Carrying With One In the Chamber: Good Thing Or Bad Thing?

Good thing.

Depending on who you are the jury and the judge and they are usually predominately....... You know what...? 😮‍💨 Nevermind...

As active C/O, I definitely have one in the pipe.

I do not think carrying one in chamber unless you plan on using it

If your not confident carrying a loaded gun than don’t carry at all

I also carry out of the holster... With my finger on the trigger... With 4lbs of pressure on the trigger... Pointed directly in front of me... Because that's where the threats come from.

Up to you but I don’t want to need to remember in a panic to rack the slide to chamber a cartridge. I’m hoping it never happens in the first place but I’m hoping IF it does that everything works right for me and goes my way and I come out uninjured. Part of that is carrying as though I need to point and pull only if ever I need it.

Before I watch this I believe there are a lot of people are that have a higher chance of accidental discharge than actually being faced with a situation where it is deemed to be appropriate to pull a gun. Therefore I would say do not carry one in the chamber. Let’s see if the videos changes my mind.

I was not happy about only having four choices in California for a 380. The California approved list shows six but two are discontinued. I bought the Kahr P380 Cal Comp, other than needing a special part to disassemble and reassemble I love it. The California compliancy comes in the form of a very small lever that pokes up when there is one in the chamber. I have a Sig 40 cal and every time I pick it up, I need to rack it to see if it has one in the chamber, pick up the cartridge, eject slide, etc.... While next years law is just ridiculous, requiring guns to stamp a serial number on the cartridge before ejecting, this loaded indicator is one more great innovation to come from California, not exactly legal weed, skateboarding or surfing but it is really cool. Sure, it costs more but picking up your gun and knowing one is in the chamber is priceless.

Parts of a second are important in a gunfight. You can snick a safety off in the draw quicker than you can rack one in the draw.

If your new to guns I’ll give u an advise get comfortable first and then carry with one on the pipe always COPS don’t care I don’t even Think there’s even a law that says u can’t carry with one on the chamber but again I’m a Florida man 😅 I’ve carry for 10 years now, and took me 2 years to start carrying with one ready to go and I sarted with an FNX 9 almost same thing as a 1911 but with a modern look until I went to Glock 😅

When the 1911 was introduced it was not intended to carry a round in the chamber. The solider was trained to draw the pistol and chamber a round. It was not until Jeff Cooper propose to carry a 1911 style pistols in Condition 1 one in the chamber cocked and the safety on.

I have a S&W shield EZ that I don’t think it is striker fire. Is that still safe?

Israeli soldiers weren’t getting mugged at close range in the dark.

Like putting a condom on after you dump your load.

A ruger gx4 has no safety. So if I put 1 in chamber and pull it out I'll bleed out when I pull it out fast

It's all of us don't care we just keep it beside the bed

Before I even start this: I'm what you'd call a liberal. Me and my ole lady both carry a 1911 chambered. I like the design to avoid mishaps with the safety. Both kimbers I maintain but considering a p22 for the price

100%

(not sig)

You demonstrated the gun check, and insertion of a magazine with 4 snap caps into the weapon, then holstered it, simulating a loaded pistol carried without a round in the chamber. You drew the weapon and racked the slide, demonstrating the steps necessary to prepare to fire (which should have chambered a snap cap). You then holstered the weapon. You then drew the pistol a second time and racked the slide, demonstrating the Israeli method of carry. Why didn’t a snap cap eject from the breach? There was a cut, an edit, or your pistol is malfunctioning.

Saying it’s “absolutely NOT safer to carry with an empty chamber” is not really true. As the amount of negligent discharges that have happened with a gun without a round in the chamber is probably close to non. The amount of videos I’ve seen of dudes shooting themselves holstering their loading weapons is pretty ridiculous.

Never

An empty chamber is a dead man's gun.

Knowingly starting a gun fight with an empty chamber is knowingly starting a gun foght with a malfunction

solo un usuario no capacitado usara su arma sin munición en la recamara.

New subscriber sir, I agree 💯 with you,

I have been shooting, primarily competitively in both target-plinking & combat-style competitions, for over 55 years. A decade ago, I took a lengthy course in combat handgun training in New York City from a school run by retired Israeli special forces soldiers. Since I carry a Glock 19 as my standard concealed-carry and the Israeli IDF & special weapons groups primarily use Glock 17s and 19s, it was a perfect match. I was surprised when they told me that about half of the outfits in the IDF carry with a round in the chamber and the other half don't. It's up to the unit commander. The Israelis do things very differently from the way I was always taught to carry and hold a semi-auto handgun, but one of the techniques is relevant to the question of why it is common not to carry a round in the pipe in a Striker-style handgun. The Israeli draw (assuming you are right handed), starts with you reaching for the weapon on your right hip while SIMULTANEOUSLY bringing your left hand across your chest, making a crab claw facing toward your right side. As your gun clears the holster, they tilt it a bit to the left (like is often common in a one-handed grip), they grasp the slide pinching both sides of the rear of the slide with the palm on or over the top of the slide. As they bring the pistol up to the ready position and push the weapon forward into firing position, they simultaneously pull the slide back (it is MUCH easier to rack a slide if you are, say, a woman with small hands & weaker musculature if you push the weapon forward as you pull the slide back & release, letting both hands do the work). They showed me this technique as well as the technique of drawing with a round already in the chamber. There was no noticeable difference in speed between their first reach for the weapon & their presentation of the firearm toward the target. This DOES tie up your left hand briefly, but, since you optimally want a 2-handed grip anyway, it is only the briefest loss of left hand access.

I know an NRA instructor who shot himself in the leg holstering a Glock in an IWB hip holster when his untucked shirt inadvertently snagged in the trigger-guard far enough to depress the central blade on the trigger that acts as an otherwise automatic safety. I've heard of other cases where the same accident happened with Striker pistols because they lack manual safeties or decockers. That said, I always carry with one in the attic. You have an extra round & it's ready to go if you only have one hand free. But to say that is safe is a bit disingenuous. I know it is less safe &, especially when returning my Glock to my holster, I'm always aware of any possibility of accidentally snagging it.

The other main difference they taught me was not to point both of my overlapping thumbs forward toward the target, but to angle them downward. With some guns, it is easy to accidentally activate the slide lock or to just put enough friction on the slide with the upper thumb to cause the slide not to go back with full force, causing a stovepipe or other jam. I have heard of the standard grip on the popular Sig Sauer P365 9x19 causing slide interference on a number of occasions. Since I recently moved from Florida to New Jersey, where you are restricted to a 10 round mag, the P365 is an even more popular choice. I have 10 round Glock-made mags for my 19 now, but all of the cartridges run vertically down the right side of a mag the width of a double-stack, unbalancing the gun a tad & actually requiring a magazine that protrudes from the bottom of the mag well. (I'm used to this at least because I always used the Glock 17 17-round mags in my 19 instead of the standard 15 round mags. So, I've been forced to go from 17+1 to 10+1 with a weapon meant to be balanced properly with a double-stack mag. However, I've done sufficient modification to my Glock and find it the most comfortable firing grip for my smaller hands that I'm not willing to trade in my old workhorse on a different weapon. I do feel that familiarity gives me an edge with the weapon, especially in fast-draw circumstances.

A note to 2A fans. Although I always carry concealed in areas where a large proportion of the people around me are similarly armed - I have different feelings about 2A than most. It was written in a form of English Grammar that was used 250 years ago & relies, for its translation on something known as a "conditional being" clause, which fell out of English use 150 years ago. I don't think 1 in 1,000 people have ever heard of a "conditional being" clause and it hasn't appeared in English grammar books since about the Civil War. You can't find it in any contemporary grammar books or on the lengthy Wikipedia article on types of conditional clauses. The subordinate clause that starts "A well-regulated militia being necessary..." is a "conditional being" clause wrapped in a form of Noah Websterish English grammar closer to Shakespeare's time than today's 21st Century English. To translate it into a modern conditional clause, you would reword it "If a well regulated militia is necessary..." or "As long as a well-regulated militia is necessary..." The main clause that follows stating the right of the people to have weapons would NOT be absolute, but dependent on the truth of the subordinate clause. Otherwise, there's no need for the first clause & just the second would be sufficient. The Founding Fathers did not plan on a permanent standing army, so well-regulated state militias (our National Guards today) were the front line, intended to fend off any attack until an army could be raised & equipped. As soon as we established a standing army, the conditional clause became negative and the Second Amendment had no meaning. In fact, in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, it states that the only two military uses for a "well-regulated militia" are to repel a foreign invasion or to protect the government from an insurgency. Personal protection or the right of the insurgents to have weapons to use against the government are NOT permitted. I still believe that in a country so riddled with millions of armed people, you are morally justified to carry your own weapon, like just about every man carried a sword in medieval times, but I don't kid myself that 2A is what gives me that right. I've lived all over the world & the US is the only country in which I feel the need to go armed every time I leave my house - and keep a home night-table pistol & shotgun near at hand by the bed (and a cocked & locked handgun hidden in the living room - since I have no children still living with me). I certainly never felt the need to carry when I lived in Scotland or England or Shanghai in decades past, or other places where the chance that my fellow citizens were also armed was remote. More guns make more danger and, ironically, require even more people to go armed. I go armed in the US because I have to.

My keltec pf9 doesn't have a safety so I don't keep on in the chamber, I'm 21 and it's my first handgun, not my first gun. Just got it a few days ago from my grandad. Once i get more comfortable I'll leave on in

How can you say its not safer to not carry one in the chamber… People are idiots, people make mistakes, it is safer to not have a round go off if the trigger is pulled or malfunctions for any reason. The average person is probably way more likely to accidentally have a gun go off with one always in the chamber and shooting themselves than needing to shoot somebody, let alone needing to shoot somebody and dying because of the .5 seconds it takes to rack a bullet. For a cop, that is likely different. But telling people you know it is wrong to not have one in the chamber is not a wise statement.

As a former IDF soldier and current pistol owner, I do agree that there's reasons why Israel decided this method. That being said, empty carry is something regularly trained, and still works under most terrorist encounters. There are cases where you wont take out your weapon anyway until you have enough distance to draw. Here in Israel, it works. Not saying it will in America, but its still a solid method.

Best reasoning I've heard on this topic.

It’s a personal and situational choice. For me it’s a Glock with a round in the chamber in a safe holster on my body. Firearms for home defense are stored in a pre-designated safe location with a mag inserted and a clear chamber. Otherwise the firearm is clear and stored in a safe location. The dangerous part comes when a person doesn’t follow proper procedure and leaves a round chambered when the firearm is out of his control.

I would really like to carry one in chamber but my glock 48 only has a safety on the trigger and apparently a couple inside safety like dropping it don't send the hammer forward do you think this is still safe my holster covers the trigger but still don't like the fact of the safety on the trigger when you have to pull the trigger for it to go off don't make sense to me how it is a safety at all. Most times I have a dog leash in my hand and been thinking how I would load a roundish one hand..smh

The Israeli method is call an American for help.

How did a live round get into the snap cap mag?😂 woulda be crazy, he didnt show us he loaded that mag. But he is super specific about everything else.

I purchased the smallest pistol I could find, (Ruger 380) because none of my 9mm pistols are comfortable to carry. I fully believe in a safety switch. The Ruger 380 doesn’t have a safety switch, therefore I will never keep one in the chamber. I’m all for piece of mind rather then, no pistol at all. I use the ankle holster which is the most comfortable holster I own. I will never pull my pistol out unless it is absolutely life threatening.

Great video, thank you!

Instantly hit the like button after he give the answer in the first 3 seconds in the video rather than hide the answer in the very end jus to get more streaming time

SOMEBODY HELP ME: I just bought a Glock 43X and I do NOT understand how it is safe to keep a round in the chamber while concealing carry while it is pointed downwards at my…most vital of organs. I mean, if the trigger gets stuck on a belt buckle or I sit down weird, what is stopping it from being pulled?? It seems insane to me!!

not one person does a video of appendix carrying while one in the chamber and driving if it's safe or not ?

if one is worried about accidental discharge, carry firearm cocked but not loaded around house for a few days and practice draw and reholster. bet handgun stays cocked as long as one keeps finger off trigger, it is how I got comfortable.

NOT HAVING A ROIUND IN THE CHAMBER IS LIKE! PUTTING ON YOUR SAFETY BELT JUST BEFORE IMPACT!!!!!!!

You bring up a lot of good points.
I did not know that story.
In the USAF 40 years ago, I was always taught to carry a semiauto in Condition 3 (Israeli).
This was back when the USAF used revolvers.
Now that I do, I will go to the range and practice and get to know my gun again.

Another question, do you consider the .380 (S&W Bodyguard 2.0) a good CC?

I'm super safe in how I carry concealed. No round in the chamber, no magazine in the well, and no gun in the holster. 😎

I think data would also show that you can rack 1 into the chamber much faster than you can go home and get your gun.

Why did yt recommend this video? You guys have been exposed to the 2A community for a while now

I carry a revolver so I have no choice lol

Ive kept my carry firearm chamberd since the early 80,s . If im not cleaning my carry gun its chamberd and on my hip .i put it on with my pants in the morning and take it off on my way to bed .