Press check

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Glock 19

Insert loaded magazine
Use slide to cycle action and load the chamber
Press check
Cuss because the slide will not go back into battery.

Lightbulb: ARs have a forward assist for times like these. Hmmmmm. Glock “safe action” pistols. Hmmmm. Turn Glock 19 around in hand and smack the nearest table with the back end of the slide like a hammer.

Top off mag.

Holster.

:scrutiny:
 
There is a lost art to doing a press check on a rifle in the dark, without making any noise. A little bit of tape on the corners of the dust cover so it doesn't slam against the receiver when pulling the charging handle. Pull back just enough you don't send a round idly flying into the guy next to you. Stick a finger where there should be a round. If you feel nothing, panic some. If you do, job well done for loading your rifle right. Ride the charging handle forward, slowly push on the forward assist, and optionally close the dust cover.

Loaded chamber indicators, dual purpose extractors, and witness holes are great. But they require some light to be useful in most cases.
 
tipoc said:
It is an old school method and safety precaution. Checks the state of readiness. I was taught this in 1973. You both look and feel with the little finger. Useful when in the dark. It is routine.

I was taught to open the cylinder of a da revolver to make sure. Live rounds, dummies for practice, or spent cases, even if I knew.

Taught to keep the hammer down on an empty chamber with a single action.

Taught to have confidence and rely on my own skills with a gun and to not rely on decockers, loaded chamber indicators and such.
Click to expand...


Yep. And those techniques were taught because there are dead people who went into fights with empty chambers, dummy rounds, spent cases, etc... who KNEW their gun was ready to go.
 
herrwalther said:
There is a lost art to doing a press check on a rifle in the dark, without making any noise. A little bit of tape on the corners of the dust cover so it doesn't slam against the receiver when pulling the charging handle. Pull back just enough you don't send a round idly flying into the guy next to you. Stick a finger where there should be a round. If you feel nothing, panic some. If you do, job well done for loading your rifle right. Ride the charging handle forward, slowly push on the forward assist, and optionally close the dust cover.

Loaded chamber indicators, dual purpose extractors, and witness holes are great. But they require some light to be useful in most cases.
Click to expand...

For the tape part -- I wrap my support hand around the front of the mag well such that the back of the index finger of my left hand will "catch" the dust cover before it impacts the receiver. Never thought about it till this moment, but it's something I've been doing since around basic training.
 
Caveat: I read most, but not all of the posts.

I press check every time. Verifying the condition of any weapon I lay hands on is part of a foundation of good gun handling. I press check the same way every time, ending up with the off hand index finger able to feel the brass with the slide slightly retracted. I do it this way because it's simple, repeatable, engages more senses in the light of day, or works in complete darkness.
 
It's also useful to check the state of your firearm because there is a very long line of dead folks and many more injured, who are that way because they were shot with "empty" guns.

Decades back the legendary shooter Bill Jordan was in the San Ysidro, Ca. border patrol station where he worked as an agent. He and another agent were talking and Jordan went to show him some techniques. He took his revolver from the desk drawer where he kept it while on duty in the station. He unloaded it and went on with the display. When done he reloaded the gun and put it back in the drawer as was routine. They kept on talking and the other agent asked him to show him something else. Jordan again took the revolver from the drawer and while displaying the move shot a bullet through the wall. It struck and killed an agent on the other side of the wall. Focused on the conversation, neither Agent recalled that Jordan had reloaded the weapon before he placed it back in the drawer and had not emptied it it before dry firing.

The 4 basic rules generally keep a shooter and others safe. So does checking the state of your weapon. A press check is part of that, seems to me.
 
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I don't load then immediately press check, I just verify my mag has one less round in it then top it off. I will press check when I get the gun from the safe after a night of being locked up before strapping it on. Always check the condition of your weapon even if you "are sure".
 
Point #1: This is a good practice to ensure that the gun does have a round in the chamber.

Versus

Point #2: This is a bad practice because pulling the slide back like this will cause the gun to go out of battery and potentially cause a malfunction.

Those are the points of debate. How do you all respond?
Click to expand...

I do it when I load and after I unload. Having my eyeballs focused on what is or isn’t actually in the chamber is important to me.

I am pulling the firearm out of battery and know when it goes back into battery so I am not sure of the malfunction problem. I guess my question to them would be can you tell when your pistol is out of battery? If not, as would work on that for sure, regardless.
 
I've never understood why this is such a hot button issue...

I do it when holster my edc in the morning. I don't think I'm doing anything bad ass or tactical... I'm not even thinking, "Time to press check!" I just make sure my firearm is loaded, as I already know that it is, holster up and move on with my life. I couldn't care less if anyone else does it or not, I'm just verifying my firearm is loaded before I count on it.

This debate seems like debating double knotting your shoes, or stopping the microwave with 1 second to go, Who cares!.... Actually scratch that, everyone should stop the microwave with one second left, it's just common decency!

Disclaimer: This isn't aimed at the OP, just the general firestorm this topic creates.
 
I see no harm, but only check the chamber when I'm confirming it isn't loaded; never seen a semi-auto not load a cartridge unless it jams which is obvious.
 
Ever sinse I absentmindedly carried all day long before for a couple of days without a round in the chamber, I started doing press checks. I normally keep my EDC loaded at all times in it's holster. I can't recall what lead up to me ejecting a round out of the chamber, but it had to have been for cleaning, during a range visit, or to dry fire with snap caps... If asked, I would have swore without a shadow of a doubt that a round was chambered. Lesson learned.

As a side note, IMHO, if your pistol is going out of battery during a press check, you're "pressing" the slide back further than required. Even then it's not a big deal. A firm tap on the back of the slide will usually will fix the issue.
 
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I've never seen a pistol that I couldn't tell if the slide was in battery. I suspect that the existence of such a weapon is an internet myth, produced when a legitimate objection to living by one of the basic safety rules, check condition of readiness, couldn't be found.

I've been waiting patiently for one of the armchair shooting experts here to point out that the thumb safety on a 1911 won't go on unless the slide is in battery.

If the pistol of myth does exist, if there is a semi-auto pistol that has a real risk of remaining out-of-battery, then that fact alone would demonstrate, once and for all, the superiority of a 1911 over that particular pistol.

I certainly wouldn't own a pistol that I couldn't tell if it were in battery.

With a 1911, you follow the safety rules, you check the condition of readiness, then you lock the slide down with the thumb safety. If the thumb safety goes on, the slide is in battery, and since you just checked for a round in the chamber and a full magazine, you know that if you take the weapon off safe and pull the trigger, it will fire.

Advantage, 1911.

Carry on.
 
SCMikeyP said:
This debate seems like debating double knotting your shoes, or stopping the microwave with 1 second to go, Who cares!.... Actually scratch that, everyone should stop the microwave with one second left, it's just common decency!
Click to expand...
Ha! I just did that. Don't want to wake up my sleeping beauty :)
 
Almost every time that I have actually needed to use a pistol it has been to dark to do a visual chamber check. I have learned to check the height of the business end of the extractor to confirm that there is a round in the chamber. (I have very sensitive fingers - probably the result of spending most of a year functionally blind as a kid.)
 
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