What the heck is a "press check"?

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Amadeus

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Sounds like some tactical-ninja-black-op-wannabe piece of bogus-ness. :confused:

Is it real? I'd never heard of a press check until I started swimming around on the internet. If this is a way to check if a gun is loaded then it's different that what I have been taught. I either pull back the slide on a semi-auto, pop open the cylinder on a revolver, or open the action via bolt or op-rod on a rifle to see if my gun is loaded. What's the deal with a press check?

Thanks.:
 
A press check is performed by pulling the slide back far enough to see if there is a round in the chamber, but not far enough to cause a new round to chamber. At least that is my understanding.
 
Oh. Ok. So that has a name huh? Hehehe. How cute. I've always called it "pulling the slide back a little".
 
A press check involves going to the printing plant to make sure your job gets printed right. As long as you know what you're doing, most printers are glad to have customers do press checks.

Maybe some other kind of press check, eh?
 
That's correct, it ammounts to easing the slide back a 1/4 inch to witness a bit of brass case. There are a variety of safe and unsafe methods for doing this. Some include using a finger to touch the round (effective for a low light/no change in visual focus), and some include a dropping the mag and pressing on the round at the top of the mag to guage approximately how full the mag is.

A good press check should be a staple in the pistoleros bag of tricks.
 
Some guns now come (Glock is one) with an indicator to tell you if a round is in the chamber with out moving it out of battery. It's usually an extractor with a "bump" on it. If the bump is out, chamber is loaded. Some are colored to make it easier to check by eye.
 
A press check involves going to the printing plant to make sure your job gets printed right. As long as you know what you're doing, most printers are glad to have customers do press checks.
Click to expand...

that's what i was thinking, usually ends up in outrage if gap inc. is involved....:D

i love my job!!
 
I've heard that chamber indicators have been known to stick in some cases when the gun's dirty...thus giving you a "false positive".

Seems to me you're still obliged to "witness the brass".
 
I press checked my pistol today for the first time in a long time. I dont feel compelled to do it very often, because I am the only one that handles my guns. If I chamber a round, it stays put till I cause it to do otherwise. Other guys do it religiously, thats cool too.
 
I'm of the opinion that, once you chamber a round in the pistol, you well ought to simply remember that the round is chambered. If the pistol is out of your control, or you fall asleep, then check, but there's a point where it gets to be obsessive-compulsive. (Like those unfortunate people that feel compelled to check to make sure their stove is off every hour of every night.)

1:00PM: Load pistol.
1:15PM: Still loaded.
1:53PM: Still loaded.
2:09PM: Wow, still loaded.
 
*sigh*

I am NOT the most qualified person to chime in on this topic. My Glock is either loaded and sitting in the holster or unloaded in a drawer. Furthermore, I believe the technique is intended to be used with a 1911. Be that as it may, I really feel I should say something. To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, a press check involves placing your thumb inside the front of the trigger guard and using the tip of your index finger to PRESS the base of the slide (at the front, right over where the spring would be) back. This moves the slide back the aforementioned one quarter of an inch, allowing you to CHECK if you have a round chambered. PRESS+CHECK= PRESS CHECK.

If you watch the movie Heat you see Al Paccino's character doing this to his Commander sized (I think) 1911 right before he and another cop bust into a hotel room. That's the same part where the other cop blows the hinges of the door off with a shotgun.

My $2*10^-2...
 
Amadeus, obviously you need to spend more time on the Intarweb...l337='leet, which equals 'elite'... don't ask me to explain how this is... it just is...
 
Oh. OK. That makes sense in a weird internet way. Thanks for the explanation. I am not elite. I AM; however, and ELITIST! :neener:
 
*sigh*

I can't believe I'm doing this. I know some people who use this, though I don't do it myself. So I'll try and explain. It's called "l337 speak", which is either a bastardized form of "elite speak" or "LED speak." I believe it's the latter. It involves replacing letters with the number that would look similar in LED form (you know, big block numbers like on digital watches). So 3 is often used to replace E and so on. I believe it is popular among Counter Strike people? Also a lot of computer science people.

This post should be considered somewhat speculative. I am a computer science major, but my opinon of "l337 speak" starts at scathing and goes down from there. My knowledge is based on some conversations with friends, not much more.

Dorian, care to chime in and let me know if I'm right?
 
Phantom Warrior - your explanation sounds accurate as far as my knowledge goes. ;) My friends and I use it sometimes just to be jackasses and make fun of the "1337" ones. I can't recall ever using it seriously, even in middle school I knew it was pretty dumb...
 
Traditionally speaking, a press-check is done with a 1911. To do this, you hold the pistol in your strong hand. With your weak hand, put your thumb inside the trigger guard, and your index finger on the front of the pistol, below the barrel, but covering the recoil spring plug. Then squeeze with your weak hand. The act of squeezing will move the slide back enough to let you see whether or not a round is chambered.

This sort of check is really a throwback to far earlier days, and not something I would particularly recommend doing. While it isn't out-and-out irresponsibly dangerous when done correctly, it does involve placing your thumb inside the trigger guard, as well as your index finger on the front of the pistol. Were something to go wrong, and you had a negligent discharge, The results would range from unpleasant (powder burns) to outright tragic (missing digits.)


As an aside, I find 733T speak highly annoying.
 
It does come into play when creating passwords sometimes. Those who wish their passwords to be a bit more secure than a regular word will do it

i.e. toad = t04d

It doesn't really help to keep from cracking as a brute force attack will only take a bit longer to run through the number combos as well, but it works against the pc illiterate from random guesses of your password. It will also sometimes trick password verification programs from rejecting your pass for being "based on a dictionary word", etc...
 
the more "modern" press check is preformed by cupping your weak hand under the frame, in front of the trigger guard, and grasping the sides of the slide. your then work the slide rearward until you can verify "brass" (that is why some pistols have front slide serrations)

the advantage of grasping the slide at the front rather than the rear has to do with gross motor skills. when you are either hyped or just tired (like after a day of training) it is very easy to pull the slide a little too vigorously and eject a live round
 
I've heard that chamber indicators have been known to stick in some cases when the gun's dirty...thus giving you a "false positive".
Click to expand...

In a lot of cases, this is not true. If you have a beretta, taurus or glock (actually, most guns with LCI's use this method) the loaded chamber indicator is simply tension from the case on the extractor. If it isn't functioning correctly, you have much worse problems than an unloaded chamber, you have a broken extractor and your gun is gonna FTE. To clean put a spent case or snap cap in the chamber and get it with a toothbrush and solvent.

On other guns like the XD, if your gun is dirty and the LCI sticks in the down position, you're gonna have a FTF because its filling a spot where the case otherwise needs to be. If it's dirty and gets stuck in the up position, (it would have to be REALLY dirty to overcome the spring tension) put a little pressure on it when you run your finger over it. the only thing that's gonna stick it up when you push down lightly on it is a loaded round in the chamber.

The one on the steyr sticks out of the back of the gun and can be treated the same way as the one on the XD.

If your gun has a loaded chamber indicator, make sure you keep it clean because if is a vital part of reliable functioning.
 
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