Great video with a lot of great safety tips as well.

Without watching the video, I'll just say the vast majority of defensive shooting videos I've seen over the years did not allow time to chamber a round, and a lot already had some physical contact that would prevent use of both hands to chamber.

I've carried consistently for 10 years and never had my gun fire on its own.

There's no way it's safer than I think... because I think it's completely safe.


And that's a 21 minute video. I'm not gonna watch that to confirm my thoughts, and I doubt someone that disagrees is going to watch it to change their mind. He needs to summarize much quicker.

MyNameIsJeff said:

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Without watching the video, I'll just say the vast majority of defensive shooting videos I've seen over the years did not allow time to chamber a round, and a lot already had some physical contact that would prevent use of both hands to chamber.

I've carried consistently for 10 years and never had my gun fire on its own.

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15+ years of carrying with a full pipe here without incident.

One in the pipe.

It's a tough transition for many. When I was gowing up and learning about gun safety it was always have the safety on a firearm when not shooting and depending on the situation don't chamber a round until needed. Of course this was in a hunting situation not self defense. I get it, it's different. Many handguns don't have a physical safety so it was hard for me at first when carrying for self defense to have one in the chamber.

In other news, carrying a sharp folding knife in your pocket is actually safer than you think. You don't need to carry it dull then quickly sharpen right before you need it!

I carry a P938 SAS chambered. I still "think" about it from time to time. I don't know why but when I carried my Glock, I never thought twice about the safety system on it but with the one I carry now I do. I think it's because it has a safety I have to engage and disengage. For some reason I think about it "going off" even thought it's holstered and completely covered by leather with zero chance of that happening. It's the most illogical thing in the world but it crosses my mind. It's a weird mental thing.

I know a lot of you will disagree my approach, but I mainly carry without one in the chamber.

Primary reason is young children. I have two boys that know all about gun safety, as well not to touch my guns unless I say they can. But life (especially parenthood) can get crazy at times. Lots of friends over, constantly on the go, etc.

As much as I trust myself, my firearms, their storage, and my immediate family, I don't trust many other variables that come in and out of our lives on a daily basis.

That said … if I'm going anywhere that has even a remote chance of something bad happening, I'll chamber a round. Whether that's going into Houston or simply watching a movie with the family in La Centerra.

I personally feel like the chances of something going wrong exponentially go up with one in the chamber 24/7. But if I just so happen to be one of very few that ever need to draw their weapon, I'm happy with the fact that I at least have a gun on me and still have a chance to fight back. Round chambered, or not.

Watchful Ag said:

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I don't trust many other variables that come in and out of our lives on a daily basis.

That said … if I'm going anywhere that has even a remote chance of something bad happening, I'll chamber a round. Whether that's going into Houston or simply watching a movie with the family in La Centerra.

I personally feel like the chances of something going wrong exponentially go up with one in the chamber 24/7.

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I think I've addressed this before, maybe in response to you or someone else. First off, you do what you think is best. But I do have something for you to consider given your thought process here. I also have young kids and understand the worry that comes with both them and their friends being in and out of the house.

I would argue that you are introducing more variables into your life. If I'm carrying a gun, it's loaded and chambered. It's ready to use if I need it, but almost more importantly, I know to treat it with all the care and respect that a loaded gun requires any time it is handled for any reason. If I take it off, I know that I have to secure and clear that loaded gun.

Conversely, the potential for "I didn't think it was loaded" type accidents increases pretty dramatically if you're sometimes carrying it around with a loaded chamber, sometimes not. Let's say you are somewhere with a "remote chance of something bad happening" (and we will pretend that's not everywhere, which it is), and you chamber a round. You plan to unchamber and revert back to your usual method of carrying as soon as you're done, but get a frantic work call, then have to pick up the kids, then have to run errands, etc. You go home, unholster, take the magazine out and think you have an unloaded gun since 95% of the time that's how you carry it. Except on this hectic day, you did it differently. And now there's an assumption of a safe gun...that isn't.

Guns are dangerous. Kids are more than capable of chambering a round in a pistol. IMO, unchambered creates an illusion of a safer option, when it makes it both more likely to have a gun in a loaded condition when you think it is not, and undesirable complacency about a gun that "feels" safer around kids than it actually is.

Just my take on it.

I tend to agree. I feel like teaching kids that you have the weapons, where they are, and that they are always loaded is the best safety feature of all. That's it. That's their status. Always. When they are around them regularly and shoot regularly, they aren't mysterious or taboo and when that's the case, kids tend to have nearly no interest in them when they shouldn't be.

I'm guessing OP is a bot. He starts multiple threads every day.

Watchful Ag said:

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I know a lot of you will disagree my approach, but I mainly carry without one in the chamber.

Primary reason is young children. I have two boys that know all about gun safety, as well not to touch my guns unless I say they can. But life (especially parenthood) can get crazy at times. Lots of friends over, constantly on the go, etc.

As much as I trust myself, my firearms, their storage, and my immediate family, I don't trust many other variables that come in and out of our lives on a daily basis.

That said … if I'm going anywhere that has even a remote chance of something bad happening, I'll chamber a round. Whether that's going into Houston or simply watching a movie with the family in La Centerra.

I personally feel like the chances of something going wrong exponentially go up with one in the chamber 24/7. But if I just so happen to be one of very few that ever need to draw their weapon, I'm happy with the fact that I at least have a gun on me and still have a chance to fight back. Round chambered, or not.

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My children will always treat every weapon as if it's loaded.

I am in the always loaded with 1 in the chamber in every defensive pistol in our house. My rule is it's either on me in a holster or placed in a handgun safe in a holster still condition 1 ready to rock. So either way there is no access for anyone but my wife and I.

always loaded. if someone is going to shoot my d*** off, it's going to be me.

RK said:

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if someone is going to shoot my d*** off, it's going to be me.

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Watchful Ag said:

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I know a lot of you will disagree my approach, but I mainly carry without one in the chamber.

Primary reason is young children. I have two boys that know all about gun safety, as well not to touch my guns unless I say they can. But life (especially parenthood) can get crazy at times. Lots of friends over, constantly on the go, etc.

As much as I trust myself, my firearms, their storage, and my immediate family, I don't trust many other variables that come in and out of our lives on a daily basis.

That said … if I'm going anywhere that has even a remote chance of something bad happening, I'll chamber a round. Whether that's going into Houston or simply watching a movie with the family in La Centerra.

I personally feel like the chances of something going wrong exponentially go up with one in the chamber 24/7. But if I just so happen to be one of very few that ever need to draw their weapon, I'm happy with the fact that I at least have a gun on me and still have a chance to fight back. Round chambered, or not.

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Another consideration to think about for that approach is bullet setback. If you keep chambering the same round, then the bullet may be forced into the case enough over time that it could become a hazard. An absolute tiny chance of it getting to a point of danger of course but just peek at the bullet depth as you do it. I was testing a new extractor and used a Sig hollow point. Chambered it about 15 times and on the last one I noticed how much the bullet had sat back. Enough that I felt it was unsafe and tossed it.

If you already know this, disregard of course.

Yay another thread.

When it's you're junk in my jockey shorts, then you can decide. Until then, I'm calling the shots.

I think when a thread goes from an educational video to discussion of a dude putting his junk in another man's pants......

If you are really that concerned, buy a P7, or a single-action revolver.

The P7 was designed to prevent a small child from operating it.

The single-action would also be difficult for a small child to operate.

Frankly, so would most double-action revolvers.