Press checks are dumb?

[Vyadmirer]

...change my mind.

If I admin reload a pistol and hit the bolt release why would a round not go in the chamber? And why would I pull it back 1/2 inch to then let go, then have to hit slide to make sure it went back into battery? Why would I give myself the chance to “short stroke” it? You hear instructors constantly talk about sending the slide all the way home but then advocate doing the exact opposite to press check a pistol they just loaded! Do you press check after every shot to make sure there’s one in because your life depends on it? What’s the difference?

I can see press checking a carry pistol I pick up out of the safe to make sure it has one in because it’s been a while.

Am I dumb? (Which is entirely possible) I’ve never understood the logic.

 

[Dace]

I dont think you are dumb. But I have press checked probably tens of thousands of times all kinds of firearms mainly because I can and its a last step for me if I didnt just immediately load a gun. Never had an issue with it.

Now if I just loaded a fresh magazine and am about to shoot I dont press check.

 

[Bullzaye]

^^^^^This^^^^^

 

[mtptwo]

I press check verifies that they slide picked up a round from the magazine.

Every time I pick up my carry gun, I verify there is a round in the chamber before I walk out the door.

 

[xerts1191]

+2 with Dace

 

[Elk34]

I only press check a gun I get from someone else. I load my mags to the limit. There are no (hot) guns in my gun room or safe. When I pick a gun for the day I firmly load a mag and drop the slide. I never had a pistol not strip one out of the mag and chamber. Now if I pick a gun off someone that I don't know I will chamber check this one time. I've been around a lot of instructors that love press checking weapons. It's a good way to shoot yourself in the hand. I have heard of it happening to 3 or 4 people

 

[Doc Holliday]

Never liked to do press checks, not a big believer in getting closer to the business end than necessary.

 

[tdog90yj]

Every time I pick up my carry gun, I verify there is a round in the chamber before I walk out the door.

This. If the gun has been out of my control. Otherwise it is just range theatrics that looks cool in a Steven Segal movie of the 80’s

The idea of the press check is actually pretty interesting if you look into the history of the schools that initially brought it to special operations (CAG/Devgru) and the whys(1911).

Vickers has an interesting video on the “old” school method of press check as well.

 

[effjaybay]

Call me weird but I only tend to do it with my guns that have front serrations and not with the ones that don't.

 

[shooter444]

I don't find anything "dumb" about wanting to confirm, one in the chamber.

jmo


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[Az desert rat 1]

X 2, shooter444.

 

[shooter444]

Call me weird but I only tend to do it with my guns that have front serrations and not with the ones that don't.

Hmmm, I wouldn't say weird,... but, I never touch the front sides of the slide, to press check, blocks my view of the muzzle.

I hook my left hand thumb in the trigger guard, and hook my left hand index finger over the lower front portion of the front end of the slide, below the muzzle, and squeeze,...while holding the hammer back with my right hand thumb.

Was taught this as a teenager, when I got my first surplus 1911.

Maybe I do it weird!

 

[Pscipio03]

It's become such a habit with me that I check every time I load a new mag or am about to shoot.
Magazines can fail; extractors can fail; and you can fail (ever let the bolt close on a mag not fully inserted?). Press check shows me in less than .5 seconds I have a loaded chamber and it's ready.
For AR's, I'll visually check what side the first round is on, let the bolt go forward and drop the mag to inspect and make sure that the round showing is on the opposite side. Again, less than about a second and it assures me I'm ready to go.

 

[Bigfoot]

I don't un-holster my guns when they go into the safe. I am the only one that has control of the safe. So if I remove a gun from the safe, inside the holster, I don't press check them.

 

[desertcop204]

I do press checks out of habit, which is kinda silly as all my handguns remain loaded continuously, but yeah I still do them.

 

[Maestro]

I have to go with what some others have said. If I just loaded the gun, I don't do a press check. If I'm picking up a weapon to carry that I didn't just load, I check the mag and I do a press check to verify one in the chamber.

Never trust your memory. "I always do it that way so I know I did it that way last time" is the universal preface to a negligent discharge or not having a round on tap when it is needed.

 

[Pro2a]

Call me weird but I only tend to do it with my guns that have front serrations and not with the ones that don't.

You weird?, yes....but serrations help, you'd have to flag your hand/fingers without them.
Good feature to have and not use than need and not have.

 

[Boriqua]

I am a firm ... "I dont give a fuk what you do so long as you leave me alone" kind of guy but .. I also dont get the press check thing. Here are my issues. Just about every modern firearm has a peep hole or some such means of seeing if there is a round in the chamber.

Second .. I only own 2 semi autos so its not really an issue but most importantly and it might be silly .. If I load a mag and sling shot it closed .. my thinking is that everything is in about as perfect a condition as it can be. The cartridge is firmly seated, the rim is perfectly under the extractor and the next round is in about as perfect a position as its going to be short of firing the gun. I also know the gun is in battery as about as good as it gets. It was all sent home with the aid of a strong spring and inertia.

Now I have no evidence but have a builder guy kind of mind ... I now go and creep the slide back enough to see if there is a round in the chamber because my alzhiemers has kicked in or I dont have my glasses on so cant see the peep hole. The barrel ever so slightly tilts out of its firmly locked position and the cartridge ever so slightly slips down some under the extractor .. and then I let it go from its position of 1/2 inch open or whatever amount you open to check and instead of having the full force of the recoil spring and inertia doing its job locking everything up and slipping that rim just perfectly under the extractor .. you get the very weakest part of the last 1/2 of travel to make sure all those things happen again.

To each their own but .. I dont do it and cant find a good reason to start now.

Most of the time .. if I do a press check .. it looks like this

 

[shooter444]

AZ1182, has hit the ball out of the park, imo!!!

Along with the four golden rules, my added one is if one is handed a gun from myself or to me, even my own stuff, check even after you see me checking before handing off, same for my friends after them checking I check once more. Trust no one, people make mistakes and get forgetful.

There was a time when I did a lot of gun handling, with guys I shot with. I don't do it nearly as much, anymore. AZ1182's safety recommendation is the one I have done, from a very young age, as I was taught. I do/did it so much that many friends thought me crazy for checking a weapon before handing it to them,... then making sure they check upon receiving it,... and then check again when they hand it back to me! To be honest, I have done this for so long I thought this was the only way to exchange a weapon, with someone else!

Doing it this way, I never had a gun in my hand I didn't know what condition it was in,... nor, a gun in the hands of a person in close proximity to me, without seeing its condition checked... and that is a feeling of safety, I can't handle firearms, without!


AZ1182 »
When I shoot an EDC at the range, I never take out what was already in the pipe to reuse later. I have spare ammo for that and I never have to worry about round setback and keeping track of it. All have gone bang and kept on going bang even when press checked. Tension still stays the same. Tens of thousands of rounds fired, not one problem. EVER. Not having tension from a press check...is like an old wives tale...kind of like when before handing off arms to the armorer, all had to be on fire because of "spring tension" lol....what a crock of BS. Say it enough and you start believing in it despite the fact that the facts are not in existence to support that argument either.



I can NOT remember the number of press checks I have done in my life. What I can remember,... I never had a failure to fire after a press check. My guess is, some sort of press check has been around since the first semi-auto was sold, well over 100 years ago. Just doesn't seem to be a safety procedure that has been stopped from use, do to negative results!


__________________________________________________________________________
Oscar Wilde,...
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” __________________________________________________________________________
Creator Endowed Unalienable Human Rights, forever!
______________________
My inglorious foe/ignore list !

17-21-23
Crippletrigger
HDS
Marine1
Ranger1
Razorback
YNOTAZ
redj
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MarkItZero
Jamnmike

 

[Jeep]

I don't do them enless I have just been handed a gun.