When a second counts you don’t want to take many seconds and make noise racking the slide.
George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin are all the example you need to know you should never carry with an empty chamber.
Fifty years ago, in the military, I read of a sergeant who was FAST with an issue handgun. He used a 1911, no bullet in the chamber, in an enclosed military holster.
He would start his draw with his hand hitting the flap and opening it on the upswing then grasp the pistol and pull it out. His Left hand would be moving across to grasp the slide, then he would fire. Very quick.
No matter how how he did it, he still needed two hands to get his firearm in action.
On a trip to Mexico, I noticed the Mexican border guards all had 1911 pistols (Probably .38 Super), in open holsters, cocked and locked. They looked like THEY meant business. That was fifty years ago.
I guess it boils down to degree of safety you want to exercise. There are reasons for just about all carry options.
For the fastest operation, it would be either a Glock style trigger or a single action auto cocked and chambered with all safeties off. Cocked and locked would be nearly as fast and safer.
Chamber empty but magazine loaded is sometimes called for too. For example if I were to be visited by family members with young children who were not trained in gun safety I would keep a gun still handy but with an empty chamber.
I do remember reading many years ago of a Texas Ranger who carried his 1911 cocked, safety off and grip safety taped down.
I know that John Browning considered his hammerless (or internal hammer) autos to be safe to carry with a chambered round and the safety on.
I wonder how a head shot would have looked inside that helmet.
Exactly,
Empty chamber goes back 140 years to single action revolvers that could fire if dropped. The empty chamber prevented that.
The concept is 140 years our of date.
I carry loaded, condition 1, anything less is a club. Present and fire.
I’ve seen a few of these. It seems more a matter of training. My carry is a Glock 43, and with all the incidents out there of unintentional discharges of that brand, I’m a little paranoid about carrying with one in the chamber. I do have a S/W .38 Airweight wheel gun, but like the feel of the Glock better.
Well I guess I am easy to please.
I like revolvers and autos. Heck I like single shots too but would not choose one for self defense.
When I was in grad school, a friend kept a police trade-in .38 special revolver beside his bed. It was all he could afford but he was adequately armed none the less.
I would love to have a full sized Glock 10mm and if I were still working and making good money, I would have one. A Glock 17 would be about as good as would a large number of other guns.
I do think a J frame .357 is a little too extreme but if you can handle if fine. Put some Hogue grips on it. I keep two Browning Hi-Powers beside my bed. I do not keep them cocked and locked because the safeties are a bit small. I do keep them loaded with Golden Sabres and Silvertips in 20 round Mec-Gar mags. If I were carrying them concealed it would be Mec-Gar 15 rounders.
Not the ideal weapon but I have used them since 1969 and am familiar with them plus for some reason, I have always been able to hit well with the Browning.
Concealed carry means one in the chamber and your finger is the safety when it is out of your holster. Racking a slide under stress is a bad idea. As bad as leaving your safety on.
Not a CCW story, but my brothers friend missed bagging 2 different dear on two different occasions with the same lever gun, both times because the safety was on. In each case, he had time to rack the lever at least 2 times, meaning he aimed and pulled the trigger 3 times each time, but the safety block was in the way. It was only after the deer was long gone and buck fever passed, that he had the mental ease to think if perhaps the safety was on, which it was both times.
Now, in a self defense shooting, do you really think this same guy is going to think about taking the safety off his handgun when the balloon goes up?
I now 1911 aficionados train relentlessly and hope they automatically take off safe from cocked and locked when they pull a gun in the stress of self defense.
To me, a gun with a de-cocker but no safety makes much more sense. I know I won’t have the presence of mind to do anything but aim and fire if I ever needed to. I know I would forget to remove safe.
Anyone not sure, search: Blue Press, Chamber empty=Suicide p.62
My primary carry firearm is the Glock 23. It always has a round in the chamber, unless I’m cleaning it. If you carry unchambered, you just have an expensive paperweight.
Always have one in the tube - never take a hammer to a gun fight....
I think I am a “Glockaphobe”
See above for Why.
Modern semi-autos such as Glock and SIG have passive safeties. Empty chamber carry is unnecessary.