Valuable lesson on condition 3.

[glocksmith]

Forget the movies. People, in general, have an annoying tendency to work actions unnecessarily. Hand the average person your gun to let them admire it, and I guarantee that, beyond the initial safety check, they'll work the slide or open close the bolt a dozen times while its in their hands. Some of the guys behind the counter at the gun shops do it too - while youre filling out the paperwork to buy the thing. I watched a Hickok45 vid where he was talking about a revolver, and he must've opened and closed the cylinder two dozen times in a two minute period when all he was doing ws talking. It's why I try to avoid letting anyone (besides my Dad) handle my own guns.

[Klingon00]

^^ That's a bad habit to get into. People who work the actions and fiddle with their guns haphazardly while doing other activities like talking seem to be the ones more at risk for a ND to me. Complacency in gun handling breeds disaster (not to mention the added wear on the firearm).

[gaptrick]

I don't see things that way. Guns are fun and I love to feel the weight and hear the action, every little click and clack. I want to rack it stack it, pack it and jack it. I want to hold it and go hand to hand with it. I like the way they feel and I like the way they sound... even the way they smell ( if it smells of old #9). I'll dry fire 'em too if I'm feeling froggy.

If someone feels their gun is more a work of art rather than a functioning machine better not hand it to me for a look-see. I can admire that dead dog from afar.

Heck, if you don't let the thing talk to you you'll never hear what it's trying to tell to you!

[TSiWRX]

...I always carry cocked and locked and normally I have one chambered in my house gun but I had the G17 sitting beside me in my chair in a holster with the chamber empty, we had two of our grandchildren spending the night....

To me, "Condition 3" - loaded but without a round in the chamber - isn't really that much of a safeguard for a child.

Even if the child cannot manually rack the slide to chamber a round (and it's shocking how small kids can be and yet still be able to accomplish this task), it still remains far from impossible for the child to fall or tumble with the gun in-hand, and manage to somehow chamber a round that way.

Consider, instead, carrying your firearm on-person in a good holster (it doesn't necessarily have to have a secondary lock or retention mechanism) or, as you've mentioned, a dedicated quick-access safe.

There's always a compromise between speed-of-accessibility for emergencies versus deterrence against unauthorized access, but for the way I see it, "Condition 3" is a compromise that lands in no-one's favor regardless of which side of that equation you fall on.

[OHIOSTEVE]

I have had 2 ND in my life.. one was a defective gun the other was 100% my fault... and yep I was trying to lower my 1911 hammer on a live round.... hole is still in the wall behind the rocker as a reminder..I was new to the 1911 and had no idea.

[Just One Shot]

...I always carry cocked and locked and normally I have one chambered in my house gun but I had the G17 sitting beside me in my chair in a holster with the chamber empty, we had two of our grandchildren spending the night....

To me, "Condition 3" - loaded but without a round in the chamber - isn't really that much of a safeguard for a child.

Even if the child cannot manually rack the slide to chamber a round (and it's shocking how small kids can be and yet still be able to accomplish this task), it still remains far from impossible for the child to fall or tumble with the gun in-hand, and manage to somehow chamber a round that way.

Consider, instead, carrying your firearm on-person in a good holster (it doesn't necessarily have to have a secondary lock or retention mechanism) or, as you've mentioned, a dedicated quick-access safe.

There's always a compromise between speed-of-accessibility for emergencies versus deterrence against unauthorized access, but for the way I see it, "Condition 3" is a compromise that lands in no-one's favor regardless of which side of that equation you fall on.

Kind of hard to wear a holster when you're wearing gym shorts and a Tee shirt with no belt. Besides that, I don't leave the gun unattended, when I get up the holstered gun goes with me, even to the restroom.

[TSiWRX]

^ Ah, good.

As to the shorts/T-shirt, when I go out with the dog or when I work out, I typically use a "police duty-belt" setup with a Kydex belt holster and magazine holder. The stiffness of the duty belt - I use a Bianchi Accumold - allows it to stay in place around my waist and be "self-supporting." The big plus of this setup is that it allows the gun to be in the same place, with the same draw-stroke, as when I use my IWB EDC setup.

For a while a couple of years ago when I first started going out with the dog for walks and runs, I used to clock a Thunderwear holster at the 2:30 (instead of wearing it as-intended at the groin area), but the setup would drop the grip of the holster too far down inside my sweats. I originally obtained the duty-belt setup to practice draws/reloads around the house, but I threw it on one day and realized that it could pull double duty.

[schmieg]

I have had 2 ND in my life.. one was a defective gun the other was 100% my fault... and yep I was trying to lower my 1911 hammer on a live round.... hole is still in the wall behind the rocker as a reminder..I was new to the 1911 and had no idea.

How did your thumb fare in that adventure?