Should you carry with one in the chamber?

Welcome to the family brother and god bless you.

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Welcome to the family, brother!

Load snap caps, and train. Draw, rack, aim, fire. If youā€™re going to have to rack, might as well be the fastest you can be.

It depends on how efficient they are. If they are efficient, then it depends on how efficient you are.

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Depending on your defensive ammo, and how long you have had it in your weaponā€¦ and if you have chambered a rd several times, you might want to fire off that magazine of your defensive ammo and reload with new.
Perhaps every fifth trip to the range, but that depends, and also consider when you reload, alter the rd you chamberā€¦ as over time with chambering the same rd may cause the bullet to seat further than it should.

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Every trip to the range I shoot the defensive Ammo in my magazines before loading JHP for more practice.

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If you are going to carry you should have a chamber round and personally I do not carry or buy a hand gun with a safety. An empty gun is just something that you can throw.

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Thanks :pray:

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Many of us ask the question of "When you are in your car and are moments from having a car wreck, is that the moment you try to buckle your seatbelt?

As far as some drills you can work on without a round in chamber, is the Israeli draw. Google it lots of good YouTube videos out there on it.

Mental inventory of why you are concerned about carrying with a round in chamber?

No matter what you decide to go with, practice it til you canā€™t get it wrong and your draw and subsequent actions are deep muscle memory.

None of this was meant derogatorily or meant to be harmful. I, personally, carry with one in chamber. But what works for me may not work for you.

Hope, this helps. If you havenā€™t picked a SD/HD handgun yet. Perhaps look at a DA/SA with a long heavy first pull to help you become more accustomed to carrying while having a round chambered.

I know some things do not come across well on text so I just want to reiterate I am attempting to be helpful.

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Agree with @Zavier_D as far as the Israeli Draw. I watched the video on YouTube and I liked it. Israeli military and police use this kind of draw. :+1:

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Yesā€¦ unless itā€™s a Sig Sauer. :rofl::rofl:

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Way back when I was young and 21 I was an officer at a state prison in a northern sate and I learned to carry there and so I am fairly comfortable with my weapon and I have helped my wife to get to the same point and if you are in an emergency situation you may not have the time to chamber. I always have the safety on but it is much quicker to release that than chamber a round. And before anyone asks yes I have had to shot at someone. That was at the prison on the front gate to the grounds.

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Iā€™d suggest that if you are not comfortable carrying your carry piece with a round chambered for fear of an ā€œadā€ perhaps you should be looking at a different weapon (DAO, grip safety, or ?!) that you would be comfortable with. Iā€™ve carried a wide variety of different weapons over the past 3 decades. My current are DAO or DA/SA, just because. An SA cocked and locked is another option. I am NOT a fan of striker fired weapons with the flipper safety in the trigger. Yeah, I know they work, and yeah lots of folks love ā€˜em, just not my thing. Had a SIG 365 with a beautiful crisp trigger, but for pocket carry I just didnā€™t trust it. YOU and you alone can decide what youā€™re comfortable with, as you alone are responsible for what happens when it goes bang.

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Always Nothing more to say although if I didnā€™t carry a 1911 I might feel differently.

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So, there have been many folks on here who have said, ā€œafter so many trips to the range and unloading and loading your SD ammo, it will start to seat lowerā€. I always thought, hummm, Iā€™m not sure about that, but whatever?

Then it occurred to me, Iā€™m a reloader! Letā€™s just check it outā€¦ I have had the same SD rounds going in and out of magazines as described for maybe 3 or 4 years. Swapping every weekā€¦

I compared the OL (overall length) of 20 swapped rounds with new out of the box rounds (same make and model of course) and found with my super accurate measuring tool, that there was no measurable difference in any of them.

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The problem is that first same round that is loaded in every time over the weeks or months. I load the first round by hand to avoid this from happening. Also everyone needs at least 3 mags, and you do not unload the self defense rounds, you never know when you will need them. Us the other two mags for range time. This problem happens when loading the same round from the mag every time, not when loading the magazine.

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I donā€™t know, maybe Iā€™m missing something here, but when I measured all rounds from loaded mags, and of course these being cycled back in and out of the firearm over the years, I still found no variance in seating (OL) to any.

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I know that it has happened to some shooters but the only time that I have seen it was 22 cal. rounds that the crimp was not tight enough.

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I disagree. When I donā€™t get to the range often (lately), I shoot my defense rounds before my practice rounds. This gives me practice with my defense rounds and helps me to rotate my defense rounds,.

I normally donā€™t shoot my EDC weapon at the range. One reason I own numerous Glocks.

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Not something that happens all of the time and not something to worry about unless you start having a problem ,and even then it may only be one round

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Of course that is the way it should happen BUT most people are TOO CHEAP to do that. And that is why I shoot S & Wā€™s and carry the M & P 9C and shoot it at the range all of the time. Small hands and S & W was the first with the adjustable grip.

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One in the chamber or two feet in the grave!

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