But not for those of us who carry otherwise.
Posted on 10/24/2012 6:19:50 AM PDT by smokingfrog
The loaded .45-caliber Glock handgun left in a crowded Denver International Airport bathroom belonged to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent based in Houston, according to records obtained on Tuesday.
The gun, with one round in the chamber and 10 in the magazine, was found by a traveler last week on the back of a toilet seat beyond Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, according to a Denver police report.
It was later returned to the agent, who was traveling on Southwest Airlines from Denver to Houston.
The DEA has stayed mum on the gun, declining to confirm the agency's ties to the incident.
"Incidents such as the one you described ... fall within the scope of an (internal) investigation and DEA does not confirm, deny or comment on internal investigations," Lisa Johnson, spokeswoman for the DEA's Houston Division, said in response to a Chronicle query.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
But not for those of us who carry otherwise.
Remember *Detective Fish* from the old Barney Miller TV show? Fish was the old, about-to-retire cop who made frequent trips to the little boys' room.
And so it was Detective Fish who used a shoulder rig rather than the belt holster with snubby revolver favoured by most of his coat-and-tie partners.
You should hang around Russians whose carry handgun is the 9mm PM Makarov. Them fellers were notorious for putting one in their full-flap holster with a round up the spout and the hammer back, then pushing it into the holster with a finger through the trigger guard.
It was bad enough outdoors, out in the open, far more sporty inside an armoured BTP personnel carrier. My real nightmare was something along those lines happening with a full-auto APS Stechkin machinepistol.
Most concealed (or even open) carriers, including cops, etc. carry one in the pipe - all the time.
When you need a gun, you usually need one right he heck now. You don’t have time to be playing games with the slide, and many perps like to catch people with their hands occupied to prevent defensive response.
This is why you carry with one in the pipe. Always. This ain’t like a hunting rifle in the pickup, where you get a ticket if the game warden pulls you over and finds one in the chamber while you’re out chasing Bambi.
On a revolver, you can leave one chamber empty[*], but a double-action revolver makes getting a round under the hammer easy - just pull the trigger once to rotate the empty chamber out of the way, a second time to fire. All nice, quick and one-handed. No such option exists on a semi-auto.
[*] - on modern revolvers, especially double action revolvers made by credible manufactures (ie, Smith and Wesson, Ruger), it is not necessary to carry a chamber empty under the hammer. That practice ended with the end of the single action Colt SAA revolvers years ago. First, no one in their right mind carries a single action revolver as a self-defense CCW piece, second, most all modern double-action revolvers have either a transfer block or a hammer block to prevent discharge even if dropped on the hammer spur. Many very small DA revolvers intended for CCW don’t even have a hammer spur - the spur has been cut off below the level of the frame, so you can’t even cock it into single action mode.
And public restrooms are high hazard areas, especially the urinals at men’s restrooms. Thugs will sometimes wait in a stall for the restroom to clear out so it is a person alone using the urinal and the thug. Thug emerges rapidly from the stall after the victim has started to relieve himself, and slams the victim’s head into the wall or plumbing of the urinal in from of him, then robs him.
In some restrooms I’ve used while on the road, I have my johnson in one hand and the other is already holding an open folding knife where an attacker wouldn’t see it until too late.
If it’s a Series 80, loaded and hammer down is a possible carry configuration.
Well, we have a choice:
We can make our mode of dress conform to our safety/carry requirements, or we can modify what, if anything, we carry to conform to our fashion requirements.
I wear what is necessary to conform to CCW requirements.
Same reason my keychain looks and feels like a terminator's central nervous system. If I inadvertently take my keys out of my pocket and set them down somewhere, when I get up to walk away, I notice something's missing. If I just had a small fob with a few keys on it, I wouldn't be as inclined to notice. Similarly, a steel frame weapon with some heft, while perhaps a bit more uncomfortable to carry around all day because it constantly reminds you that it's there, will by default, also let you know when it's not there. A titanium, poly or alloy frame designed for lightweight comfort can be more easily set aside and forgotten about when one is preoccupied with other matters (not that this excuses one from ever losing custody of a weapon).
JMHO
Yes, we do.
My choice is an un-tucked polo and an IWB holster.
YMMV.
That reads like the opening line of a particularly disturbing Accident Report...
Crazy.
I remember when we went to the UM84 holster that was issued with the M9 pistols (and later in bulk for M1911 units) and how much of an improvement it was over the old leather M1916 holsters. For a country so proud of its pistol heritage, I’ll never understand why holster development seemed to just STOP for 70+ years.
I have that holster (Blackhawk Mark IV Airborne).
It does a pretty good job of fitting most medium and large automatics and there’s three levels of retention (snap, velcro and grip-strap). However, the introduction of the Safariland 6004 series rendered it practically obsolete, unless you switch between different pistol models often.
That’s probably one of the WORST ways to carry.
You have to drop the hammer, and that’s the most dangerous part of the operation. It is the LEAST recommended practice by 1911 officionados.
“I don’t know of any .45’s that will hold more than 10 rounds.”
Springfield Armory XD 45acp’s have 13 + 1. Glock 21’s have a 13 + 1 mag available.
And if they use their DEA undercover duties as an excuse, well, leaving a gun behind
should be grounds for termination anyway so undercover would not be an issue.
I don't like the way law enforcement gets the pass on so many issues.
I can't figure out how you get the safety on with the hammer down. My old Gold Cup Series 70 won't let me put the safety on until full cock.
/johnny
Very often, yes.
The question is "is it better to just bust in and start shooting, or take the time to move deliberately?" the answer is obviously the latter.
The only two real-life situations where round-chambered makes sense is military patrols (e.g. ambush/attack response) and certain forms of hunting (e.g. flushing birds).
I didn’t say it was a great idea to put it into this state - I said that it was a safe way to carry a Series 80, which has a firing pin block. Too many people think all 1911’s are alike - they’re not. There’s at least three major variants within the years 1911 to 1985 or so, before we get into the 1990’s and the clones took off.
Personally, I don’t like Series 80 1911’s - it’s very difficult to make their trigger pulls very crisp and clean. There’s some variants of the S-80 FP block which are just awful, and some which are acceptable, but none of them are good triggers. I’d rather carry a Series 70 cocked, with the safety on, and with a proper holster that won’t move the safety while holstered.
Agreed.
There are some replacement accessory and ambidex safeties that will allow the thumb safety to be placed in the safe position at half cock, just as that of the later Browning-designed 9mm GP or P-35 Hi-Power will. The point seems to be to be able lock the slide in the forward position when holstering the piece in a snug or tight holster rather than to allow carry on half-cock, with the lever in the safe position. The late Colonel Jeff Cooper once referred to this pecularity of the Browning as "condition one and a half."
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