The majority of responses can be politely summarized as kindly reconsider!
I would add my own voice to the latter sentiment.
itistrue that they wont go bang if nothing pushes the trigger to the rear.
While carrying with an empty chamber might seem safer, what disadvantages does it give?
Why have a round in the chamber beforehand?
It goes to why you acquired the gun.
If the guns purpose is defensive, however, its a completely different story.
Only testing on the clock will show how much time you lose having to rack a slide. Here is the instant of discharge of the author’s Springfield Armory Range Officer .45.
The defensive firearm is, by definition, areactiveweapon.
Whats the Time Difference?
The time difference will vary between individual shooters, of course.
An empty chamber draw begins. Fortunately, Ayoob’s support hand is not otherwise occupied.
jacketed hollow point .45 ACP ammo, and a Competition Electronics gunshot timer.
I started at three yards from a white-faced IPSC target (which shows the bullet holes better).
Three yards is the distance for the one-hand phase of the NRA Police Service Pistol Course.
The support hand meets the slide midway. Note glove to keep constant repetitions from tearing up Ayoob’s hand during this test.
On each run, I started with the hand on the holstered weapon to minimize extraneous factors.
Times to the hit were all under one second, ranging from 0.75 to 0.99.
The difference was 0.474 almost half a second.
Not at all, when you look at the time frames of life-and-death situations.
All runs were under a second and ranged from 0.78 to 0.95, averaging 0.894.
The difference was 0.64 seconds favoring the loaded chamber start.
Ayoob breaks the shot. Average time to draw, rack the slide and shoot for this shooter? Around 1.5 seconds.
Fractions of a second mean a lot.
One- versus two-hand Condition One wasexactlythe same time average for speed, 0.894.
I couldnt have done that again if I tried.
Properly racking the slide requires a free and unencumbered support hand.
One-hand versus two-hand when racking the slide averaged only 0.166 seconds apart.
Other Problems
Drawing and racking a slide takes lots of practice.
Its tedious clearing the gun and starting over for the next empty-chamber practice run, and wastes training time.
While a second or so might not seem like a long time, it can make all the difference in a gunfight.
(My test pistol had adjustable sights, which can be hard on palms.)
But there are bigger reasons.
Another is that, very often, the other hand simply is not available.
If you are going to carry a firearm for self-defense, you should be trained to use it quickly if faced with a threat.
It may be pushing an opponent away or holding his knife hand in abeyance.
A second bad guy may have grabbed it, or it may have been injured early in the encounter.
Remember that Israeli Carry reference?
You might wonder, why did the hardened warriors of Israel go to empty chamber carry?
It was the safest way to go.
In that situation, you dontneedthe empty chamber that will slow you down.
As seen above, there are good reasons for this.
kindly make it a fully informed decision.
I know where I stand on it.
Go to forum thread
1911Range Officer Target
SafarilandModel 568
Active Self Protection
