Its just one of those habits people get into thats for piece of mind more then anything else. After doing some reading on it, it appears its a very common practice.
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Press Check?
- Thread starter Clobbersauras
- Start date
Its just one of those habits people get into thats for piece of mind more then anything else. After doing some reading on it, it appears its a very common practice.
In IPSC competition, when you are given the command to load and make ready you take your gun out of the holster, insert a magazine, rack the slide from battery and then either remove the mag and top up/replace it or insert a fully loaded mag. A slide can skip over the top round if the follower is fouled and not chamber it. Yes, I've seen it happen. I've also seen failures to feed from slide-lock. Of course, if you have one mag that stacks up tight it may not be fully seated when inserted and you may not feel it not catching. The slide will miss there too. After the start signal is a crappy time to find out your mag isn't in all the way.
Again, guns are machines. All machines fail at some point if they are used often enough. Humans fail more often than machines.
I get you, but reread your statement (I mean dude, if thats what ya need to do, your not hurting anybody so go ahead, it just seems retarded to me.). In context, it comes across as a derogatory comment on mental capacity. If someone else responded to you in kind, you'd likely take it the same way I suspect.
Anyway, I'm not the internet police. I just like to keep things civil if possible, at least on my end.
I cant help how people take things, i can only control how i meant it. Even in that statement, im referring to the action of press checking, i didnt say " you seem retarded to me" . I was hoping that grown men would know the difference and have a thicker skin then to get all offended. Its just slang...
nevermind.
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Fair enough. The question you asked at the beginning of the thread was definitely retarded. Obviously I'm not saying "you seem retarded for having asked that question", it's just that the question itself is so abominably stupid that I thought I'd mention it. I assume you have thick enough skin that this comment will seem perfectly appropriate to you. It's great to talk to adults like this.
I press check every day before I leave the house as my life depends on it.
If my pants don't have a crisp cuff and a crease then my clients won't have respect for me = I won't get paid = I starve to death....
Always check that your pants are pressed.
this is pretty much what the conversation has devolved to so I thought I'd throw in my $.02
If my pants don't have a crisp cuff and a crease then my clients won't have respect for me = I won't get paid = I starve to death....
Always check that your pants are pressed.
this is pretty much what the conversation has devolved to so I thought I'd throw in my $.02
Lol.
Nothing will go wrong, if you keep your finger off the trigger, not that I support staring down the barrel, but it can be done without incident.
You're right, after 30 years of competing I figured you might have a solution for some of these lame issues if distraction. How noise distracts you from a physical task is baffling. Do you never drive with the window open or the radio on or have a conversation with others in the vehicle? How ever do you manage to operate the car?? Loading is a visual and tactile process, hearing has little to do with it.
I don't PC and never have and yes I have carried outside the range. I've also never had a failure to fire(empty chamber) because I load my pistol properly and trust the design to function as intended.
Your failure to fire is due to poor loading etiquette/procedure. Try mastering that manual of arms before introducing yet another step in the process that you won't due under stress.
TDC
Failing to complete a checklist as a pilot can result in death quite quickly. The checklists for aircraft are far greater than the two steps required to load your pistol or rifle. That being said, you get a failure to fire you rectify with an IA. Its not always that simple with aircraft.
A failure to feed/load is entirely operator error due to an unseated magazine or questionable magazines. Pay attention to what you're doing when you have the time to do so. As for serving members advocating a PC, that doesn't necessarily hold any merit, the MIL still teaches the use of the forward assist on rifles and we all know that's a complete waste of time.
Riiiight. YOU were the on who made mention of being concerned with "disturbing the slide/action" and you are an expert on what guns are garbage? If your gun won't go back into battery after the slide is pulled back a 1/2 inch, maybe it's your gun that's garbage.
No seriously. There have been several people who came forth with a reason for doing a press-check. Let's hear why we shouldn't. I mean besides "that's retarded".
I've witnessed a few folks induce a failure to fire by retracting the slide to confirm a round was chambered. Checking via the magazine is a much smarter method, if you feel inclined to PC at all. The slide on a pistol was not designed to be manually operated a short distance such as that of a press check. Yes, most times the slide will return to battery on its own, but why risk inducing a stoppage while trying to solve another???
The PC is administrative, if you retract fully and eject a live round, simply recover it, reload it, and move along.
If your magazine isn't fully seated, that's a you issue, not a design issue. Again, pay attention to what you're doing. The admin load is not time sensitive so slow down and pay attention. Insert the magazine, pull on the magazine to ensure it is seated, then cycle the slide I can guarantee your pistol is loaded. If you must ease your mind with a press check/chamber check, then do it via the magazine.
TDC
ETA: Can we get a poll added????
I only do press checks when I want to:
A) delay as much as possible the chitty string of fire I'm about to unleash - you know the stages where you've done the mental math and counted your rounds and you still only come up with 30 rounds in a 32 round course of fire. You hope that extra 3 seconds leads you to a eureka moment where you get up to speed and figure it out before the buzzer.
B) When I want to look like I really do know what I'm doing, and not just 'faking it'.
Generally I do it on all my guns, even my ARs.
A) delay as much as possible the chitty string of fire I'm about to unleash - you know the stages where you've done the mental math and counted your rounds and you still only come up with 30 rounds in a 32 round course of fire. You hope that extra 3 seconds leads you to a eureka moment where you get up to speed and figure it out before the buzzer.
B) When I want to look like I really do know what I'm doing, and not just 'faking it'.
Generally I do it on all my guns, even my ARs.
This is what Hickok45 had to say:
I'm quite aware of press checking and have used it for decades with the 1911. Guess it could be considered unsafe; I would not recommend it for anybody unless they're very accomplished and experienced with the 1911.
With many of them today and those horrible full-length guide rods, it's not possible anyway.
Well, we should all always know whether there's a round in the chamber, but it's a little like "knowing" if a gun is unloaded. We think we know, but we really don't sometimes either way, I guess.
Hickok45
I'm quite aware of press checking and have used it for decades with the 1911. Guess it could be considered unsafe; I would not recommend it for anybody unless they're very accomplished and experienced with the 1911.
With many of them today and those horrible full-length guide rods, it's not possible anyway.
Well, we should all always know whether there's a round in the chamber, but it's a little like "knowing" if a gun is unloaded. We think we know, but we really don't sometimes either way, I guess.
Hickok45
Strange .... my Colt Gold Cup is fitted with a guide rod, does not have grasping grooves milled into the front of the slide and yet I'm able to 'press check' quite handily regardless.
The three R1s and the Ruger SR1911 we have came with an all but useless notch cut in the barrel hood for the purpose of. My wife's SR9 has the 'loaded chamber' indicator which would be very reassuring in the dark.
When I was shooting my S&W '66 in IPSC, I often opened the cylinder after 'load & make ready' just to make sure things were going to be OK. It also gave me a chance to look for high primers, etc. Never experienced that, but ya never know .....
The three R1s and the Ruger SR1911 we have came with an all but useless notch cut in the barrel hood for the purpose of. My wife's SR9 has the 'loaded chamber' indicator which would be very reassuring in the dark.
When I was shooting my S&W '66 in IPSC, I often opened the cylinder after 'load & make ready' just to make sure things were going to be OK. It also gave me a chance to look for high primers, etc. Never experienced that, but ya never know .....
I press check every time I load my pistol, every time. With my AR I've been known to press check or just check the top round in the mag to make sure it's on the other side.
Why do I check, to make ####ing sure, that's why. In competition if I draw and get a click, I just lost a stage, maybe a match due to my ####ing up the load. Obviously during the stage I can't check if the run is loaded on a reload, I'm under time, but at the LAMR, ####ing rights I check, and you're either A) not competitive enough for me to worry about B) or a newb [see A], if you don't do it too.
When I've been places I can carry, I always press checked before holstering, I press checked in the morning when I got up too. Habits taught to me by people who actually do it for a living. It takes less than a second to do, and ensures your pistol is loaded, and in battery properly. I've caught mangled rounds that from a quick look you wouldn't think the gun was out of battery, but on the press check you discover it is. High primers and that sort of thing, from both my own reloads and from factory. It's an opportunity to ensure your gun is ready to go, not doing it may cost you.
Why do I check, to make ####ing sure, that's why. In competition if I draw and get a click, I just lost a stage, maybe a match due to my ####ing up the load. Obviously during the stage I can't check if the run is loaded on a reload, I'm under time, but at the LAMR, ####ing rights I check, and you're either A) not competitive enough for me to worry about B) or a newb [see A], if you don't do it too.
When I've been places I can carry, I always press checked before holstering, I press checked in the morning when I got up too. Habits taught to me by people who actually do it for a living. It takes less than a second to do, and ensures your pistol is loaded, and in battery properly. I've caught mangled rounds that from a quick look you wouldn't think the gun was out of battery, but on the press check you discover it is. High primers and that sort of thing, from both my own reloads and from factory. It's an opportunity to ensure your gun is ready to go, not doing it may cost you.
