Remember to chamber check...

[Ianator]

Today I suited up my G19 as usual and did a quick chamber check. Whoop! Empty. That means... *thinks* that I carried unchambered all day yesterday.
The issue was not carrying un-chambered. It was thinking that it was chambered when it really wasn't. I stood there white faced (almost literally) thinking about the ominous "click" I would have heard if I had been in a defensive situation. I will now double check EVERY DAY.

Just a reminder to us that chamber.... Check Check Check and re Check.



PS. PLEASE do not use this thread to argue for chamber or unchamber carry. I realize there are differing opinions but I am not addressing that here. Thank you.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Oufan08]

Thanks for the reminder, I chamber check every morning.

[RevolvingMag]

I'm sorry to hear that, but very glad you didn't actually hear that click when you needed bang. (Most importantly that you didn't need 'bang')
----------
I just double check my mag- I have a loaded chamber indicator. It's red, and sticks out enough that I don't even have to look- just run my index finger over it as I grip the gun, turn it over, drop the mag (if I feel somehow that the weight is 'off'), re-insert, holster.

[rammerjammer]

just leave it loaded and secured

[gasmitty]

My early adult experiences with guns were hunting. One friend almost always forgot to work his pump gun's action after firing a shot and knocking a bird down. Next bird flushed, only one shot fired - mine! Vic would be there with a red face and a spent round in the chamber. That was my indoctrination into always making sure the gun is loaded!

[Spidey2011]

My Sigma has a small hole in the top of the slide so that I can actually see the casing without having to pull the slide back. I find it to be a very useful feature, and it has prevented me from doing this exact thing several times.

[rably]

My Sigma has a small hole in the top of the slide so that I can actually see the casing without having to pull the slide back. I find it to be a very useful feature, and it has prevented me from doing this exact thing several times.

So does my M&P, but I can't tell if it's a real round or a snap cap (my snap caps have a brass base and "primer"), so I've just gotten in the habit of dropping the mag to verify it's full, partially racking the slide until I can see what's in there, then re-inserting the mag.

[lordhamster]

just leave it loaded and secured

This is what I do. If I've been cleaning or dry firing or anything, I make it a point to have a very deliberate break in activity when I'm done. Then I slowly and deliberately re-load the mag and re-chamber. My pistols go into the safe loaded (but holstered). That way when I need them for carry, they are ready to go.

[oakchas]

My carry weapons are always loaded except during cleaning. I only carry one at a time, but both are always loaded, with a round chambered. I do rotate mags on a regular basis, but they are topped off before inserting in the weapon.

When I remove my gun for the night, it is loaded and close by.

I can certainly understand the blood draining from your face... but if it had happened to me, I would suspect some sort of tampering... And would have been much more concerned than that.

[RoadRunner71]

just leave it loaded and secured

Personally, I am paranoid. What if the gremlins got to it overnight and unloaded it? A chamber check only takes a second and even if I "know" it is loaded, it is time well spent. Plus it is habit forming. Every time you pick up a gun, check the chamber/action.

Mistakes only happen when we "know" it is loaded (or unloaded), but isn't. To me it is well worth the minimal extra effort.

[apvbguy]

if you keep your weapon loaded you won't have that kind of an issue, why would you unload your weapon other than for cleaning?

[claude clay]

FWIW

keep a new and freshly sharpened pencil on your dressing table.

without even picking up the gun, insert the eraser end into the barrel up to your finger tips.
take it out and hold it against the slide with your fingers up near the front sight.
if you carry a 32 or 22, get a really skinny pencil...

it becomes visually very obvious if there is or is not a round in the chamber.

-------------

when my daughter was 7 i introduced her to guns.
rephrase that--she had been absorbing information regarding guns since she was 5
but i now wanted to be 'formal' about it.

part of that was placing on a table only a gun and a pencil
and asking her to tell me if the gun was loaded without handling it.

took her a few moments till she picked up the pencil and did as i described.
of course it was unloaded.

[Guest1]

Yep,that first shot is the most important,glad you didn't need it,stay safe! P.S. Unloaded Guns Kill!!!!!

[johnpfaff]

Frequent unloading may cause problems. I don't know about the rest of you, but when I extract a round from my 1911 it nicks the rim of the case. After a couple of extractions of the same round, it goes into the practice box. With enough extractions a round is liable to fail to seat or the extractor may hit a repeatedly nicked area and cause a possible failure to extract. Possibly overly cautious here, but my life depends on 100% function. What say the rest of you? I say leave it loaded so you can use it or secure it so it is safe, but leave a round in the chamber.

[CowboyColby]

Face Palm. I see some moron not completely following directions the way Clay layed out and its the demise of the pencil.

Not that I feel you should put anything down the chamber of a firearm unless its a cleaning rod with a patch on the end of it or some oil, but thats just me.