Would you carry a gun you have never fired?

[z_clark]

I have had my chl for 6 weeks, and my Ruger LCP has been with me every day. I am a revolver guy at heart, and picked up a LCR 38 sp today.

It will be a few weekends before I can make it to the range, yet I plan on carrying this new never fired by me revolver starting tomorrow. Am I nuts?

While I like my LCP, I have had 3 stovepipes in the first 300 rounds. I am sure it was the cheep amo and breaking in, but a revolver makes me more confident.

[RJGold]

I think you owe it to yourself to be familiar with the weapon you are carrying as well as proving it will fire if needed.

I suppose there are other ways to do that (i.e. you are familiar with the make and model of the weapon and you bought it from a friend who has fired it and can vouch for it's functionality) but I would want to shoot it and make sure what I was carrying would work and I was familiar with it's operation.

My two cents...

[baldeagle]

I have had my chl for 6 weeks, and my Ruger LCP has been with me every day. I am a revolver guy at heart, and picked up a LCR 38 sp today.

It will be a few weekends before I can make it to the range, yet I plan on carrying this new never fired by me revolver starting tomorrow. Am I nuts?

While I like my LCP, I have had 3 stovepipes in the first 300 rounds. I am sure it was the cheep amo and breaking in, but a revolver makes me more confident.

Then you should carry a revolver. When you get comfortable with your LCP, then carry it. Remember, if you actually have to use the weapon, you're not going to have time to familiarize yourself with the weapon. You will have to be fast and competent or you may be dead. If it stovepipes, can you clear the stovepipe and get back in the fight before you get shot? If not, don't carry it.

[Keith B]

One word, 'No'

[Jumping Frog]

I would never dream of carrying a gun that I haven't fired.

How do you know something isn't wrong with it, a manufacturing defect?

The only thing worse that expecting to hear "click" and being surprised by "BANG" is the opposite: expecting to hear "BANG" and being surprised by "click".

[E.Marquez]

No
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But did once.....
When I turned it in for a new set of sights I had not planned on getting that day.... then bought a new gun, and "wore it home" SO technically yes, but it was a 2 hour trip and it went in the safe as soon as I got home, replaced with one I rotate into carry often and have fired many times.

[MoJo]

Yes, I was issued a new rifle in Vietnam, and was on guard with it that night.

There are some things you can do to assure the gun will fire without firing it. The biggest problem is failure to fire because of a weak mainspring or a broken firing pin. The non bullet way to do this is with a pencil. Check the gun to be sure it's unloaded, then cock the gun and put a pencil eraser first into the barrel. Pointing the gun up pull the trigger if the pencil jumps the firing pin and spring are OK. Hand cycling a semi with DUMMY ammo will show you the gun feeds. These two steps will help establish some confidence in your gun. Shooting is important to rule out things that may only show up during actual firing.

[gigag04]

Would you drive blindfolded?

[jmra]

NO.

[discoqueen]

Would you want a triple bypass done by a guy who just graduated med school and had never actually done a triple bypass?
Not entirely the same thing, but in both cases, the thing that's responsible for saving your life hasn't been tested to be sure it will do what it's supposed to.

Is there no way you can squeeze in even a really short range trip before you start carrying it?

[RPBrown]

Never have and never will. What if "it" happens, you pull your weapon and hear click. Not me.

I have never carried a weapon with less than 200 rounds without a hiccup.

[Salty1]

Since you have no idea how it shoots or how to line up the sights on that particular gun it could be a disaster if you had to use it for self defense. Not sure how the discussion would go if a bullet got away and struck a bystander. Guess you could always say that you were too busy to practice with it and your self protection was worth more than anybody else's safety. Sounds to me like you would have some major legal issues.

In my opinion until somebody has mastered the handgun, trigger, point of aim etc. they should not carry it. My personal standard is a minimum of 100 rounds through it and then the ability to put all rounds on a paper plate at 50 feet for those who cannot do this then at least they tried and know their limitations.

Go to the range and learn the gun, then consider it for carry................

[texanjoker]

No - what if it doesn't work? Without practicing with it you have no way of knowing.

[TheDude]

Not a chance! Fire at least a few hundred rounds through it. Better yet take it through a training class where you shoot a couple hundred rounds. You won't know problems with your gear unless you get out and use it. I won't even carry ammo that I haven't ran at least 50 rounds of through my gun.

I took a pistol class May 4-5 where we fired 900+ rounds in two days. About 700 rounds in my rear sight of my XS Big Dots came off my gun and they were installed by a "professional" gunsmith. I guess he didn't think they needed the loctite that came with them. Of course you probably won't shoot 700 rounds in a fight but I am still glad I found the problem.