# How do you carry?



## mtn.shooter (Apr 5, 2010)

I have had many a "discussion" amongst friends who carry both open and concealed. Most carry "cocked and locked". I have a Ruger P95 which makes it a Da/Sa gun. I would prefer to keep 10 in the mag and rack the first one in when need be. My reason is that I can always have one single action trigger pull and the the sound of a auto pistol racking is generally enough to end a discussion. Perhaps I have purcahsed the wrong pistol, but the DA and 9 more SA is difficult for me.


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## recoilguy (Apr 30, 2009)

I have never understood the sound of the racking will end the discussion theroy. To me it would mean....hey my gun isn't even loaded. I just think a gun is not meant to make any scary noise except for BANG......but thats just me. One in the tube always carry never tell.......

RCG


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## gunluver (Jul 23, 2009)

I ALWAYS carry with one in the chamber. Yes, i know that it only takes a second to rack the slide, but that one second may mean a lot if a drug crazed lunatic is rushing you. Besides, half the time, I'm carrying a revolver and that's ALWAYS ready to go!


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## fudo (Nov 11, 2009)

Condition 1 all the way.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

It doesn't matter how anyone else carries, it is what you train with and your comfort level that means any thing. I don't train myself to carry empty chamber so it would not be comfortable for me to carry that way. Find what works best for you stick with it practice, practice, practice some more.


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## MorganOverlook (May 4, 2010)

recoilguy said:


> I have never understood the sound of the racking will end the discussion theroy. To me it would mean....hey my gun isn't even loaded. I just think a gun is not meant to make any scary noise except for BANG......but thats just me. One in the tube always carry never tell.......
> 
> RCG


It goes along with the scenario that you are asleep at night and hear a noise somewhere in your house. You reach for the pump action shotgun next to your bed and chamber a round. The distinctive sound of the action on a pump shotgun pursuades your burglar to leave without a confrontation. In that light, the theory has some merit.

Carrying a handgun, the situation is different and depends on the situation. At home, I'll have the magazine in the gun but nothing in the chamber. There's nobody in the house but me, but I can't see a situation developing so quickly that I don't have time to chamber a round and I see too many reports of gunowners developing "amnesia" and managing to shoot themselves after they remove the magazine and think that the gun is unloaded. I always rack the slide after the magazine is out, but apparently some people don't and learn the hard way.

I'm still waiting on the postman to bring my permit, so carrying in public is a moot point for me right now. The big disadvantage to carrying with one chambered is that if the bad guy jumps you by surprise and gets your gun away from you, all he has to do is pull the trigger to shoot you with your own gun. If there's no round chambered and he's not familiar with your particular model, you've got some time while he tries to figure out if there's a safety on or why it won't fire. That's time that you can use to either get away or take the gun back from him.

Just some thoughts. When I get the permit, I'll probably carry with a round chambered sometimes, and sometimes I won't. It just depends on the situation.


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

I think carrying w/o 1 in the chamber is a mistake - at least in public. Many likely self defense situations will have you lucky to even have time to pull your gun... Let alone work it with 2 hands and THEN bring it on target...

Someone robs you in a dept store parking lot. How are you going to have time to do all that? I don't think so.

A lot of newbies to carry do this. I suppose its okay to get comfortable with the gun in this way. I just hope you never need it until at least you are comfortable enough to start carrying with 1 in the chamber


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## MorganOverlook (May 4, 2010)

You're right. Like I said, it depends on the situation. Some people who are new to carrying worry that the gun might go off accidentally. I'm not familiar with every pistol out there, but I know that my Sig won't. Nothing happens if you don't pull the trigger.


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## js (Jun 29, 2006)

one in the chamber for me... The H&K P30, which is what I carry, has a firing pin block... so no worries about the firing pin hitting the primer unless I pull the trigger. So the first trigger pull will be double action... after that single.


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## MorganOverlook (May 4, 2010)

js said:


> one in the chamber for me... The H&K P30, which is what I carry, has a firing pin block... so no worries about the firing pin hitting the primer unless I pull the trigger. So the first trigger pull will be double action... after that single.


My Sig works the same way and the double action trigger pull is right at ten pounds. Single action is about a third of that.


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## jessemachone (Jan 8, 2010)

Concealed with one in the pipe.


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Yes, I carry either a Beretta 92FS or a HK P2000. Bother are DA/SA - which is how I prefer to carry. The heavier DA 1st shot helps prevent some sort of accidental discharge - The gun WON'T go off w/o the trigger being pulled - but it's added safety to prevent being startled and doing something stupid.

I usually have 1 in the chamber and then top off the mag with 1 more round.


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## cougartex (Jan 2, 2010)

One in the chamber. :smt023


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## hogger129 (May 4, 2010)

mtn.shooter said:


> I have had many a "discussion" amongst friends who carry both open and concealed. Most carry "cocked and locked". I have a Ruger P95 which makes it a Da/Sa gun. I would prefer to keep 10 in the mag and rack the first one in when need be. My reason is that I can always have one single action trigger pull and the the sound of a auto pistol racking is generally enough to end a discussion. Perhaps I have purcahsed the wrong pistol, but the DA and 9 more SA is difficult for me.


Condition One with a 1911.


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## BeefyBeefo (Jan 30, 2008)

cougartex said:


> One in the chamber. :smt023


Yea....how it's supposed to be...


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## crazy charlie (May 3, 2010)

I tend to agree with Shipwreck. My usual carry is a S&W Sigma .40, concealed, Fobus paddelback, with one in the tube. It's what I've grown comfortable with.


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

MorganOverlook said:


> It goes along with the scenario that you are asleep at night and hear a noise somewhere in your house. You reach for the pump action shotgun next to your bed and chamber a round. The distinctive sound of the action on a pump shotgun pursuades your burglar to leave without a confrontation. In that light, the theory has some merit..


On the flip side you've just announced that you are armed, your general location, and to a truly determined criminal, you've just thrown down a challenge. My personal opinion is that if someone if in my house illegaly in the middle of the night, I would much rather have their guard potentially down a bit by staying silent than raising it by making "gun" noises. Less sound means I maintain the element of surprise as to my location and defensive capabilities and the first sound the SOB hears from me is not a round being chambered, but BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

My carry gun has one in the chamber and the mag topped off. Sig P229 or Kel Tec P3AT, both have no safeties, but long enough DA first pulls to make me feel confident that they will not be going off unless I want them to.


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## fliperoo (May 22, 2009)

*Don't let these "one-in-the-tube" guys fool you....*

...the only thing they are gonna shoot is their nuts. Carry how you feel safe....i carry a glock 17 with 17JHP in the mag, unchambered....now, there's tons of people here who would flame me and say that "if you don't carry +1, you just have an expensive hammer"....the fact is...most of us aren't living in some freaking mountain hut in Afghanistan....and the odds of you getting into a car accident, or being abducted by an F'ing alien are far greater than you ever being in a situation where you'll be out an about and not have time to rack a round if the situation arises....the guys that'll tell you "+1 at all times" are the same people who carry when they take their family to the beach and only go in up to their knees cuz they're standing on the shore eating onion rings with their sub-compact stuffed in a belly band.


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## js (Jun 29, 2006)

fliperoo said:


> ...the only thing they are gonna shoot is their nuts. Carry how you feel safe....i carry a glock 17 with 17JHP in the mag, unchambered....now, there's tons of people here who would flame me and say that "if you don't carry +1, you just have an expensive hammer"....the fact is...most of us aren't living in some freaking mountain hut in Afghanistan....and the odds of you getting into a car accident, or being abducted by an F'ing alien are far greater than you ever being in a situation where you'll be out an about and not have time to rack a round if the situation arises....the guys that'll tell you "+1 at all times" are the same people who carry when they take their family to the beach and only go in up to their knees cuz they're standing on the shore eating onion rings with their sub-compact stuffed in a belly band.


Chill out. Nobody is "flaming" you. Yet, you just did a fine job flaming everyone else.


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## redpenguin01 (Apr 16, 2009)

I personally feel pretty comfortable carrying double action with one in the chamber. Get a holster that covers the trigger guard and you're set.


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## dondavis3 (Aug 2, 2009)

I carry concealed and have one in the pipe with safety on. (Beretta) Or one in the pipe no safety DA/SA Sig.

I do not want to have to rack the slide.

and I want the extra bullet.

Just mho
:smt1099


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## VietVet68 (Jan 10, 2010)

Condition 1


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## sgms (Jun 2, 2010)

1911 concealed, one up the pipe, cocked and locked, over a full mag with 3 spares on my off side.


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## Sully2 (Mar 9, 2010)

fliperoo said:


> ...the only thing they are gonna shoot is their nuts. Carry how you feel safe....i carry a glock 17 with 17JHP in the mag, unchambered....now, there's tons of people here who would flame me and say that "if you don't carry +1, you just have an expensive hammer"....the fact is...most of us aren't living in some freaking mountain hut in Afghanistan....and the odds of you getting into a car accident, or being abducted by an F'ing alien are far greater than you ever being in a situation where you'll be out an about and not have time to rack a round if the situation arises....the guys that'll tell you "+1 at all times" are the same people who carry when they take their family to the beach and only go in up to their knees cuz they're standing on the shore eating onion rings with their sub-compact stuffed in a belly band.


I wont flame you because I at least partially agree. In the area where I LIVE....the region that I FREQUENT I need to carry locked and loaded about as bad as a fish needs a golf cart. WITH THAT SAID..I have seen places where I wouldnt feel 100% safe even if I were locked and loaded carrying something that was "belt fed".....BUT...I dont frequent those places and when Im "forced to" I go ahead and chamber a round.

Part of the scary part of handguns are some of the people carrying them!


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## falchunt (May 8, 2009)

*Loaded*

I _always_ carry with one in the chamber. As many have said before, you won't have the opportunity/time in most instances to pull your weapon, use 2 hands to rack the slide, acquire your target and fire. When you are in a life or death situation you lose fine motor skills. Good practice makes perfect, but it is smart to eliminate unnecessary steps without causing additional safety concerns. Having said that, I know my gun well, I purchased it in part because of the safety features. It is DA/SA and I carry it with the safety ON.

Obviously this is thread is a matter of preference but after I got comfortable with my pistol I just felt that it was a bad idea to carry a gun without a round in the chamber. That extra 2 seconds could be the difference between life and death.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

mtn.shooter said:


> I have had many a "discussion" amongst friends who carry both open and concealed. Most carry "cocked and locked". I have a Ruger P95 which makes it a Da/Sa gun. I would prefer to keep 10 in the mag and rack the first one in when need be. My reason is that I can always have one single action trigger pull and the the sound of a auto pistol racking is generally enough to end a discussion. Perhaps I have purcahsed the wrong pistol, but the DA and 9 more SA is difficult for me.


I am of the opinion that the people who have made a decision to carry an unloaded gun may actually lack the commitment to use lethal force, in defense of their own life, or in the defense of others. A handgun is not much of a club, unless you put it in a sock and swing it, so if I felt unsafe with a loaded gun, I would just get a 34" Louisville Slugger with friction tape on the handle and a leather strap.

I believe that a person should not carry a lethal weapon unless they know how to use it without endangering innocent lives, and that includes being competent to carry with a loaded chamber. At least half of the scenarios I can concoct in my feeble little mind don't allow me enough time to dig my pistol out and rack the slide (and hope a round doesn't stick on the feed ramp).

As for the sound of a slide being racked striking fear into the hearts of bad guys...maybe...but I don't know if that fear will launch them into flight, or just inspire them to pull the trigger on their fully loaded Hi-Points.


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## falchunt (May 8, 2009)

*By the way*

If anyone has figured out a way to know when they will need their gun for sure, please let the rest of us in on the formula. I don't buy into the whole "I am more likely to need my gun in this area" theory. I value life too much to leave it up to odds.
:?


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