Good one.

Kind of like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Try this at home with an empty and safe gun. Find 2 marks that are 30 feet apart, you stand on one end and somebody else on the other. Give them a pretend knife, you have your gun holstered. When the other person charges at you, you have to draw rack shoot(gun is empty). I promise you won't get the gun racked and pull the trigger before the other person touches you. Heck, it's hard enough with a loaded gun in the holster, you're still going to get cut/stabbed, but you will prob get off a contact shot

still not a one?

It does make sense that I may be shot in one arm and not able to rack. That is a good point.

I think if someone was 20-30 ft and coming at me with a knife that he may get to me either with or without a racked gun. Racked or not will not make a difference in that scenario. You will have it racked by the time it is up at eye level.

why wouldnt I ? Probably because there is no time taken when racking a gun from holster to eye. It is quick and easy to practice.

Maybe I am just used to carrying my hunting weapons unloaded and that feels more natural and safer. However I do lock and load when I am in the hunting area especially my back up pistol when pig hunting.

Bigfoot, do you prefer to carry unchambered because you are worried about the firearm accidentally discharging while holstered?

chambered. 1911 is cocked and locked at all times at my 5 o'clock.

Chambered always, for all of the above reasons

If you think your that good, that you could defend yourself against a knife wielding criminal, then keep carrying unchambered. It's your gun and your life. But when that adrenaline dumps, your fine motor skills disappear, you quickly get tunnel vision, and it takes the brain longer to process a perceived threat. In that situation I wouldn't want to worry about having to flip a safety off, much less rack the slide.

Did you know that the vast majority of officer involved shooting, along with citizen self defense shootings, occur within 3 yds? That's 9 feet. 9 feet is a lot less then 30. You think the criminal is going to give you a 30 foot heads up that he is going to assault you?

We did this from 7 yards at the fire station. My "pistol" was a pair of lineman pliers in a leather holster. And the knife was a capped dry erase marker. I got stuck with the knife five times. Knife weilder finally got shot only a foot or two from me, but I was still stuck with the knife.

I do , just my preference.

Real knife attacks aren't like tv

This question makes as much sense as a football bat...Why is this even a question anymore?

Like the person who doesn't want to get by a 22

That was a disturbing video but I also see it as a wakeup call from reality. There are monsters out there and after watching that video, I think I have been swayed to be chambered.

Thanks,
CM

Always carry chambered with a full mag, I see no reason not too.

Walter

Chambered always. Doesn't matter if its on my side or in my console its ready to rock.

Chambered, if not a gun is expensive paperweight.

Unchambered. Its all personal preference, and how you train. Only takes a second to pull the slide. If im going on a road trip or something ill put one in. But for the most part unchambered works for me.

Shoot some USPSA, IDPA or 3 gun, and you'll realize exactly how long a second really is.

un-chambered is about like taking a knife to a gun fight

As has been mentioned - why carry if you don't have one in the chamber? Jason has done some drills and has seen just how little time there is to react. I can't count the number of training sessions I have conducted or the number of officers, and some civilians that I have trained. Had ONE officer tell me that he wanted to carry his weapon with (a SW 669) with his decocking lever down. I let him do it, and after the first speed drill he changed his mind. A simple 3 rounds, from the holster, in 5 seconds was enough stress on him that he forgot to flip the lever up.
You want to be a sheep, carry unchambered. You are no use to me.

The reasons the Israelis did it that way is because when the IDF was formed, they had a mixed bag of handguns... some single action, some double action, etc. By carrying magazine loaded, empty chamber, they were able to develop a manual of arms that was uniform across all the makes of pistols they had that required less training. Since the chamber is empty, they could teach soldiers to rack the slide as they draw and the pistol would be ready to fire... no need to worry about deactivating a safety... uniform manual of arms.

This is the same reason that the shotguns in my house are kept with mag tube full, empty chamber, action unlocked and safety off... I have a mix of Remington and Mossbergs, and it was much easier to teach my wife to just work the action vs. remembering where the safety is located on different shotguns.

I'm not sure how the Israelis carry today. I would imagine that they have more uniform issued sidearms, at least on a per unit basis, where they could train to that particular firearm. I always carry with one in the chamber. In my house, I have several layers of security that should provide warning and time to work the action on a shotgun... out at the mall with my family, I don't.

Wrong!!! I dont think I am that good I think I am that bad!! The guy with the knife is probably going to get me whether I am chambered or unchambered.

no a gun is not a paper weight just because it is unchambered. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

That vid shows there's no warm up time when it hits the fan. I carry cocked and locked.

Then why carry at all?