The Chamber Check

OK, here are several variations on the Chamber Check. I shoot a Glock, so the old
M1911 Pinch Check couldn't be illustrated, but I think I got most of the other common
variations.

First, what & why.

The Chamber Check is an administrative action to confirm the presence of a round in the
chamber of your pistol. No one should be attempting a Chamber Check after reloading
in-fight. The Chamber Check requires fine & complex motor skills. Screwing up a
Chamber Check can easily induce a malfunction in your handgun.

Please note that all pictures in this sequence were shot with the gun, more or less,
horizontal and that none of them illustrate the firing hand being utilized for anything
other than holding the gun.

The purpose for this is twofold. Any of these Chamber Checks could be performed with
the gun muzzle in different positions, so rather than cloud the presentation with varying
hand positions & gun locations, I've kept them all in the same basic spot. Realize that
with most of these Chamber Checks you could use the trigger finger of the gun hand to
physically verify the presence of a round in the chamber, but this might require you to
shift your grip on the gun to do so. Only one technique shown actually incorporates the
offside trigger finger to perform the tactile verification.

Chamber Check 1: This is closest to the old Pinch Check. The offhand grasps the slide
from underneath and eases the slide rearward to allow visual verification of a round in the
chamber.
Chamber Check 2 is the Overhand method where the non-gun hand grasps the slide
forward of the ejection port & behind the front sight.

Chamber Check 3 is the castrated slide run. This is where the shooter grasps the slide as
though he were going to chamber a round and pulls back, just a little bit, to verify that a
round is present. So far, this is the one that is responsible for more double feeds than any
other Chamber Check.
This is an example of conflicting Motor Programs. You learn to rack the slide forcefully
when chambering a round, correct? Now you want to break that motion into pieces so
that you can perform a Chamber Check. What happens is that your body forgets what
task it is performing and, invariably, over racks for a Chamber Check [partially ejecting
the chambered round, setting up a stoppage].

My two cents, your normal 'rack the slide grip' should only be used to rack the slide and
you ought to do it as though you were trying to rip the slide off the frame at its point of
rearmost travel.
If you are going to practice a Chamber Check, this is my preference.

The offhand tugs the slide slightly to the rear utilizing a 'slingshot' type grip and the
offhand index finger contacts the chambered round.

This grip on the slide is totally different than my normal gunhandling grasp and the only
task associated with it is this Chamber Check.

Again, I'm not a big believer in any sort of Chamber Check. I feel that an appropriate
'combative chamber check' is to ensure the magazine is fully seated and vigorously rack
the slide, however, for those that insist on a Chamber Check, I maintain that it must be a
unique scheme of motion, that it must feature a tactile [physical] component and,
preferably, that it not compromise the firing grip.

Originally posted by Paul Gomez at Total Protection Interactive. This PDF file is created to aid students of
self protection, as a tribute to those who wrote the content and is in no way a challenge to the original
author. The format of this document is protected by a Creative Commons Licence. Any derivative works
must give attribution to the original author(s) of the content. The copyright for the content is held by the
original author. I have edited spelling and grammar only.

James Marwood