Accidental Discharge... Poor Mattress

[Reloader]

My case history of AD's are, in the last 35 years:
2 windows, one kitchen cabinet, 2 walls, one roof shingle(12 gauge buck round hit dead center), but no injuries. Also no runs, or errors, no one left on base. Murphy happens...

[Kerbouchard]

I keep this pistol with a loaded magazine-empty chamber in the car with me, or in my night stand when i sleep. This gun is handled very often, and since I don't use a holster, I don't feel comfortable keeping one in the chamber. Every time I stow the gun, I remove the magazine, press check, dry fire, then reinsert the magazine.

What?? Did you really mean to say that you don't use a holster?

You can get a holster for $20 bucks...while it won't be the best of holsters, it would completely eliminate every one of your hang ups and problems, and it would have saved you a matress.

As far as the safety issue between a 1911 with an external safety and the XD with just the grip safety, trigger safety, and firing pin block...it is just like every other gun. If you don't pull the trigger, it won't go bang.

A decent holster will cover your trigger guard. It takes three movements to fire an XD. Remove XD from holster, Attain proper grip, pull trigger.

I will admit that I had a problem with carrying with one in the chamber when I started carrying. Even with a holster. It was kinda scarry. What I did was drop the mag, rack the slide, insert magazine. That left me with a 'cocked and ready' sidearm, just without a round chambered. I then carried for about 2-3 months...I figured if I ever heard a click, than I knew I was right to be worried. I never did, the gun never 'went off by itself', and since then I carry with my EDC always ready to fire.

[LarryH]

A decent holster will cover your trigger guard. It takes three movements to fire an XD. Remove XD from holster, Attain proper grip, pull trigger.

How about "attain proper grip, remove XD from holster, attain proper sight picture, pull trigger"?

[Kerbouchard]

A decent holster will cover your trigger guard. It takes three movements to fire an XD. Remove XD from holster, Attain proper grip, pull trigger.

How about "attain proper grip, remove XD from holster, attain proper sight picture, pull trigger"?

You are right of course. I was going with minimum amount of steps necessary to make gun go bang.
But if we are going to be technical.
"Assess situation, realize that drawing is necessary, sweep aside cover garment with weak hand, obtain proper grip on gun, remove gun from holster with finger off the trigger, attain proper sight picture, assess if use of deadly force is still necessary, squeeze trigger, repeat last 3 steps as necessary."

Either way, the best safety is in between your ears...the second best will cover the trigger guard.

[DoubleJ]

For those of us with "safeties" on our guns, I think flickin' off the safety is part of the grip.
mebbe it's just me...

[locknload]

For those of us with "safeties" on our guns, I think flickin' off the safety is part of the grip.
mebbe it's just me...

Goes for de-cockers, too. My BDA has a de-cocker, and I have never given it a second thought carrying one in the chamber, with de-cocker activated. If I don't have it on me, it's within easy reach 24/7. Am I missing something here? Have only been carrying since August, so if that's wrong, please, advise. Since I most often carry with barrel parallel to the deck, under the arm and pointing backward, an AD could ruin someone's whole day!

As SOP, we load, cock and lock every gun in the house. That way there is never a question. The only time that they are in the house unloaded is when they are being cleaned and when the Grandkids come to visit, and we know ahead of time that they are coming.

My theory: If you must, as a safety rule, treat every gun as if it is loaded, it might as well be loaded. An unloaded gun is no better than a rock, if a bad guy comes to call, especially if he has a loaded gun!

[legend]

As a second safety check, I always dry fire into something safe, most often the ground, in this case the mattress.

I'm curious, why would you dry fire your Sig? Why not just decock the hammer safely? I NEVER pull the trigger on my Sig unless I'm prepared to fire, or I'm testing the trigger/action (And I never have a magazine in it, verify it is unloaded a few times, and STILL always point in safe place).

Even when I'm putting my Sig in the safe and I don't have a round in the chamber, I'll use the decocker, as a matter of habbit really...

[Will938]

Maybe it has already been asked and answered, but could someone explain to me why you would even dry fire a firearm like a sig 229? I know people will say that you do it to be completely sure it isn't loaded, but...why even take that risk? Just assume it's loaded and leave it be. You've already done several checks to ensure it isn't loaded, and if you somehow did miss a chambered round then it wouldn't matter anyway as you'll assume it's loaded anyway and check it again when you pick it back up.

If you're worried about someone accessing it who isn't careful with firearms then even if you did dryfire you will have failed. I only pull the trigger on my p228 if I plan on shooting at something, otherwise decock and leave it be.

[Liberty]

Maybe it has already been asked and answered, but could someone explain to me why you would even dry fire a firearm like a sig 229? I know people will say that you do it to be completely sure it isn't loaded, but...why even take that risk? Just assume it's loaded and leave it be. You've already done several checks to ensure it isn't loaded, and if you somehow did miss a chambered round then it wouldn't matter anyway as you'll assume it's loaded anyway and check it again when you pick it back up.

If you're worried about someone accessing it who isn't careful with firearms then even if you did dryfire you will have failed. I only pull the trigger on my p228 if I plan on shooting at something, otherwise decock and leave it be.

I am not the original poster and don't include dry firing as part of my gun clearing drills. I used to though. Uncle same used to provide barrels filled with sand to clear our weapons with. We were expected to dryfire our weapons when we entered something like a mess hall. Military training is a hard thing to break.