[b_day]

I’m curious on others routines surrounding where you chamber a round in the morning and unload for the night. I carry at 5 o’clock on my waist, put my holster and carry weapon on, and then either chamber a round in my car pointed at the ground or more commonly, I chamber a round inside my home pointed in the safest direction. I’ve been drilled with gun safety my whole life as I grew up hunting and lived on a farm so I know what I “should” do, but I also don’t want to be seen in my front lawn every morning by 50 of my closest neighbors playing with my Glock. I’m curious on the routine of others, specifically where you load and unload your weapon.

Regardless, I’m thinking I may make some sort of “bullet catcher”, something I can put my muzzle in when I chamber a round, in the event of the undesirable.

 

[blaster]

I just leave my carry gun loaded.

 

[Nodpete]

Same here. No one in the house but the wife and I.

 

[Brandhard]

I'm interested to know why you load/unload the gun daily? I have young children in my house, so leaving a loaded gun in a night stand is a no-go. Otherwise, I'd keep it loaded. I "go red" in my bedroom. Also clear there. No particular reason, other than that it's a place where I'm away from the kids when I do it.
My thoughts on a clearing barrel, is that those aren't for people who are aware of the dangers, but for those who aren't. A clearing barrel only adds to safety when someone violates a number of safety rules one after another.

 

[Chef Duane]

Ditto. Just my wife and I in the house and she is trained in firearms. I take it off and put it in a secure but easily accessible location.

 

[Jim Rau]

I just leave my carry gun loaded.

Roger that. That is just common sence!!!

 

[ChaZam]

I'm confused.
Why would a firearm specifically employed as a concealed carry firearm need to be routinely unloaded and reloaded? Once it gets that 1 round in the chamber and the full magazine inserted below that it stays that way until something out of the ordinary happens. If it got sweated on profusely, rained on, exposed to sand and dirt, slipped into a creek, or capsized a canoe, or perhaps sweat dirt,& sawdust from a day in the woods with a chainsaw, perhaps that would dictate clearing the chamber and wiping down and reloading the ammo in the magazine. If that happens, I do the necessary maintenance and cleaning where ever I might be at the time; at home, in my pickup, in a motel room, whatever. But I cannot visualize why anyone would have a CCW that was not 100% ready to serve that purpose except in very rare and extremely short intervals. But if it's going to be unloaded at night it's no more useful than a brick or a hammer whether your night is being spent in your home, friend's house, motel, etc.

 

[jerry]

Stays loaded. Unless cleaning, inspecting or dry firing. When dry firing, triple checked and ammo is in different room.
Also, good carry ammo is expensive. There s a lot of wear and potential bullet set back on repeated chambering of a round in a semi auto. Some throw it in the go to the range pile after several chambering events. The ammo eventually should be rotated anyways.
When needed, I unload and or chamber a round with weapon pointed at something I’m okay with potentially destroying. A pile of clothes in the laundry room for example. We had nice clearing barrels in the military. Wouldn’t be too hard to make one from a 5 gallon bucket and some sand.

 

[TheWall]

Leave mine locked and loaded. No children in my house so carry gun stays on my nightstand when I'm in bed or taking a shower. All other guns are locked in the safe and some of them are locked and loaded also. I'm thinking racking a round daily would increase chances of an accidental discharge and over time cause unnecessary wear and tear on moving parts. Bottom line is do what is the safest and what you feel most comfortable with. Find a safe place inside that you can do your daily loading and unloading routine. Have it locked and loaded before leaving the house.

 

[Jim Bridger]

I expect you are some what new to the carrying of weapons'. I would suggest you seek information from a local NRA club or range.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I’m curious on others routines surrounding where you chamber a round in the morning and unload for the night. I carry at 5 o’clock on my waist, put my holster and carry weapon on, and then either chamber a round in my car pointed at the ground or more commonly, I chamber a round inside my home pointed in the safest direction. I’ve been drilled with gun safety my whole life as I grew up hunting and lived on a farm so I know what I “should” do, but I also don’t want to be seen in my front lawn every morning by 50 of my closest neighbors playing with my Glock. I’m curious on the routine of others, specifically where you load and unload your weapon.

Regardless, I’m thinking I may make some sort of “bullet catcher”, something I can put my muzzle in when I chamber a round, in the event of the undesirable.

Why would you unload at night?

 

[TXplt]

Many of my rifles and shotguns stay in 'condition 3' -- mag loaded but no round chambered. This isn't a big deal because racking the slide or bolt is a natural part of getting the gun in the first place. And I'd pretty much ALWAYS prefer some type of long gun or longish gun in a home defense capacity.

Handguns are different for me in that if I need it I'll probably need it NOW. Like RIGHT NOW. If I didn't need it NOW, I'd wonder why I got myself into the situation that I had some time to either avoid or get another gun to deal with. So it's always round chambered ready to go for me, or a full cylinder ready to go if it's a revolver.

I don't chamber/unchamber more than necessary (and often when going to the range with a carry gun simply do a magazine swap with a magazine of FMJ/training ammo, firing the chambered round first which gives me a warm fuzzy that it would've gone bang. I DO have to chamber/unchamber when servicing or cleaning the gun).

I'm a bit leery over EXCESSIVE chambering/unchambering of the same round (a couple or a few times probably won't hurt) in that if the bullet doesn't have an easily identifiable cannelure there's the potential for bullet setback--when the round is chambered the bullet bounces off of things in the chamber/barrel so there's some force on it in potentially seating it deeper. With a good taper crimp I don't think this happens much, but CAN happen. Rounds like the 9mm or .40 are very sensitive to overall length (meaning that if bullet setback becomes excessive--perhaps happening with the same round chambered over and over and it not having a particularly strong taper crimp that the potential can exist for dangerous pressure spikes that might cause a kaboom). So it's not something I do needlessly.

Obviously, ANY time a slide or bolt is cycled the gun needs to be pointed in a SAFE direction. If you're going to get a malfunction or slam fire, this is probably the time it's going to happen.

 

[Bakingsoda]

I never chamber a round unless it's necessary.

 

[Nodpete]

I never chamber a round unless it's necessary.

You may not get the chance to do it when it is necessary .😟

 

[Junction15]

I never unload a defensive weapon or a CCW handgun unless I am doing an administrative check or cleaning it. I do have a biometric box to put a loaded gun into if I need to. I rarely need to, except when the young grandkids are here.

I have smoke & carbon monoxide detectors in my home. I replace the batteries as needed but there are always batteries in them. I don't "unload them" at those times when I think I am safe from fire or carbon monoxide. They are always ready to protect me.

My defensive and CCW weapons are there to protect my family and me from unexpected dangers. (If I expected danger, I would avoid it). The unexpected danger could be 4-legged and drooling over my small dogs in the backyard pen. And we have had 2 legged types that did not break into my house but did break into the neighbor's.

 

[Lifeichose]

One in my chamber at all times. Theres only two scenarios that I am clearing/chambering my carry and that is for cleaning and/or date nights with it at the range. When im at home/sleeping at night it is a small reach away in a drawer next to my bed. I took a kydex holster and drilled a hole through one side of it aswell as a hole through the sidewall of the inside of my nightstand drawer next to me, then mounted the holster to the sidewall so when I open the drawer the gun is holstered with the muzzle facing down grip up and easily accessible. I was taught at a young age that if I ever decided to carry a firearm but I had any doubts, scares or nervousness about it then I should not do so. My grandfather used to say the biggest threat to a scared carrier is himself. Now im not saying you are indeed scared of your firearm but I believe strongly that if carrying, one needs to be confident and OWN the gun, know how it works and how to strip, maintain, put back together, what not to do and what to do. It is when one is scared, fidgety and nervous that accidental discharges and misusing happens. A carry gun shouldnt be getting chambered and cleared on a daily basis multiple times a day.. young children in the house I understand but there are plenty of ways to be safe with the weapon without having to continuously clear and chamber. If anything that is more of a safety risk in my opinion. And the thing about you having your gun unloaded and night does not make any sense to me. Hopefully mr. Intruder comes bearing only a small club so you have a chance to fight him off with the paper weight that was once a gun. All in all if your gonna carry then you should own it with confidence, knowledge and both yourself and the firearm should be ready at all times.

 

[ItstheHOFF]

There seems to be some overly concern of it staying loaded, and trying to be hyper safe. You must trust yourself and your training. Do you feel nervous as you are loading and unloading, like it is just going to fire off on its own? First, you shouldn’t. That’s not how firearms work. Second, pursuing hypersafety could actually diminish your safety. This constant routine of loading and unloading every day may actually cause you to become complacent, make a mistake, and have a discharge. When you load and unload for the day, knowing you’re aiming it in a safe direction is all that is necessary.

 

[Big Dog]

Mine stays chambered. Colt M1991A1 in Condition One. Nobody here but I.

 

[Dutch]

Wherever I happen to be at the time.

Generally speaking, like everyone else, once a cartridge is chambered in my CC it stays there until fired. If I do manually clear the pistol, it happens wherever I'm at at the time.

I have young kids, so I also have small pistol safes where I need them, including the nightstand.

I have a 3 foot stump in the basement I use for particularly dangerous or unknown firearms.

 

[K75RT]

My defensive pistols and revolvers are loaded, leaving a chamber empty is like leaving a revolver cylinder empty...when you need it it has to be ready. If you have kids or others that may be an issue..for me not so much. When my daughter was young she was allowed to handle the firearms that I owned under supervision. She is an excellent revolver and pistol shot! But back to the issue, is there a reason that you unload your firearm at night? If so maybe something can be worked out...but imho, once you load your Glock and you absolutely know you did it; leave it ready to go. In self defense you have to set parameters that you can knowingly work within. When I did prisoner transportation we had to surrender our firearms whenever we entered a facility...most facilities required that your revolver be cleared if carrying a semi the magazine and chamber cleared and the guns stored in a two keyed locker until ready to depart..when we had to reload the revolver it was basic yet when we had to reload the S&W 659 the facilities has "clearing barrels" by the R&D areas where we could safely reload...using basic firearm safety rules keep your finger away from the trigger and if you need to lower a hammer do it gracefully! Since you are carrying a Glock load your magazine pull slide all the way back and let it go do not ride it...make sure to keep finger away from trigger..the Glock will only fire when you press the trigger..I am a Glock armorer and have never seen a Glock shoot out of battery..that said always abide by the NRA Rules of Safe Gun Handling.