I am *begging* you, stop carrying on an empty chamber.

[nakinate]

Bet ya George Zimmerman was glad for a round in the chamber.

I bet he's glad one shot did the job since his Keltec jammed after that.

 

[Lectric102002]

I'd say that the 'people who've been trained by the military' you've had the misfortune to encounter are likely wannabees that have never served in any branch of the armed forces, much less a combat unit.

^^ A-firm ^^

 

[Fixer]

Always suprises me to see some people saying they don't feel safe carrying with a round in the chamber. My first thought is always, "I wouldn't feel safe not carrying with one in the chamber." I have found no reasoning that ever made me think twice about carrying with one in the chamber.

Would you carry a stun gun with the batteries in your pocket!

 

[dirtdigger88]

Cocked and locked in my Sig P938 SAS EDC... always..

 

[Lex Concord]

.

 

[skippy]

The "best" reason I've heard for carrying with an empty chamber is that the individual has a gun with no safety and use the empty chamber as their safety. While that may come down to a choice of having the wrong gun, what's the thought on carrying a chambered round with no safety?

 

[Rookie]

I carry that way almost daily.

 

[Cameramonkey]

The "best" reason I've heard for carrying with an empty chamber is that the individual has a gun with no safety and use the empty chamber as their safety. While that may come down to a choice of having the wrong gun, what's the thought on carrying a chambered round with no safety?

Considering how lame the integral trigger safety is on a Glock, I'd only consider that a half safety anyway. So I guess I too carry without a real safety. After all, it only protects against snagging the VERY edge of the trigger. Any serious trigger guard intrusion by a foreign object will render the safety useless. That guy with the old, floppy leather holster that shot through his hip and car seat can attest to that.


Thats my only beef with the glock is that they used the trigger safety instead of a backstrap safety.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

The "best" reason I've heard for carrying with an empty chamber is that the individual has a gun with no safety and use the empty chamber as their safety. While that may come down to a choice of having the wrong gun, what's the thought on carrying a chambered round with no safety?

I carry that way every day. Use a good holster and you will be fine.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

I carry that way every day. Use a good holster and you will be fine.

To carry with a cheap POS holster is almost as bad as having an empty chamber.

 

[David D]

I've carried many different handguns over the last 25 or so years, and have never carried an unloaded gun (unless going in to a store holster shopping), or a handgun that is not ready to go bang if I pull the trigger. Three items are required to do this safely (in what I consider the order of importance):
1) knowledge / practice
2) a reasonable quality modern handgun that is kept properly maintained (I'm not saying that a classic 1911 wouldn't meet this category)
3) a good quality holster that fits the firearm, and is used properly.

For the vast majority of us, if we can't meet these three requirements, we shouldn't be carrying a gun (IMHO).

 

[BehindBlueI's]

The "best" reason I've heard for carrying with an empty chamber is that the individual has a gun with no safety and use the empty chamber as their safety. While that may come down to a choice of having the wrong gun, what's the thought on carrying a chambered round with no safety?

A good holster. A holster should be stiff and snug enough to prevent any intrusion into the trigger guard. There are a plethora of high quality leather, kydex, and hybrid holsters out there that cover the trigger guard and make this a non-issue.

 

[Dirtebiker]

USDS is taking a great approach to training. Keep up the good work of turning out trained operators.

I'm not positive, but I don't think USDS offers any training.

 

[Dirtebiker]

From my experience, I've never met anyone who's 'been trained by the military' who I feel safe to shoot around! They all tend to have their finger on the trigger (all the time) and are never careful where they are pointing their weapon...be at themselves, another person, etc. When someone tells me they've had 'military training'...that, to me, is really a warning to 'watch-out' and 'stay-away-from' that person! I've even met a few LEO's who have the same approach to handling their issued weapons.

Really? How many is a few?

 

[Corporal D]

From my experience, I've never met anyone who's 'been trained by the military' who I feel safe to shoot around! They all tend to have their finger on the trigger (all the time) and are never careful where they are pointing their weapon...be at themselves, another person, etc. When someone tells me they've had 'military training'...that, to me, is really a warning to 'watch-out' and 'stay-away-from' that person! I've even met a few LEO's who have the same approach to handling their issued weapons.

Weird... The majority of people I shoot with are Military/LEO and I only have that problem when I shoot with civilians.

 

[Corporal D]

And to add: Great OP. I think everyone needs to realize when you are in a situation where you need your weapon, the less steps to make it go bang the better. Recent events have convinced me that I need to practice/train more and so do my loved ones.

 

[Hoosierdood]

The "best" reason I've heard for carrying with an empty chamber is that the individual has a gun with no safety and use the empty chamber as their safety. While that may come down to a choice of having the wrong gun, what's the thought on carrying a chambered round with no safety?

Again, we have 2 different mindsets... That a gun with one in the chamber is loaded, and a gun without one in the chamber is unloaded. ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED!

The guy who first introduced me to handguns always carried chamber empty. I thought at the time that he was the expert since he had been carrying for years. I began carrying that way, because I thought that was just how you carried. I witnessed him handling guns with terrible handling skills. He even shot a hole in his floor once because he thought the gun was unloaded. I got some training, and a whole new world was opened up to me regarding carrying a gun safely.

An empty chamber helps to reinforce bad habits in regards to the 4 rules. In the carrier's mind, as long as it's unloaded, it is somehow "safer". This is not a good approach to safe gun handling. What happens when the carrier handles a loaded gun, THINKING that it is unloaded? This is how "accidents" happen. I see this all the time at the gun shop. People unholster their personally carried gun and I proceed to tell them to put it back. Their response... "oh, it's ok. It's not loaded." or "The safety is on".

Any time you DEPEND on an empty chamber or a manual safety to somehow make the gun "safer", you are only setting yourself up for a tragic accident. Not because you may not be ready in a gun fight, but more so because you are reinforcing an improper mindset that some guns are safe and others are not.

 

[Manatee]

This isn't quantum mechanics and the "state" of the firearm is not both loaded and unloaded.

The RESULT will tell you which state it was in. Cooper was a great guy in many respects. But he wasn't Schroedinger.

 

[chezuki]

This isn't quantum mechanics and the "state" of the firearm is not both loaded and unloaded.

The RESULT will tell you which state it was in. Cooper was a great guy in many respects. But he wasn't Schroedinger.

"Schroedinger's Gat"

"Until you pull the trigger, it can be thought of as both loaded and unloaded"

For full effect, one should carry a 6 shot revolver with 3 empty chambers. The cylinder should be spun blindly Russian Roulette style and immediately holstered until needed.

 

[Manatee]

"Schroedinger's Gat"

"Until you pull the trigger, it can be thought of as both loaded and unloaded"

I buy that, but it isn't what Cooper said.