoral artery

 

[Deanimator]

Yes. I had to stop appendix carrying out of superstition though. Holstered or not I didn't really like a pistol pointing at my jiggly bits or femoral artery

I tried it briefly yesterday.

I had no safety objection. It was just unstable and printed too much even for me.

 

[Warp]

My 2 cents.
99% of the time I carry without one in the chamber, the situation doesn't demand it. If I am in a dangerous part of town then I will lock and load with the safety on.

This makes the least sense of anything

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

If I want to carry something that is pretty inert, I carry a decocked single action. Impossible to 'set off', but you can still fire it with one hand.

That's a good suggestion that I don't think I saw mentioned yet in this thread.

However that would only apply to hammer fired SA's correct?

My striker fired single action has a decocker so it could be carried with a round in the chamber decocked, but still would require a .5-1" press check racking of the slide to get it recocked. Which, for most would still require two hands.

I believe some Walthers are like that too?

 

[LNK]

Seeing how all guns are always loaded, don't see how you can avoid it. Do what you want though...

 

[Deanimator]

That's a good suggestion that I don't think I saw mentioned yet in this thread.

However that would only apply to hammer fired SA's correct?

My striker fired single action has a decocker so it could be carried with a round in the chamber decocked, but still would require a .5-1" press check racking of the slide to get it recocked. Which, for most would still require two hands.

I believe some Walthers are like that too?

It'll work with any revolver capable of single action fire, whether it's double action or single action. It works just as well with an S&W Model 10 as with an SAA.

As to whether it's a good idea, five second's thought should tell you, "no".

If you do that "old school" with an S&W Model 36 or a Ruger SP101, you've taken a five shot revolver and turned it into a four shot. Of course if somebody is so scared of their semi-auto that they would carry it unloaded, why would they thumb cock a revolver? You've replaced the "danger" of a loaded chamber with the danger of a light SA trigger pull and no safety.

 

[BamAlmighty]

The other guy's gun is going to have a round chambered and ready to fire, WHY NOT YOU?

You really think you're going to be able to draw your firearm, chamber a round, aim and fire? Why add an extra step? Why would you give the bad guy such an advantage? The time you waste racking the slide, you could be aiming and pulling the trigger. In a stressful situation you are no where near as good as you think you are and adding an extra step of having to chamber a round is stupid, considering you might not chamber that round correctly and your slide might not go into battery. And how do you know if you will have use of both your hands? You might be deflecting the other person and you can't chamber a round with only one hand.

If you are not comfortable carrying chambered, you're not ready to carry.

 

[Deanimator]

The other guy's gun is going to have a round chambered and ready to fire, WHY NOT YOU?

Some people are more afraid of their own firearm than they are of an unlawful deadly force attack.