Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Learned an important lesson last weekend

I don't own one but the center fire LCRs do have a sweet trigger pull out of the box! The rimfire LCR trigger pull is stiffer.

LCR is a fine little pistola. I'm in between LCR's myself just now, but will remedy that shortly.

Hope you don't learn the hard way that an empty chamber is a bad idea on a personal defense weapon.

Well said RJM. If you ever need a concealed carry gun, odds are you will need it very badly. E

Big Brother essentially says the same thing. He's the one who put a hole in the floorboards of his car when his thumb slipped while decocking his .45. He has been carrying a LOT of years and has yet to draw his weapon.

If I am going somewhere I think my gun may be needed I go ahead and chamber a round. Such times are rare as I avoid such places. The one time I needed my gun I didn't have it at all. Thankfully my open knife was enough. The few times I thought the situation might develop to the point a gun might be needed were slow developing with plenty of time to draw, cycle the slide and observe. Never had to do so.

That said, I am considering changing to a loaded chamber with the hammer down on my double-action pistols. In part because I am also considering adding a small revolver to my options and I prefer a single manual of arms - in this case, point and shoot. My .45 would obviously be odd man out.

This is how you cure all the semi-auto blues.

Carrying on a empty chamber is about the stupidest fuggin thing I've ever heard.

Thumb cocking a 1911 is a very awkward manipulation. Un-thumb cocking a 1911 is even worse. If that is what Big Brother was doing...

Then you haven't heard much.

Since yo seem to know when you may need or not need your weapon then you will be fine. I'd like a crystal ball like yours.

It isn�t that tough � common sense more than anything, imperfect as it may be.

Not likely to need my gun when at home so I don�t carry there at all. That said, several years ago a neighbor woman from a mile down the road was knocked unconscious by an intruder in her barn. Her place was somewhat secluded, ours is out in the open. 27 years at the place and I spend more time there than anywhere else.

Downtown Denver at night? Loaded chamber if I�m out of the car. Thugs were playing the �knockout� game there a while back. Relatively high crime area in general.

Driving to or from work? In 40 years there is only one instance where a loaded gun would have been useful and I didn�t have a gun at all. Crazy ex-marine with PTSD was having a bad day and followed me to work where he accosted me when I got out of the car. This was the slow developing incident I mentioned earlier. A knife held by the side of my leg and opened with my thumb was enough once he saw it.

At the movies, a restaurant, big box store, etc? In spite of the Aurora theater shooting, my gun is generally empty chamber.

I live in the country, don�t go to bars, avoid crowds, avoid the city when possible, if possible avoid any place I think might be problematic and am generally home before dark. The chances of me needing a gun are slim at best. In the very few instances when I thought I might need one (but never did) there was more than ample time to rack a slide. In only one was there any potential or immediate danger to myself.

The instance described above involved several miles of driving and a total time span of probably 10 minutes. Plenty of time to call the cops on the cell, let alone rack a slide. Prior to that incident I rarely carried at all. Now I rarely leave the house without a gun and often have two � one on my person and one in the console of my vehicle.

Most police never need their weapon but when you do, likely not going to be enough time to duck around trying to load it.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

No I am not, I am saying that most people including police never need a firearm, but when you do will most likely will need it quickly and not waste time dicking around trying to get a round in the chamber.
That is the point, that if you carry a weapon for self defense then why are you carring it not ready to go. If fell comfortable without a round ready to go then why are you even carring.

Police are an offensive tool that goes looking for trouble. As a police officer I'd want a round up the tube as well.

However, a civilian is a defensive tool that should not be looking for trouble and if the tool practices situational awareness should have time to rack a slide to load a round up the tube.

With that being said, if I'm carrying I'm carrying one of my 1911's and there will be a round up the tube with the safety on.

Let someone grab you out of the blue and see if you can chamber a round. I thought that was clearly inferred above, but apparently not. Only an idiot goes looking for trouble, but it can happen extremely quickly.

Let someone come at you from close range with a knife while your dicking around trying to chamber a round.

If you carry the it should be ready to rock and roll.

First, I�m not a LEO and don�t� spend any more time in their environments than necessary. If I was a cop I�d carry with a round in the tube. As it is I carry that way only on relatively rare occasion but particularly when in crowds or high crime areas, both of which I avoid.

The suggestion that someone who carries empty chamber would be just as well off without a firearm is without intellectual merit as it is clearly false.

Not clearl false and in many situation likely to do the carrier no good. I am glad that you are comfortable with your crystal ball.

CH, I don't mean to be (or sound) contentious�..your carrying habits are no one else's business. Having said that, a quick look at what you wrote notes that you've bolstered your opinions on errant probabilities and irrelevant statistics and combined a lot of vague immeasurability's. You can attempt to determine the "probability" of needing a weapon based on your location, time of day, etc. however in today's world of martial exchanges the concept of "randomness" makes most other forms of logic and all forms of probability moot. In reality the "chances" of you needing a gun are either 0% or 100%, there's no such thing as "almost" needing a gun-----so far in my life (and yours, I think) it's been 0%. The victims of the Aurora Theater shooting had, up to that point never needed a gun---then they did. Where you are is not the issue---almost all home invasions, happen�����AT HOME----and usually in "nice" neighborhoods, it's never happened to the victim before. Then it does. The two hostages killed in Australia the other day, had never been taken hostage in that restaurant before and neither had ever been killed before--it was the first time!!! Randomness renders probability irrelevant, my friend. I have a buddy who has a brother that had a great job in a great part of a great town. After work, he was waiting at a bus stop when a young punk came up behind him and slit his throat as part of a gang initiation---there was no obvious gang activity in that area----what are the chances, huh???? They were 100% for him.

Again, no contention intended-----JMO, of course, I could be wrong.
Greg