Loading and Unloading Without Shortcuts
Dry-Fire · At Home
Verified clear, dummy rounds only. Fifteen full cycles: load, chamber check, holster or set down, then unload, lock the action open, and check the chamber by sight and by feel. Most negligent discharges happen during this kind of routine handling, so it deserves its own practice.
Live-Fire · At the Range
Twenty rounds at 7 yards in five strings. Load, chamber check, fire two rounds on card A and two on card B, then unload and show clear before the next string. The handling is the drill and the shooting is the reward.
Service Pistol
Loading and unloading at the start and end of a shift is where duty guns go off. Use the same sequence every time.
Concealed Carry
Handle your carry gun as little as possible. When you do have to load or unload it, do it in the same place and the same order.
Carbine
Carbine version: insert the magazine, tug to confirm it is seated, chamber, and check. Unload in reverse and look into the chamber.
AUX (when ready): fifteen cycles in a row without skipping the chamber check once.
The gun is most dangerous when you are bored with it.
Your Daily Callout — By Archetype
You will want to rush the boring part. The boring part is where the accidents are.
Look and feel on every check. One sense can be fooled, and two rarely are.
Most of your handling happens at home, near the people you are protecting.
Write the sequence down once, then run it identically for the rest of your life.
Layer: run five cycles in the dark, checking the chamber by feel only.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.
Dry-fire: no ammunition in the room. Verify the firearm is clear — twice. Use a safe backstop. When you finish, say it out loud: “Dry fire is over.”
The Four Universal Safety Rules
Non-negotiable. Every drill, every rep, every time. This applies to live fire and dry fire.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.