TexasCHLforum.com

Question for ya'll:

I have a Kimber Custom CDP II that I keep in the bedside table, cocked and locked. It is my primary home defense gun.

When I get home I completely empty my primary carry piece, Kahr CW 40, and leave it in the holster with action open, magazine and +1 cartridge to the side. I reload it every morning. I figure I dont need the Kahr when my .45 is 20 inches from my head.

Do you

a. leave gun loaded and treat it as a bug
b. leave gun loaded and use it as both primary home and primary carry gun
c. unload it

Are there any adverse effects to loading and unloading this frequently???

I take off my carry gun when I'm ready to go to bed and put it in the safe--loaded and in the holster.

Repeatedly ejecting and rechambering rounds (such as you are doing by unloading your carry gun everyday) can lead to bullet setback and overpressure. I'd be especially concerned in high-pressure calibers such as .40S&W.

There is a .40 cal Glock kB documented here likely caused by similar behavior.

petroleumag07 wrote:Question for ya'll:

I have a Kimber Custom CDP II that I keep in the bedside table, cocked and locked. It is my primary home defense gun.

When I get home I completely empty my primary carry piece, Kahr CW 40, and leave it in the holster with action open, magazine and +1 cartridge to the side. I reload it every morning. I figure I dont need the Kahr when my .45 is 20 inches from my head.

Do you

a. leave gun loaded and treat it as a bug
b. leave gun loaded and use it as both primary home and primary carry gun
c. unload it

Are there any adverse effects to loading and unloading this frequently???

My night stand gun gets carried some. When not carried it stays loaded. When it is carried my Kimber stays loaded. Matter of fact I dont have an unloaded hand gun. When I take off my daily carry I do not unload.
Sometimes loading & unloading constantly causes a little "push back" on your carry ammo. The bullet will push back a little deeper in the case. Also constantly locking open the slide will weaken your recoil spring prematurely. Some may disagree here.
So answer is "A" I guess.

There is a .40 cal Glock kB documented here likely caused by similar behavior.

Mines a Kahr, kbs only happen in Glocks

Thanks for the heads up

All loaded, all the time.

Unloading does nothing positive, and does several bad things. There's just no reason for it unless you're using a trigger or cable lock.

I keep my carry pistol and HD pistol loaded at all times. The only time I unload is for cleaning, trigger / drawing practice, or if a pistol is going to be in the safe for a long time, and even for safe storage it might stay loaded depending on what it is.

We don't have any children in the house or anyone else to worry about, so that may be diffrerent from your situation.

"A" and it is also a Kimber CDP II

no kids, no friends with kids, no safe. I guess no point in unloading it.

The less you handle the gun, the less chance for NDs. I'd keep it loaded.

I prefer to unload mine at the range anyway by spitting the lead part of the rounds out the front and the brass part out the side.

I keep all of mine cocked and locked. Wheater in safe, on night stand, or on person. 7 pistols, 2 rifles and 2 shotguns. Makes for a bad day if you needed one and grabbed an unloaded gun. Plus, I'm old and that way I don't have to try to remember if one is loaded or not.

I keep 2 pistols, loaded, round in chamber, with back up magazines on my dresser. One is my daily carry - a Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry II in .45 ACP. It has two backup 7 round mags. I leave it loaded partly because it's safer that way (safer than constantly loading and unloading it), and partly as a back up to my other pistol.

The second pistol is an H&K USP Compact in .40 S&W. I have a tactical light mounted to the rail, and a second magazine. That is my "regular night stand" gun. I can't imagine that I would need more than 25 rounds (2 12 rnd mags +1 in the pipe) of .40 cal. in a home defense situation. If Armageddon were ever to come down inside my house, there would be another 22 rounds of .45 ACP available, plus a LOT of .308 and .223 firepower in the safe, but I can't see that ever happening. It is far more likely that I would have to dissuade a burglar from leaving his fingerprints on the good china, and a blinding white light illuminating a pistol muzzle pointed in his direction as his retinas run screaming for cover is probably going to be good enough.

My other pistols in my safe are unloaded.

My two carry guns are G19 and G26. Both stay loaded all the time. One in the nightstand, one for carry, unless I am not going be at home, then one is in the gun safe, but still loaded.

petroleumag07 wrote:no kids, no friends with kids, no safe. I guess no point in unloading it.

My kimber is my first 1911 and I had to get used to it being cocked and locked all the time. Took a while to convince my 'old dog' brain, but I managed to overcome it. Looking back, its really no different than any other gun. How many of us have loaded XDs in the house? Even with no external safety on them, they are not mysteriously going bang in the dark.

Leave your primary in condition 1 in the holster and keep both of them within easy reach. That is, easy reach of you, and not any kids that may be in the house.

I saw something the other day that put a grin on my face. it read something like this:
"Stupid kids will play with guns. If you have stupid kids, put them up for adoption to protect your guns."

The expressions above are my opinion only, and should not be confused with those of higher learnin.

I carry a Glock 19, 9mm for my Carry and as Home Defense, since I'm by myself, I keep the Glock in a Holster that's attached to the Head of my bed.