One in the chamber?

[ChuckNorris]

No you don't. Chuck Norris carries 2 matching 1911's. I'm calling you out. You're a fake!

Things have changed since I cut the beard off!
Gotta go with the times!

[hatidua]

We've had this thread before a few times.

ya'think?!

[Shiro]

There are legit reasons to not have one in the chamber, but you must accept that fact that you are not ready for a quick draw situation

[kidicarus13]

There are legit reasons to not have one in the chamber

Would love to hear them.

[Great-Kazoo]

There are legit reasons to not have one in the chamber, but you must accept that fact that you are not ready for a quick draw situation

Would love to hear them.

Like wise. Then again it's up to the individual gun owners comfort level.

As a disabled person, it's one less thing i need to react for / to.

[Squeeze]

Like wise. Then again it's up to the individual gun owners comfort level.

As a disabled person, it's one less thing i need to react for / to.

^^^ This. In a gunfight, time is money. Less movements/actions I have to do prior to getting hollow-headed friends on the way to the threat is always a good thing.

[cofi]

one in the chamber no safeties 3.5# trigger lighted springs etc

[asmo]

Cute scenario. What do you do with the marker when the friend understands you're inside the range for hand-to-hand and decides to first knee you in the junk and then swipe the barrel of the pistol through your dental work before racking the slide? Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good arguments for carrying with a chambered round but a lot of what I'm seeing here is specious nonsense equating carrying with empty chamber to walking around while all your ammo is locked up at home. I think the point you're driving at is that there are a handful of rare but significant scenarios where the carrier won't have time or ability to rack the slide and would be better off having one in chamber ready to go but you're not acknowledging that most of the time they will.

Please come to the SouthNarc ECQC class next weekend. Any concept that you will have time to do much of anything will be deeply challenged.

[losttrail]

Cute scenario. What do you do with the marker when the friend understands you're inside the range for hand-to-hand and decides to first knee you in the junk and then swipe the barrel of the pistol through your dental work before racking the slide? Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good arguments for carrying with a chambered round but a lot of what I'm seeing here is specious nonsense equating carrying with empty chamber to walking around while all your ammo is locked up at home. I think the point you're driving at is that there are a handful of rare but significant scenarios where the carrier won't have time or ability to rack the slide and would be better off having one in chamber ready to go but you're not acknowledging that most of the time they will.

OP should be happy that his friend is carrying and ready to respond in a moment-and-a-half's notice rather than trying to make him feel like trash for not being ready at a moment's notice. What's more important is that he knows the drawbacks, is situationally aware and thinks ahead of time about what to do when faced with various scenarios.

It's amazing how fast an attacker can cover ground. Even if you know it's coming, getting your shirt/jacket pulled back, getting your grip, drawing your iron, racking the slide, takes more time than it does for an attacker to cover 21+ feet. If you could walk around with your iron in your hand, then maybe an empty chamber would make some sense.

But carrying concealed creates more actions and increases the time it takes to just get into position to defend ones self, much less rack the slide in addition.

I'm not attacking or making fun of anyone for carrying with an empty chamber. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[Ronin13]

The way I see it is this... carry however you please, but just know the positives and drawbacks of the different methods and conditions of carry. Personally, I carry and train how I did in the Army- inside the home, locked and loaded, round in chamber. Outside the home, locked and loaded round in chamber. Or like Police carry- you may not have time to take cover, draw, chamber a round, and defend yourself. But if you carry chamber empty, you may have trained to take that into account. If you haven't, you probably should. Train how you plan on fighting. Just keep in mind the time difference from training to real world situations can vary- you may be able to chamber a round in .3 sec at the range when the paper isn't shooting back at you, but IRL the added stress of being in possible mortal danger will make you react somewhat differently, especially if you don't train constantly. Be safe.

ETA: No one has mentioned this, but one would hope carrying concealed would afford you a little extra time due to the element of surprise- of course this depends on exactly what the situation is, may be very different for direct attack on your person or active shooter scenario, but even considering that, I, personally, wouldn't ever carry a firearm with an empty chamber.