How many law enforcement officers carry with an empty chamber?
I had the same conversation with a friend of mine who is a police officer, he laughed and answered: mind as well carry a dumbbell on you, you will never have the time to rack the slide in an emergency.
I am planning to buy a new gun with thumb safety to carry one the chamber comfortably.
Good morning to you, my friend!
No idea, but if I were to guess I’d say that it’s likely pretty close to zero.
That’s Easy Brother, Law Enforcement that wish to stay alive in this Nasty environment always have the pipe filled. Military folk’s, Security/Bodyguards
same/same.
This is just my opinion and from my experiences. One in the pipe stay in the fight.
Every second counts.
Stay Frosty Gunner’s.
WWG1WGA
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If that is what it takes for you to be comfortable with a round in the chamber, then go for it. Just make sure to practice disengaging that safety until it’s completely automatic, preferably with some significant artificial stress and awkward positions thrown in after you get it down pat in a calm setting. Otherwise you might find yourself in a very similar situation to a person without a round in the chamber.
I wouldn’t want to put all my faith in a safety to keep me safe when I am reholstering. Safeties are mechanical devices that can fail or more likely be forgotten to be reengaged or potentially not properly engaged after a stressful incident. So I would still continue to put the same emphasis on practicing trigger finger discipline and ensuring the holster is free from obstructions even if any of my pistols had a manual safety. Which in my case they don’t. I personally prefer to have one less thing to potentially fumble under stress when faced with an imminent threat. But as with a round in the chamber, or not, that is a personal choice that one should make after studying the pros and cons and applying them to their own personal situation and comfort level.
Absolutely. This is a most wonderful forum of excellent and varied folk. Every once in a while we get someone who tries to stir the pot to make trouble, but they never last long. (not you, but we’ve had a couple this year)
Forums are everywhere so we’re stuck with them, but we can make them better for everyone with some simple, but not demanded, rules.
Happy holidays! Look forward to reading your contributions.
(And while i’m typing, another reason to leave one in the chamber is if someone other than you has to shoot it if you’re not near it or you’re incapacitated.)
That feeling of comfort is the very reason some lines, like M&Ps, are available with an optional thumb safety. The M&P without the thumb safety is just as safe as every Glock. However, folks who are used to the safety (e.g. 1911 and Hi-Power shooters) feel better keeping the procedure they have learned.
On the subject of practice and training, i like teh comment above about being sure to reset the thumb safety after every string of fire, whether or not you are returning to the holster. The old term is muscle memory, and the new term is myelination, but it al means getting to the point of action without explicit thought.
AMbi safety please. You never know if you will have use of your primary when you need it. Another reason for safety off or no safety for protection. The range is a whole different story.
I went from as many absolute safeties to none for carrying over my firearm learning.
It is difficult to hear this guy talk about “bullets” while trying to present as an expert…
I’m not sure if that was an original meaning.
You should never switch safely back on if you are not 100% positive the threat is gone or you are not longer on the target.
So, it’s not about finished string of fire, but about decision if you still need to shoot at the threat / target or not.
This is one reason why I am trying to make my training as realistic as possible. The hardest part of realism I have been struggling with lately is the choice of when to stop shooting and check for other threats before deciding the event has ended. I don’t want to be conditioned to stop after 1 or 2 or 3 or however many shots when the threat may not be stopped. I also don’t want to be conditioned to keep shooting X number of shots when the threat may have been stopped.
I just got a foam IDPA shaped target that I can put a photo realistic armed attacker on. I’m thinking if I set that up on a tippy enough base that it should fall down after 2 to 5 or so hits. Then I can set up some other random photo targets with either cell phones or guns in their hands to practice confirming when the threats have stopped and when it is safe to lower my pistol and/or reholster and call 911.
All this would be easier if I had some reliable shooting buddies with some rope and pulleys or we got some airsofts and safety gear for force on force stuff. But I usually have to train alone so am trying to get creative.
Yeah… We jumped into theory of good training. 
You cannot practice how many rounds are needed without seeing the threat stopped.
So what I’m doing is to shoot random amount during the drills, fe. 2 in the chest + 1 in the head has no sense to me and I’m shooting 3 or 4 in the chest and maybe 1 or 2 or sometimes 0 to the head… but I always talk to myself why I shoot certain amount or why I don’t shoot the head.
If you explain the reason of round amount, you will somehow train yourself how many shots were needed to stop the threat.
I’d struggle more when to start than stop. I think. I’ve read so much training around “empty the mag!” I just don’t think so. What if you missed with every shot and now have no ammo but still have a threat…or multiple threats? It seems like the right number is the minimum you need, not more, not less.
If you missed them with the first 10 rounds, why are you so confident you would hit them with the last 7?
Or maybe you should just be blasting and running because you’re not going to hit anything anyways.
Anyway
if I’m sure my rounds are on target I’m going to keep shooting until there is no longer a threat.
If I pause to reevaluate the situation I may reload.
I may reload with a couple still in the magazine.
It’s a benefit of caring a gun that isn’t a two shot Derringer or six shot revolver.
Yes, I know people can be load revolvers very quickly, It still takes time.
I read a statement in this thread, that in some states it’s illegal to carry with one in the chamber. what states have this law.
I totally agree Jerzees! Conditioning yourself to place a certain amount of rounds in each area (chest & head) definitely translates into your muscle memory. Which makes everything automatic.
An empty chamber is an unloaded gun.