A Wake-Up Call...

[alanint]

Originally Posted by Vlim

The late Elmer Keith kept all his guns loaded. It was a good way to treat each gun as if it were loaded. Reversed psychology

Guns and ammo must be kept strictly separated over here, unless on the range. So the chance of anything going wrong ammo wise is minimal at best. Still a good habit to check if empty nonetheless. As Marc said, it becomes second nature.

This is an issue with outdoor ranges. That wayward round in the chamber is often the result of packing up and returning from the range. Sometimes we rush because the line is about to be called safe and you are no longer allowed to touch your firearms while people are downrange checking or replacing targets, which sometimes seems to take forever. On more than one occasion I have arrived home and began stripping guns for cleaning and found that I or someone who shot my guns had left a round in the chamber. As a result of this, I have established a ritual where I clean my guns the second I arrive home, no matter how tedious, since I am still in a range/safety mind set. Putting the guns away and then taking them out days or weeks later and finding that chambered round is chilling.