Chamber empty or one in?

[K191145]

Actually, while I can't put my hands on proof at the moment, I believe it's true that people HAVE been killed by blanks...I think it's happened on stage/filming for movies before but I'll have to check into that more!

Burce Lee? But the way I heard the story is that someone had fired a load with no powder, just a primer and a .44 bullet was lodged in the barrell or, someone had inserted a .44 bullet in the barrel intentually.

Correction; Brandon Lee.

Edited December 17, 2010 by K191145

[K191145]

When I first started carrying I was a little apprehensive about carrying with the chamber loaded but not anymore. I just convinced myself that guns only fire when you pull the trigger.

[Crawlin]

How do you carry one in the chamber without the weapon cocked and locked?

Any gun that allows the safety to be put on while the hammer is cocked. Such as the H&K USP, safety on with hammer down or cocked. Can't think of any others right now.

[jughead]

i always carry cocked and locked. but let me say this about tn. state troopers. i have been stopped 2 times since i got my permit in 97. both troopers read me the riot act over cocked and locked. both removed the round from the chamber and handed my weapon back. both said to me you always have time to rack the slide. figure that one out.

[Punisher84]

I can 100% confirm that is incorrect. I was in Nashville last month shooting a movie and talked to our armorer one night when we were shooting a crime scene. He was using a regular Beretta 92 with blanks and it was cycling just fine. From 4 feet away I was getting hit with bits of gunpowder and plenty of percussion, but then again they weren't aiming right at me, just to the left of me (I was operating camera)

Ok gotcha. I wondered if it would I've just never messed with blanks. I still think loading one in the chamber of a carry gun is a bad idea though. On many levels.

[K191145]

i always carry cocked and locked. but let me say this about tn. state troopers. i have been stopped 2 times since i got my permit in 97. both troopers read me the riot act over cocked and locked. both removed the round from the chamber and handed my weapon back. both said to me you always have time to rack the slide. figure that one out.

I'm sure they didn't explain why they carry chamber loaded.

[Guest kirkosaurus]

Unless you train, train, train chambering a round so that you are good enough that you can do it without thinking you should always carry with one chambered.

There is a good chance that not being able to chamber a round under stress could cost you your life like it did this guy (caution: graphic video):

LiveLeak.com - Jewelery Store Shooting in Agra

[TGO David]

I can't believe anyone even has this discussion anymore.

[Guest kirkosaurus]

i always carry cocked and locked. but let me say this about tn. state troopers. i have been stopped 2 times since i got my permit in 97. both troopers read me the riot act over cocked and locked. both removed the round from the chamber and handed my weapon back. both said to me you always have time to rack the slide. figure that one out.

Wonder what they would say about carrying a revolver. Would they expect you to have the first chamber in the cylinder empty?

[Jonnin]

Looking for advice here,

How do you all carry your pistol?

Do you carry with one in the chamber, or full mag. and empty chamber?

Thanks

I carry ready to fire. Its pointless, IMHO, to pull something out that is not going to work right away.

That said, this causes me to prefer guns that I personally feel are safe when chambered, some styles this seems a little risky esp if you are in trouble and get a case of the fumble fingers. Whatever I have, I want to have to do one rapid, simple, one-handed action to enable the weapon as I draw it, and nothing more. For example, a 1911 style is good, as you draw it you take the safety off, its ready to go.

I wont argue that trigger alone guns are dangerous, but I do not like them. It means the trigger pull is going to be harsh, either really long or really stout or both. I hate that: trying to practice with them makes my carpel tunnel act up, so I don't practice, not a good idea. Anything that I would care to shoot would be dangerous if the only safety were the trigger pull.

[Guest Jamie]

Wonder what they would say about carrying a revolver. Would they expect you to have the first chamber in the cylinder empty?

In a revolver, wouldn't it have to be the first 2 chambers empty? You know, the first one so the gun didn't fire all by it's self, and the second one so it wouldn't fire the first time you pulled the trigger? That would be the equivalent to an auto-loader with an empty chamber, I think...

[daddyo]

i always carry cocked and locked. but let me say this about tn. state troopers. i have been stopped 2 times since i got my permit in 97. both troopers read me the riot act over cocked and locked. both removed the round from the chamber and handed my weapon back. both said to me you always have time to rack the slide. figure that one out.

I'm willing to bet that neither of these self-important morons 1) have ever drawn their weapon in self-defense or 2)know anything about firearms (there are cops who don't even know what kind of weapon they carry).

[Gun Smith]

I'm willing to bet that neither of these self-important morons 1) have ever drawn their weapon in self-defense or 2)know anything about firearms (there are cops who don't even know what kind of weapon they carry).

I used to work for a contractor in Smyrna until the economy went south. He decided to become a cop in Hendersonville. He had never fired a gun before in his life. Nor was he "street smart". Of course with education, training, and experience he can do the job, but I sure didn't feel good about him.

[MikePapa1]

A Hendersonville cop with no street sense? That certainly doesn't narrow it down much.

[Guest Atchley]

One in the chamber and a full clip for me

[macville]

Then why these?

AK47 Threaded Blank Firing Adapter

Blank Firing Adapter - Yellow (fits M4)

Most auto-loaders won't cycle with blank ammunition any more than they will with bird shot or extremely light loads. There's just not enough recoil impulse. And for gas-operated rifles, there's no "plug" (the bullet) to force the gas into the gas tube. So, most "Hollywood" guns are modified to work with blanks.

Are you sure the one you were filming wasn't altered in some way? Sometimes a restrictor will be inserted into the barrel or chamber, with a smaller aperture, to increase the recoil forces. You can see it in the end of the barrel of full-auto weapons in a lot of old war movies, as a matter of fact...

No, he said it was a normal Beretta 92. He did say they were a full load though. My friend said that he did the WWII battle in Oak Ridge this year at the Secret City Festival and just stuck 30.06 blanks in his M1 with no problems. Maybe it has to do with certain weapons. I wonder if my FAL would fire with blanks.

Matthew

[A.J. Holst]

Always one in the chamber or a fully loaded revolver.

If you're not sure what works for you, get a CZ-75B, four great options all in one handgun...

Old school cocked and locked

Half cock with safety on

Half cock with safety off

Or hammer down

Need some experts to weigh in on the revolver --- prior to the transfer bar system when the firing pin was attached directly to the hammer wasn't it possible to discharge a round if the revolver was dropped on the hammer?

[tnhawk]

Locked and cocked. If I've got time to load, then I probably don't need to.

[GhstFace38]

Full mag plus 1 in the chamber.

[Jonnin]

Always one in the chamber or a fully loaded revolver.

If you're not sure what works for you, get a CZ-75B, four great options all in one handgun...

Old school cocked and locked

Half cock with safety on

Half cock with safety off

Or hammer down

Need some experts to weigh in on the revolver --- prior to the transfer bar system when the firing pin was attached directly to the hammer wasn't it possible to discharge a round if the revolver was dropped on the hammer?

Yes, 70 years ago or whatever it was, a hammer that was also the firing pin (the hammer comes to a sharp point which strikes the primer directly) can be made to fire by pounding on the hammer (which is, after all, the firing pin and is, after all, touching the primer). I have exactly one gun like this, and it was made before WWI --- I think the last of this stuff was maybe 1950s or just before?

I would not carry a gun this old anyway. Not only is there the drop danger, but some of these guns cannot handle modern +p defense ammo.

[Guest Jamie]

Always one in the chamber or a fully loaded revolver.

If you're not sure what works for you, get a CZ-75B, four great options all in one handgun...

Old school cocked and locked

Half cock with safety on

Half cock with safety off

Or hammer down

Had one, didn't care for it... Just didn't fit my hand very well.

Need some experts to weigh in on the revolver --- prior to the transfer bar system when the firing pin was attached directly to the hammer wasn't it possible to discharge a round if the revolver was dropped on the hammer?

Not an expert but can answer this one:

With an old Colt SAA or the like, yes. And it's the main reason they were usually carried with the hammer down on an empty chamber.

Most Smith & Wesson revolvers still have the pin on the hammer, I think, but instead of a transfer bar, they have a hammer block which keeps the firing pin off the primer until the trigger is pulled and the block is retracted out of the way. I don't know when S & W first started putting the hammer blocks on their guns, but it's been used for a looooong time now. Before that, their revolvers had a "rebound slide", that sort of served the same function. That was incorporated into their revolvers sometime in the late 1800s, I think....

One way or the other, the only Smith & Wessons I think you'd have to worry about setting off by bumping or hitting the hammer is the old break-top guns.

[Jonnin]

Tired of not knowing, I tried to look it up. As best as I can tell from the web (for what *that* is worth):

Half cocked was apparently the first revolver safety, to remove the hammer pin from the cartridge primer, you pulled it back a little bit so that dropping the gun would not fire it, and supposedly a dropped gun with hammer full back would catch on the half-cock sear because the trigger was not pulled, to prevent a full-cocked droped gun from going off. This design was around even in the mid/late 1800s.

After that came the blocks, bars, etc, which seem to have appeard around 1890 and were in widespread use by WWI. These desigs were refined to what we have now by WWII for the most part.

So, to get an unsafe revolver, you have to dig up something fairly old, with the surplus army pistols being one of the most common unsafe designs (?) --- and that one, if I am not mistaken, does have the half-cocked "safety".

Feel free to fill in anything that I missed, as thats just a wad of possibly wrong web stuffs.

[A.J. Holst]

Jamie,

Seems like you and I are of like thinking. All of my handguns were purchased to be shooters, so if it isn't comfortable in how it fits your hand, why own it? Primary reason I sold a Colt King Cobra, though it would be a sweet safe queen today!

The CZ is probably the most comfortable, easy-to shoot double stack 9mm I have ever had the pleasure to handle. It has replaced my SP101 and AC Commander for EDC.

Regarding revolvers, I find it amazing how the "hammer on empty cylinder" is still practiced today. Not being a S&W owner, I didn't know they utilized a hammer block, I was only aware of the "modern" transfer bar system used by Ruger.

This is an awesome forum!

[frankmako]

one in. empty is for the gun safe.

[G27]

Surprised no one has posted the video of the shop owner getting killed as he was repeatedly shot while trying to chamber a round...