Empty or loaded chamber

[PaulB47]

Sure, some kids can rack a slide. Stronger, older ones, inventive ones, etc. It's just not as easy as clicking off a safety or pulling a trigger.

The world of firearms is full of calculations of low-probability events. There are no hard and fast answers about questions like these. You just have to sit down and try to figure out your own personal situation and probabilities:

1) Chances of needing a gun even faster than the one or two seconds needed to rack a slide, or of needing to rack a slide with a damaged hand. Do you have a gun belt and rear sight that allows you to rack one-handed?

2) Chances you will stupidly leave a loaded gun laying somewhere that a kid can get to it, or that your kid is capable of racking the slide or not, or of having your kids friends over running around the house, etc.

Sometimes the calculation will go one way (in favor of loaded chambers), and sometimes it will go the other way (empty chamber). Only you can make the calculation for yourself, and you can always be wrong. You could also figure the probabilities correctly, but reality does not cooperate with your correct calculation.

Good luck!

 

[Joe13]

I've had very sharp knives on me and on the coffee table my daughters entire life and taught her it was not something she could touch; worked out fine, she never cut herself or touched it.

Boys (sorry for the gender generally) can be more curious so that might make a difference in my mind - every kid is unique though so it's up to each parent to figure it out or not.

 

[2beaucoup]

I carry chambered, 1+10, but I carry a DAO semi-auto, with a loooong, deliberate trigger.

 

[mrblond]

I carry chambered, 1+10, but I carry a DAO semi-auto, with a loooong, deliberate trigger.

Same, I have a Sig P228 I carry decocked.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well the bad guys partner will hear boom and then a rack, I don't think the bad guy will recognize the boom.

Golly!
Yea, it was a joke.. a showing of disparity.

 

[Bryan Harris]

this has been discussed before but with a lot of new members maybe another go round.

Sheriff's Tips: Empty Chambers
by Jim WIlson - Friday, October 9, 2015

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Lately I have been hearing that a number of people are carrying their defensive semi-automatics without a round in the chamber. I suppose that this is most often done with a thought to increasing the safety of the handgun and avoiding a negligent discharge. However, it considerably defeats the purpose of the defensive handgun.

A criminal attack often comes from very close range and with very little, if any, warning. A person simply may not have time to chamber a round in his or her pistol before the attacker is upon them. In addition, chambering a cartridge requires the use of both hands at a time when the support hand may be busy trying to fend off the attack or pushing a loved one out of the line of fire. From holster to on-target, one should be able to operate a defensive handgun with only one hand, should that become necessary.

Some folks are concerned about a single-action semi-automatic having the hammer cocked back. I was too, back in the Dark Ages. But I took the time to get some professional training and learn the pistol. I soon found that they don't go off by themselves.

Others are concerned about the fact that striker-fired pistols—like the Glock—have no external safeties. And they have heard stories about people who have accidentally shot themselves. Well, let me let you in on a little secret ... those are not accidents. They are nearly always a case of negligence—that is, someone fooling with the pistol and causing the trigger to be depressed when they didn't intend for it to be.

In the case with any of the autoloading handguns, a good defensive instructor can teach a person to operate it safely and to carry it with a round in the chamber. Regardless of those people who think they are a born shooter—Wyatt Earp Jr.—nothing will benefit the defensive shooter like professional training. And proper and safe manipulation of the defensive handgun is an important part of that training.

Regardless, there are those who just don't feel comfortable carrying any sort of semi-auto pistol with a round in the chamber. The solution is a simple one and it has been around for well over 100 years. Of course, I am talking about the double-action revolver. When the DA revolver is fully loaded, no springs are depressed and the hammer is not cocked back, yet it is ready to go at a moment's notice. A person who carries a pistol with an empty chamber is telling the world that they don't know what they are doing. I hope that those folks will get serious about their personal defense, get some professional training, and carry whatever defensive handgun they have confidence in. Whatever gun they choose, it should be ready to go when the attack comes.

 

[kenadian]

5 grand kids in and out of the house, when I'm at home the chambers empty, when I'm not there's one in the chamber/d-cocked and the safety on. One flick of the thumb and it's ready.
To each they're own, but when the potential of untrained little hands are near my cc.. Well let's just say I ain't gonna go there

 

[kenadian]

I have started carrying with one in the chamber, I keep my pistol in the holster and on my body unless I put in the safe. I carry a SA .40 With a grip safety as well as a safety trigger. The trigger can't be pulled all the way back unless your finger covers the whe trigger. The trigger won't pull all the way back unless the grip safety is fully depressed.

 

[Camarobear]

Always carried a SAA with a empty chamber. Grandpa explained that your stirrup falling would hit the hammer causing it to fall. He then explained safeties on a 1911...

Trigger safeties and the rest of them are for you but SAO Cocked Locked and ready to rock is all mine!

I have had people act dumb when we talk about this subject.

My question is "Do you park your car in the garage with an empty tank?"

Leaving a gun in a car or safe... I unload.

 

[Heywood]

Chambered. All guns in my house are loaded. I have chosen to gun proof my kids not kid proof my guns.. Much safer outcome.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

I wanna think for a split second before I pull the trigger.
I'd rather be killed , than go to jail.
I couldn't handle jail.
To many homos.

 

[Scratchingpost]

There is also the DA/SA safety/decocker. I always have one in the chamber withe the hammer decocker which also acts as a safety. When I'm ready to go live I flip the safety off which allows the trigger to work in DA whereas the following shots will be SA. There is also the option of taking the safety off, pulling the hammer back and start in SA. I have only owned Beretta's and not educated in the rest of the market as others having the same safety/decocker.

 

[DuneHopper]

My firearm which is a semi-auto( regular carry ) has no safety other then not chambered.
I see being chambered as the only choice unless hands on is required, being I have training hands on is my first response unless I have distance and a firearm is best.
There are times I am not chambered on a case by case basis. Lately with all the BS in the area lately down here I think everyone is chambered and ready.

 

[GunRightsCoalition]

Chambered. All guns in my house are loaded. I have chosen to gun proof my kids not kid proof my guns.. Much safer outcome.

That's how I was raised and is what I did raising mine. Mine are all adults now so I must have done something right since I have always had loaded firearms in the house.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

I keep a Hornady lock box by my chair for when I leave or kids are coming over. If kids are around I carry my 9mm compact, the lock box is for my pajama time .45!

 

[No_Regerts]

I wanna think for a split second before I pull the trigger.
I'd rather be killed , than go to jail.
I couldn't handle jail.
To many homos.

One second is an eternity in a gun fight. Especially when its usually the bad guy who makes the first move.

 

[DuneHopper]

For anyone using children not being able to rack a slide as their reasoning for chamber empty, you should read "Gun Proofing Your Child" by Massad Ayoob. IIRC in the book or in a leacture I saw him speak at he talks about how kids are able to rack a slide. He has witnessed this and discribes a child holding a pistol close to their body, putting the front or rear sight on a coffee table and using their entire body weight to rack the slide. Also, if the child is able to cock the hammer, it makes it much easier to rack the slide.

I like the video GM, this is a good one to watch. Puts a nice perspective.

 

[Burnhaven]

Much food for thought here. So far my SA XD 9mm is on a shelf 7 feet off the ground in the closet when not carrying -- and not carrying with a round chambered.

My small house is attached to my kid's house so four year old grand-daughters are over often. I'd rather get shot and killed than have them get hold of the weapon.

 

[Joe13]

Much food for thought here. So far my SA XD 9mm is on a shelf 7 feet off the ground in the closet when not carrying -- and not carrying with a round chambered.

My small house is attached to my kid's house so four year old grand-daughters are over often. I'd rather get shot and killed than have them get hold of the weapon.

For a small price, you could install a single gun quick access safe in a more convenient place; then you might feel better about having a round in the chamber.

AND

I started learning and shot a Ruger standard .22lr (Mark I nowadays), a S&W Model 39-2 9mm and a crossman pump BB gun (guess my grandad wasn't so sure about handing me a rifle - I dunno, I wish I had asked before he died) when I turned 4 years old.

Time to get them girls up to the woods and show them how to hit a can with a .22

P.S. Your XD is most likely a DA - single pull of the trigger makes the gun go bang, yes?

 

[Burnhaven]

For a small price, you could install a single gun quick access safe in a more convenient place; then you might feel better about having a round in the chamber.

AND

I started learning and shot a Ruger standard .22lr (Mark I nowadays), a S&W Model 39-2 9mm and a crossman pump BB gun (guess my grandad wasn't so sure about handing me a rifle - I dunno, I wish I had asked before he died) when I turned 4 years old.

Time to get them girls up to the woods and show them how to hit a can with a .22

P.S. Your XD is most likely a DA - single pull of the trigger makes the gun go bang, yes?

Yes no hammer to pull back, but there is a safety of sorts in the way the trigger works plus the back of the grip where if you don't grasp the gun completely and firmly, that "safety" isn't depressed and it won't fire.

I do have a small safe with a four-number push-button combination but lately I've only been keeping extra ammo in there.

I do have to small dogs here which will bark if anyone so much as sneezes outside.

Training the girls is up to their parents but I did hang on to a pump/CO2 pellet rifle for that purpose when I recently downsized to just the 9mm and a 270 Winchester.