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apvonkanel wrote:A lot of it comes down to whether or not you trust your sidearm. I would encourage you to get a set of "snap caps", so you can learn to trust your sidearm along with your own competency. You can use them to comfortably check the safety with a round chambered. Actually feeling how I couldn't accidentally fire a round off with the safety on was all I needed to be comfortable carrying red. It also gave me the opportunity to practice drawing, taking off the safety, and pulling the trigger. It helped me train, and training is the best way to build the much lauded muscle memory. Making sure I clear the holster, take off the safety, aim, and then pull the trigger smoothly was essential, as those are the actions I would want to take in an SD event. My preferred range allows holster draw, so I get live practice there every time I go, but with snap caps I can practice at home at my leisure.

Along with practicing, snap caps helped me test the quality of my EDC. The majority of issues with a pistol regarding its safe carry can be identified with snap caps. If you hear the click and firing pin impact any time it shouldn't (holstering, draw, pulling the trigger with the safety on, etc.) it's better to find out there's an issue with a dead round. A) You need to find out about the issue and B) you obviously don't want it to be with a live round. When both you and your sidearm can pass these tests, I've found most people are completely comfortable carrying chambered (I don't say cocked and locked because S&W Shields don't have a hammer to cock). Some prefer to not even have the safety engaged (or no manual safety at all), but that's not me. I'm confident in both my sidearm and myself when it comes to disengaging the safety during the draw. But again, that's a preference issue. You have opinions on both sides of the argument, some claiming carrying with a manual safety on will most likely lead to not firing when you need to, others saying that not having a manual safety engaged will easily lead to an ND. That's one where I say go with your level of comfort.