One in the chamber at home??

miles71 · Aug 16, 2013

I'm not talking about carrying at home, I am talking about the "bump in the night" gun. The one you have available if you hear the window break and the dog is going crazy at 3am. Do you store it with one in the chamber?

My thoughts: I got into a little debate with someone today abd while I believe a carry gun should have one in the chamber while carrying, I do not store my home defense pistol like this. I was told by an old wise LEO once and I agree, "you want to be awake enough to chamber a round so you can be awake enough to make a bigger decision once ready to shoot". Some of you may say "but that is precious seconds" and I agree, they are precious seconds used to decide and determine if you are being attacked or your son is just sneaking out to get a snack.

I believe if a bad guy has already gotten to me and I haven't woken up, gotten my pistol out and chambered a round I have bigger issues with my layers of home security.

Curious to hear what you all think. TD

baconsandwich · Aug 16, 2013

I agree that you should be awake enough to make the decision. However I do not want to give away my position by letting an intruder hear me rack the slide to chamber a round. Therefore, I say chamber it. Just my $0.02

hvymax · Aug 16, 2013

Pretty much the same. With kids in the house I consider it a safety issue. When they were little I kept the mags out of the guns and chose pistols with strong enough springs it took effort for me or my wife to chamber a round. It also spares the top round the abuse of being chambered and ejected over and over.

rj1974 · Aug 16, 2013

My house handgun is a Ruger GP100 so yep one in the "chamber" .

defygravity · Aug 16, 2013

I can see the point you're making, and its a good one.

That being said, I keep one in the pipe.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

wilcam47 · Aug 16, 2013

baconsandwich said:
I agree that you should be awake enough to make the decision. However I do not want to give away my position by letting an intruder hear me rack the slide to chamber a round. Therefore, I say chamber it. Just my $0.02

Ok

...I WANT some idiot to hear me rack a round...The PERP is in MY house! If he hears me rack whatever I have for home defense it prob would be in his best interest to GTFO of my house!!! I'd rather not have one chambered at home due to family being present and being woke up...I want to be awake to make coherent decisions....

foodpoison · Aug 16, 2013

one in the chamber,in a safe.it was soo much easier when i lived alone,locked&cocked semi hidden with in easy reach

radial · Aug 16, 2013

I agree with you, OP. It takes me virtually no time to chamber a round. Unless I'm too groggy to be handling a weapon in the first place. In which case, the extra time it might take for me to get my brain and fine motor skills online is probably time well spent. As for broadcasting my general location and the fact that I'm armed and lethal, I don't see that as a bad thing. It's not like I'm trying to sneak up on some unsuspecting prey in this scenario. I'm repelling an invasion, and if I can strike a little fear into the heart of the invader before I start blasting away, so much the better for my chances.

mike_in_md · Aug 16, 2013

I will be very awake if I hear someone break in my house with reasonable fear. I have layered defense as well, but if by some small chance I shoot the a person breaking into my house while I am not awake, how can you really say that I am at fault; the intruder better give me time to wake up. I will call out and ask for identification, unless all my family members are screaming bloody murder and I know where they are, but I do not plan to drink a cup of coffee before I grab the gun. With more than a hundred thousand rounds down range and even more dry fires, I can say that I have good trigger discipline. I would rather have it loaded for a fast intrusion....it's one less thing to have to do. I have had my 20 year old daughter come in late a few times unexpectedly and I done this with a loaded gun a few times just fine. I think we are both trained now.

wilcam47 · Aug 16, 2013

I could care less about the Perp...for the single guys that would work..for the married or married with kids...need to find out where they are first!...then go from there!

Name Taken · Aug 16, 2013

Every defense weapon should be kept in the same condition be it CCW or "Home defense".

If any of my handguns have a magazine in them they are loaded/chambered. If it doesn't have a magazine then I know I need to get the gun up and running.

Now offense but under stress I dont want to "chamber" my CCW gun and lose a round/seconds and I dont want to not chamber my HD gun out of muscle memory/habits.

The OP posted a good train of thought I just decide to do things different.

Blaster229 · Aug 16, 2013

Racking one in the chamber doesn't take "seconds". If it doesn't feed, how awake are you to do a malfunction drill under attack? There could be a few seconds right there.
You need to have your reaction time as short as possible. There are too many what ifs against it not being hot. Hot, at least you know you have one round to save your life. That bump in the night might greet you right around the corner and your support hand might be busy bitch slapping while your strong hand is holding a worthless semi auto.
I would rather load a revolver with the first one empty, requiring 2 trigger pulls to get the first shot.
sent from somewhere in the world.

Blaster229 · Aug 16, 2013

wilcam47 said:
Ok...I WANT some idiot to hear me rack a round...The PERP is in MY house! If he hears me rack whatever I have for home defense it prob would be in his best interest to GTFO of my house!!! I'd rather not have one chambered at home due to family being present and being woke up...I want to be awake to make coherent decisions....

He has a gun and nothing to live for. You just changed HIS plan of attack and you gave up your surprise.

sent from somewhere in the world.

Evil Twin · Aug 16, 2013

I always keep a round in the chamber. If it's enough to make me reach for a firearm, it's enough to wake me up well enough to know if it needs shot.

occbrian · Aug 16, 2013

Shotty hidden out of reach, mag tube full but not chambered.

45's stay chambered in a lock box with a simplex lock.

But I have kids crawling around.

wilcam47 · Aug 16, 2013

Blaster229 said:
He has a gun and nothing to live for. You just changed HIS plan of attack and you gave up your surprise.

sent from somewhere in the world.

well like I said with family its different...when I was single I'd have no prob leaving a gun loaded...none of my friends came over without a phone call...what if your first round mis-fired?...still be in the same boat as if you didnt chamber...

Vjornaxx · Aug 16, 2013

baconsandwich said:
However I do not want to give away my position by letting an intruder hear me rack the slide to chamber a round. Therefore, I say chamber it. Just my $0.02

I keep my weapon with a loaded chamber and the safety engaged, but I take the opposite approach: I don't want to shoot anyone, I just want to make sure that my pregnant wife and I make it through alive - so my plan is to turn on the lights, call the cops, and shout out to the invader that I'm armed and I've called the cops and if you come up these stairs I will open fire. They can take what they want in the time it takes the cops to get here, all my stuff is insured - I will be locked down in a defensive position at the top of the stairs. I'm not going to leave a widow and a fatherless son for a goddamn big screen television.

mdunphyjr · Aug 16, 2013

Nothing in the chamber here, although as much as I have trained and tought my daughter she is the reason I keep it that way. Now, if it was just me it would be under my pillow cocked and ready to go!!

50bmg · Aug 16, 2013

With kids, nothing in chamber.

Every firearm owner should be proficient to know their firearms to quickly use and troubleshoot at all times.

3rdRcn · Aug 16, 2013

One in the chamber on every gun in every location. In the heat of the moment I don't want to be the one that hears a click when I squeeze the trigger because I forgot to chamber a round.

Everyone has a preference and some are for good reason and some not. Whatever preference you have, make sure you train to that preference.

One in the chamber at home??

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