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C-dub wrote:

johnson0317 wrote:Chamber. Gross motor skill quickly deteriorate and it is just one more thing to do when you need to be concentrating on something else.

RJ

I thought it was the other way around. Fine motor skills go first.

C-dub is correct on the order in which motor skills deteriorate under stress, but Johnson0317's point is valid in that having to chamber a round before your gun can be fired adds both significant time and a highly vulnerable point of potential failure to an already very risky situation.

gigag04 wrote:

Carry4Life wrote:I own a Sig P238. It needs to be cocked and locked to be of any use in an emergency. I am concerned though of leaving it that way 24/7/365 because of wear on the springs, dirt getting down in the hammer area, etc. Likewise, having to empty the chamber and reload the same round in the magazine seems to cause wear and tear on the chambered round casing (dents). Would you empty the chamber and de-cock for storage if you weren't going to carry but a few times each week?

Thoughts?

If I couldn't lock it up securely then yes. I pretty much never download my duty pistol. I make sure the kiddo absolutely can't access it though.

I decock but don't unload either magazine or chamber. Doing so would chew up the cartridge rim and require frequent replacement of the chambered round to maintain extraction reliability - an unnecessary expense for my situation.

OldSchool wrote:

Dave2 wrote:

Excaliber wrote:To expand on that thought a bit, being uncomfortable about carrying a chambered round is a sure indication of one or more of the following:

1. Incomplete knowledge of exactly how the weapon operates
2. Lack of confidence in one's own ability to carry and operate it safely
3. A lack of understanding of the dynamics of deadly threat encounters

4. A lack of faith in the gun's ability to not fire without having the trigger pulled (but then I would argue that such guns are not suitable for defensive carrying)

Sigh.... I guess you're right. If I have any doubt at all about my firearm and/or my ability to use it safely, then I'd better just hang it up. It's a shame, really, but I guess it had to happen someday....

Of course, I'm the kind of person who finds it hard to have complete and absolute faith in anything I do at any given time....

Old School,

I didn't intend my remarks to suggest that you not carry the gun if you hadn't overcome the entire learning curve yet. My thought was that these points could be used as evaluation tools regarding just how ready you are to use a gun to manage a defensive encounter, and what areas need a bit more work.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have lots of warning from great situational awareness, a typical deadly force defensive encounter is a very short, brutal affair that demands extremely high, mistake free performance that only comes about with lots of hard work and training well beyond the content of the CHL classes. My concern is that folks who aren't aware of this might believe they are fully prepared to manage a deadly encounter before they are truly ready, and may receive a rude surprise if they are so unfortunate as to have their skills put to the test when life is on the line.

None of us had all these elements all together the first time we wore our guns, and if you are uncomfortable carrying with a round chambered, by all means, you shouldn't do that until you fully understand how to do it safely and you're OK with it. If you spend the time to find out exactly how every part of your gun operates and how it should be handled, and carefully think about what you're doing each time you do it, you will increase your gun handling skills and carrying comfort relatively quickly.

There's plenty of info readily available in print and on the web. Developing this knowledge will increase both your confidence and your comfort, and over time will make the gun a trusted tool rather than an unnatural appendage that must be worried about as it may feel at first.

If you follow this process, you'll end up covering all the points I suggested and you'll be far better prepared to use your handgun successfully if the need ever arises.

WildBill wrote:

Excaliber wrote:IMHO, Someone who is not ready to carry a gun with a round chambered isn't yet ready to carry it at all.

That's an interesting observation. I'll have to think about that.

To expand on that thought a bit, being uncomfortable about carrying a chambered round is a sure indication of one or more of the following:

1. Incomplete knowledge of exactly how the weapon operates
2. Lack of confidence in one's own ability to carry and operate it safely
3. A lack of understanding of the dynamics of deadly threat encounters

Addressing these 3 areas properly will eventually make him or her comfortable with carrying the gun with a chambered round. At that point, he or she will be far more ready ready to carry a handgun for defensive purposes in public.

Carrying the gun without a chambered round before that point is reached is inadvisable because the skill to use it successfully for its intended purpose under the conditions of a life threatening incident will not be there.

In my opinion, it's better to address the issues rather than kidding oneself about what he actually has the capacity to do. Finding out one's skills won't cut it during an actual violent incident can ruin one's entire day - and every day afterwards.

IMHO, Someone who is not ready to carry a gun with a round chambered isn't yet ready to carry it at all.