jmac
Senior Member
The slug showed up, found it in my trailer cops came and got it. Looked like 38.
I carry a 1911A1 45ACP. I carry hammer down with a round in the chamber.
The tough ownership laws you guys have to deal with up there sucks. I am not advocating any "Rambo" type situation but just cautious protection. My two guys, as well as myself, carry every day.
I would rather have it and not need it (ever) than need it and not have it.
Fortunately there is a great choice of newly designed concealed carry weapons that can be safely carried cocked with a round in the chamber. All brands and models have a dual safety that is natural and very easy to use with a little practice. And if we are not practiced it would be foolish and possibly deadly to carry and attempt to use.
Not trying to be disagreeable & understand modern pistols have came a long way but it still spooks the hell out of me of people carrying with a round in and hammer back even with safety's .
Part of my fear comes from a mechanics viewpoint ...... A gun is a machine . sooner or later something mechanical could or will fail , then there is
also operator error & so forth . OOP's ...... Sorry about that aint going to cut it .
Just don't like the idea of carrying one hot all the time .In my opinion the chances of accidental discharge are far greater then the slim chance rising that you would need the gun loaded like that for a situation that hopefully will never happen .
I don't bother carrying a fire arm on my person as it would get in the way most of the time . I do carry a nice leatherman super tool 300 on the belt ..... Can pull it pretty fast if needed .
If I was going to carry a pistol it would be a single action revolver . But that's just me
Most of your gun discharge accidents with carry pistols are the models that have no exposed hammer or are hammerless plus have no safety. The accidents occur when someone draws/presents their pistol and the stick their finger in the trigger guard will pulling it out.
I've heard that a .45 1911 can go off if dropped with the hammer down with a round in the chamber. Got told that over and over in the army. I'm willing to be it dates back to the day of the revolver as the military sidearm. Got told it was illegal to shoot a .50 at troops and people in parachutes too only to read in the tank gunnery manual the lead factor for the .50 for paratroopers. I have never heard of it actually happening. Carrying a auto loading pistol with an empty chamber you may as well not have it. Most people who do have to defend themselves are in a situation where the time, while the fear factor is high and adrenalin is pumping like mad, needing to chamber a round is going to be the difference between successfully defending themselves and failing. In other words in the time they are trying to chamber a round they are dying.
Revolvers, being somewhat bulky for what I consider a decent chambering, are harder to conceal. That is why few people carry one for self defense. Plus should they be in a prolonged gun fight reload times are too long. The NYPD were about the last holdout on revolvers. Had to do with the cost of switching over. As the gang violence escalated they had more officers dying. When they did a study they found that while the officers were using their handy dandy speed loaders the bad guys with high cap 9MM.s were running up and shooting the officers at close range. Using a speed loader where time is very important requires constant practice and a lot of it.
Now you can claim all you want that reloading isn't necessary and think you can make one shot stops. Do it when the target is shooting back. That gives marksmanship a whole new meaning. Think I'm wrong? Check out cop shootings. While under extreme stress cops, who are trained, generally shoot a lot of rounds to put one bad guy down.
Rick