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How to carry

7K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Tarheelcracker 
#1 ·
I have 2 bersa and I carry them with safety off and one round in the chamber.
A guy in the motorcycle forum said that a glock 1911 should be carried cocked with one in the chamber and safety on.What is the correct way? Does it depend on the gun type?
My guns are Bersa 380, Bersa 9 mm and Beretta 9 mm. I carry them all alike.
Thanks for your reply
 
#2 ·
There are varying opinions on the “Right” way to carry. But I believe the majority of self defense experts agree on the following:
1. Single action pistols should be carried with a round in the chamber with the hammer pulled back and the safety on. Known as Cocked and locked.
2. DA/SA (double action/ single action like your Bersa 380) should be carried with a round in the chamber, hammer down and safety off. Then it is no different than a double action revolver.
 
#3 ·
^^^^This

You can leave the safety on if you want too, as long as you train to flick it off as you draw. But Toakey's right, it's not necessary.

A 1911 is single action, so you've got to manually pull the hammer back before you can shoot it, so for SD you'd want to carry it as you read; round chambered, hammer back and safety on. With a double action pistol like your Bersas, as long as there's a round chambered it goes bang every time you pull the trigger so it's good to go on its own, hammer down.
 
#4 ·
From the time I received my first carry permit while living in Las Vegas, and now in Texas, I have carried full mag, one in the tube and mechanical safety off. That philosophy was confirmed when I saw the video of the liquor store clerk/owner who was killed when he had the draw on a BG but got killed trying to rack his gun. I use either UBG or Nelson holsters that cover the trigger and I do check the holsters for wear, and consider my primary safety is the one between my ears.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I agree with what has been stated.

The safety on the Bersa and such guns is simply a redundant feature. The gun is still very safe with a round in the chamber and the safety off because it requires a very heavy and long first trigger pull. It's just like a Revolver in that regards.

I would never carry with an empty chamber or the safety on because you may forget and it could cost you dearly, as 9UC stated. I've seen similar video myself. A 1911 style pistol may have other considerations. I've never owned a 1911 style but my natural tendency would be to cock the hammer vs disengage the safety. That's me though.

I now carry a Kahr S9 which is a striker fired gun with no manual safety. The gun is still very safe though because it has a long and smooth trigger pull (5 1/2 lbs). That gun offers a lot of confidence as a ccw whereas other striker fired guns do not for me. Having said that, safety is still between your ears.

God Bless,
Ralph
 
#7 ·
Hello Pennsy!

Most (if not all) handguns today have the transfer bar safety.
This is a bar that stays in place covering the firing pin until the trigger is pulled.
When the trigger is pulled the transfer bar lowers and the hammer (or striker) can strike the firing pin setting off the cartridge.
So, dropping the firearm does not lower the transfer bar allowing the firing pin to be hit.
You MUST pull the trigger to lower the bar to make the gun fire.
So if a modern gun is dropped it is not supposed to accidentally fire.

I believe Taurus had an incident several years ago a model of their semi auto handguns was supposedly firing when being dropped.
This was claimed by several people.
They had the transfer bar system.
Supposedly they tried again multiple times to get the handguns to fire when being dropped and could not get a repeat occurrence.
So, the case was settled out of court I believe.
This was a challenge to the transfer bar system.

Every one that responded to the question above stated the biggest safety is between the ears - the holder of the gun!
I have heard of difference accidental firings and each one was more or less human error and not the guns fault.
There is something called "Glock Leg" due to the number of Glocks that have accidentally fired as someone was pulling it from a holster.
Pulling up on it (to remove from the holster) their trigger finger got thru the trigger guard and accidentally pulled the trigger upon removing the gun and discharging the firearm.
This is why some people want a little more comfort of an external safety of some sort.

One more common accidental discharge if I recall correctly is due to some models requiring the pulling of the trigger to remove the slide from the frame for cleaning and the user not making completely sure the gun was totally empty.
It then will discharge the surprise live round in the chamber.
In our town of Williamsport, Pa we had it make the news a couple years ago of a police officer cleaning his Glock and it discharged clipping his thumb.

Maybe you knew all this already.
If not then it was knowledge gained.
If you knew already it gave me something to do!!

God bless!!

Michael
 
#10 · (Edited)
My friend is one of the recent, first time buyers of a handgun. He asked me how he should carry it. I thought about it for a moment and since he wears Crocks all the time, I told him to carry it like this:


Footwear Shoe Outdoor shoe Walking shoe Grey
 
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