gregintenn
Member
If you aren't comfortable carrying with a round in the chamber, you have the wrong gun.
So am I the only one?
- Thread starter Charlton Heston
- Start date
Carry one you're comfortable with.
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OP
Charlton Heston
Member
i think the difference would be a chambered striker round and a chambered double/single action revolver
MarkAlt
Member
Fight or flight. If we select the former, with lethal force, most recounts of gunfights include reactions of instinct and tunnel vision.
Training can be converted into instinctive reactions. If you aren't comfortable with your firearm in a safe environment then things could go very wrong under intense pressure.
I only carry revolvers because I've been training with them for double-digit years and continue to train.
Wish you well in all your choices!
sheep.dog
Member
I, personally, would never carry a pistol without a round ready to go. I want my self defense weapon to be deadly effective the moment after it leaves the holster. I've made the switch to revolvers now but i have always carried striker and hammer fired semis with one in the chamber.
Only time I carried with no round in the chamber was in the Navy.
That was there rules.......
That was there rules.......
It's refreshing that this has not descended into emotional outbursts, name-calling, and personal denigration.
The folks on this forum, thanks to Lee and his mods, are unfailingly polite and reasonable.
Tim
The folks on this forum, thanks to Lee and his mods, are unfailingly polite and reasonable.
Tim
Quality striker-fired pistols are no more or less "safe" than any other firearm. The primary source of any problem is the operator, so take that to heart and decide what's best for you. No one is going to give you grief for switching to a revolver if it gives you more peace of mind and confidence.
OP
Charlton Heston
Member
and it refreshingly opens ones eyes
shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
That is a real difference, true. I carry a DAO revolver now, but carried a Glock for a while, and had a Smith 4011 and 469. I went back to revolvers less for safety in carry than for my own view (outmoded, I'm sure) that they are more reliable.
But I don't worry about reholstering.
Doug M.
Member
That story about the deputy whose kid reached into his pocket stinks to high heaven. At best, the lackwit was pocket carrying without having the pistol in a holster. Shameful. He also had no situational awareness. At least as shameful.
OP: If you are not comfortable carrying a pistol for serious purposes ready to use, you are not ready to carry a pistol for serious purposes. The fact that entities in Israel have trained to work with firearms that are carried without a chambered round does not make it anything other than clownshoes. Barring the most unusual design/manufacturing errors, firearms of reasonable quality simply do not "just go off". Something pressed the trigger. Period. There are TONS of people who carry pistols like yours without any problem; M&Ps in various calibers, Glocks, etc. If there is a problem, it is the shooter. I have been carrying one model or another of a Glock for most of the last 25 years, darned near all the time. The only issue I have ever had was on a range, trying a technique that allowed me to put my finger on the trigger where it did not belong. The error was MINE. The pistol was not the problem - I was. That was in the fall of 1989, and that technique was discarded right then.
A good friend is an armorer and instructor for the Washington State Patrol, which issues M&P 40s like yours. They have had a couple NDs, at least one of which had serious consequences. (Idiot probably should have been prosecuted, and certainly fired, but that's another issue.) A command officer who maybe knows just enough to be dangerous thought it was a gun problem and it took a lot of effort to keep him from mandating increased trigger pull weights. Know and follow the 4 firearm safety rules, and it is virtually impossible to have an ND, or to otherwise cause unintended harm.
You need to do some significant research, and preferably obtain real training. Reading between the lines leads me to be concerned that you are simply not educated enough about firearms to take care of your own best interests. What training have you gotten about use of force, tactics, threat recognition and the like?
OP: If you are not comfortable carrying a pistol for serious purposes ready to use, you are not ready to carry a pistol for serious purposes. The fact that entities in Israel have trained to work with firearms that are carried without a chambered round does not make it anything other than clownshoes. Barring the most unusual design/manufacturing errors, firearms of reasonable quality simply do not "just go off". Something pressed the trigger. Period. There are TONS of people who carry pistols like yours without any problem; M&Ps in various calibers, Glocks, etc. If there is a problem, it is the shooter. I have been carrying one model or another of a Glock for most of the last 25 years, darned near all the time. The only issue I have ever had was on a range, trying a technique that allowed me to put my finger on the trigger where it did not belong. The error was MINE. The pistol was not the problem - I was. That was in the fall of 1989, and that technique was discarded right then.
A good friend is an armorer and instructor for the Washington State Patrol, which issues M&P 40s like yours. They have had a couple NDs, at least one of which had serious consequences. (Idiot probably should have been prosecuted, and certainly fired, but that's another issue.) A command officer who maybe knows just enough to be dangerous thought it was a gun problem and it took a lot of effort to keep him from mandating increased trigger pull weights. Know and follow the 4 firearm safety rules, and it is virtually impossible to have an ND, or to otherwise cause unintended harm.
You need to do some significant research, and preferably obtain real training. Reading between the lines leads me to be concerned that you are simply not educated enough about firearms to take care of your own best interests. What training have you gotten about use of force, tactics, threat recognition and the like?
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Highhawk1948
Member
trade it for a revolver.
Agreed, and I'll add a kudos to Charlton Heston: he's new to firearms and the forum, shared a legitimate concern, asked the relevant questions, and is making adjustments based on his desire to carry in the manner he sees fit.
Good on you, CH.
G.T. Smith
US Veteran
I think for me it all depends upon where I'm carrying. I cdarry a 37 most of the time and it always has 5 rounds in it. My Colt government gets carried a little and although I am confident that the series 80 firing system is safe being carried cocked and locked, I don't do it all the time. Practice the draw and rack a few times. Not that hard. I've heard it said that an empty gun is a hammer.
Peace,
gordon
Peace,
gordon
Rastoff
US Veteran
This question comes up from time to time. It's a perfectly understandable response considering the fact that a gun was designed to inflict serious injury.
No, it doesn't "freak me out" and hasn't for at least 7 years now. I believe my calm with this is due largely to my intimate understanding of how the gun works.
For the M&P, as long as the striker block is functioning, the gun won't fire unless the trigger is held back. It can't be dropped, hammered or kicked to make it go off. Still, this is my own understanding and others may still be concerned.
So, I have a suggestion to help. Carry your M&P with an empty chamber. At the end of every day, check to see that the sear is still cocked. After some time, this will give you confidence that the sear will not release inadvertently. After a week or so you'll gain enough confidence to carry with one in the chamber. It will still feel weird, but that will fade over time.
No, it doesn't "freak me out" and hasn't for at least 7 years now. I believe my calm with this is due largely to my intimate understanding of how the gun works.
For the M&P, as long as the striker block is functioning, the gun won't fire unless the trigger is held back. It can't be dropped, hammered or kicked to make it go off. Still, this is my own understanding and others may still be concerned.
So, I have a suggestion to help. Carry your M&P with an empty chamber. At the end of every day, check to see that the sear is still cocked. After some time, this will give you confidence that the sear will not release inadvertently. After a week or so you'll gain enough confidence to carry with one in the chamber. It will still feel weird, but that will fade over time.
Then why carry at all?
I've told this story before but when I first started carrying someone tried to mug me. I was new to carrying and I carried with an empty chamber for "safety".
Long story short, the guy jumped me and I drew and in my panic completely forgot that there wasn't a round in the chamber.
I got lucky in that the sight of the gun was enough to send the guy running but I want to be clear that if he hadn't broke off the attack he would have got to me while I was still trying to pull the trigger on an unloaded gun.
I've been carrying third gen S&Ws hammer down on a loaded chamber ever since (15+ years) and recently added a no safety Shield to the stable. I always carry with a loaded chamber and have yet to have a gun "just go off" without me pulling the trigger.
That said, Your circus, your monkeys
The only way I carry is with one in the chamber, I am too old to think I could draw, rack and present before a threat could do me in.
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