Handgun Safety

a reply to: SlapMonkey

I've done those drills ( including the one at the end, gets adrenaline up ), and while they do work, I prefer to carry locked and loaded. During combat, whether real or simulated, you're mostly going to get only a flash sight picture or do point shooting anyway. At pistol ranges, with training, it gets the job done.

With a modern pistol, there's no reason not to carry locked and loaded. Unless you're carrying a Saturday night special, it's not going to go off on it's own, even if dropped.

Floating firing pin weapons are different. My rifles and shotguns are kept in the following fashion:

1 ) Chamber empty
2 ) Full mag or tube, inserted
3 ) Safety off

This way, no chance of a bump discharge, but it can quickly be brought into action.

a reply to: cynicalheathen

Yeah, I always carry chambered as well. All we do in that scenario is just spiral both hands out and rotate them together in order to achieved the proper grip--no charging of the slide necessary.

I also prefer my EDC firearms without a manual safety for similar reasons--speed and less fine-motor-skill concerns when amped up on adrenaline and fear. But, since I have a 3-year-old, my EDC has a thumb safety and a trigger safety, just as a precaution.

But the bottom line is that we train--that's the best case, regardless of the method used.