Carrying with a Round IN the Chamber

Do you carry with a round chambered or not?
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This topic has come up a lot lately in my dm’s and I’d like to address it here. The short answer is that you should absolutely be carrying with one in the chamber, and if you aren’t then you should be working towards becoming comfortable with it.
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Why should I carry chambered?
-Most self defense encounters hardly allow you the time to draw from concealment, let alone rack the slide back
-Chambering a round under stress increases your chances of causing a malfunction
-Chambering a round makes a distinctive sound that most any person can identify. If you are hiding, or trying to shoot your attacker when they’re distracted you will almost certainly be warning them when you chamber the round
-Carrying chambered allows you to have one more round in addition to the full magazine
-If you are entangled with your attacker they will likely be able to take your gun before you can chamber a round
-If you are using a hand to hold a child it will be very difficult to chamber a round unless you have trained that skill extensively, because of this I would argue that it is even more crucial that you carry a round chambered as a parent or guardian
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The very first time I left my home with my self defense tool I carried without a round chambered because I was nervous. By the end of the day I felt like I had been carrying a paper weight in my pants all day because I realized all of the above things were true and I never carried with an empty chamber again.
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Do you carry with a round chambered or not?
.
This topic has come up a lot lately in my dm’s and I’d like to address it here. The short answer is that you should absolutely be carrying with one in the chamber, and if you aren’t then you should be working towards becoming comfortable with it.
.
Why should I carry chambered?
-Most self defense encounters hardly allow you the time to draw from concealment, let alone rack the slide back
-Chambering a round under stress increases your chances of causing a malfunction
-Chambering a round makes a distinctive sound that most any person can identify. If you are hiding, or trying to shoot your attacker when they’re distracted you will almost certainly be warning them when you chamber the round
-Carrying chambered allows you to have one more round in addition to the full magazine
-If you are entangled with your attacker they will likely be able to take your gun before you can chamber a round
-If you are using a hand to hold a child it will be very difficult to chamber a round unless you have trained that skill extensively, because of this I would argue that it is even more crucial that you carry a round chambered as a parent or guardian
.
The very first time I left my home with my self defense tool I carried without a round chambered because I was nervous. By the end of the day I felt like I had been carrying a paper weight in my pants all day because I realized all of the above things were true and I never carried with an empty chamber again.
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As a newbie it made me very nervous to have one chambered. By the time I got home I had thought through many self defense scenarios and realized that without a round in the chamber I may as well have been carrying a heavy paper weight in my pants. Rarely will a self defense encounter allow you the time to rack the slide.
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I totally understand being nervous at first, but it is important to start working towards getting comfortable carrying that way. Carrying with nothing in the chamber should not be a permanent solution. So here’s some tips that worked for me:
-Carrying in a kydex holster gave me peace of mind knowing that I couldn’t possibility pull the trigger while holstered
-Knowing how to take your gun apart all by yourself, and understanding how it’s mechanics work, this will get you past the “but what if it just goes off” thing
-Carry around your home chambered at first
-Practice chambering a round at the range
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Once I understood the mechanics of my gun, and I knew that it couldn’t “just go off”, that I would have to physically remove it from the holster and pull the trigger, I had no problem carrying chambered.
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But doesn’t carrying with a round chambered incur residual risk??
Yes, but there is risk in almost every aspect of your life. I carry chambered because it allows me mitigate my residual risk through safe gun handling and products like the Striker Control Device from @taudevgroup. When you carry without a round chambered, you assume that you will only encounter threats that give you lots of time to manipulate your gun. Because I can’t control my circumstances entirely, I see that as a greater risk.