• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Can I have a loaded magazine while open carrying in NC?

RPJ

New member
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
Messages
3
Location
Wendell, NC
Recently bought a handgun and was wondering if it was legal for me to OC with a loaded magazin, as long as a round wasn't chambered. I mean, it would be pointless to carry around a gun that didn't have bullets in it, right?
 

muccione

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
237
Location
Conover
NC doesn't care if its loaded or not...

I OC with a full and 1 in the pipe... Chambered and ready... All I have to do is pull the trigger and rounds fly...
And I have a spare mag for back up...
 

aosailor

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
228
Location
Hampton, AR
Recently bought a handgun and was wondering if it was legal for me to OC with a loaded magazin, as long as a round wasn't chambered. I mean, it would be pointless to carry around a gun that didn't have bullets in it, right?

this isn't California, you can lock and load in this wonderful state.

please don't take this the wrong way, this is just my opinion, but carrying an unloaded gun is unsafe and idiotic! (if there isn't 1 in the chamber, its unloaded) you might as well just carry a brick around with you.

my "Sarah" carries 13 +1 of .45 federal hydra shock, and I never leave home without her.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
All the above posts are correct.

In NC, you can carry a gun loaded--and I mean LOADED--as in, a full magazine AND a round in the chamber with the hammer cocked and safety on.

And many of us DO...

You can also carry as many extra loaded mags as you wish. I usually carry one extra, but sometimes--when I'm REALLY "putting on the dog" (like at a Rally, or at a big OC Dinner event) I'll carry two spares, because I have a matching set of two mag carriers and a Serpa holster in Coyote Tan (probably the only such Serpa set in the region...) and I like to show it off... ;)

A gun that is not loaded is just a VERY expensive (and heavy) piece of "belt jewelry"...
 

sultan62

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
1,311
Location
Clayton, NC
Also, carry how you train. If you are in California, or most UOC for some other reason, you should have extensive practice drawing your handgun with one hand, a magazine with the other, seating the magazine, and racking the slide. It should be second nature.

You should also be able to do this one handed, with either hand. This makes UOC ridiculously disadvantageous.

Similarly, if you carry without a round chambered, you should constantly practice drawing and racking the slide when at the range; otherwise, in a SD situation, you are likely to draw, pull the trigger, and hear the loudest 'click' of your life. Again, be able to do this one handed. Yeah, difficult, right?

That's why many, and probably the vast majority of us, carry with a round chambered. If you end up having to draw, you can be ready to fire one handed, and quicker than if a round is not chambered.
 

Ricky

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
134
Location
Hickory, N.C.
I agree the XDM 16 plus 1..Chambering a round is one of the most likely times a gun will jam.....IMO.......
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
One thing I want to stress is the misconception about extra mags that a lot of newbies (and non-gun or anti-gun people) have...

We don't carry extra mags because we want a TON of firepower. My Para Ordnance S-14.45 holds 14+1. I carry an extra mag. Not because I think I'll ever be in a situation where I NEED 29 rounds of 230grain .45acp HydraShoks (in fact I PRAY that I NEVER find myself in a situation like that), but because extra mags are for the more effective and speedy clearing of malfunctions.

If, at any point in a magazine, I get a misfire or FTF or some other malfunction, I'll run through a "Tap-Rack-Bang" operation, and HOPEFULLY that fixes the problem. But if for some reason it doesn't, I'm dropping that mag, and inserting a new one and starting from scratch.

Because that's how I was taught, and that's how I train...

Spare mags are often the quickest and most effective way to deal with most feed/fire/ejection-related malfunctions. That's why we carry spare mags...

The fact is, if you need more than 6 rounds in a situation, you probably "brung the wrong pardner to the hoe-down", and you SHOULD be using a 12ga shotgun, or a rifle... :eek:
 

sultan62

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
1,311
Location
Clayton, NC
Agreed. If one magazine isn't enough ammo, I'm using it to get myself to a safe location. The primary reason for carrying an extra magazine is in case of malfunction.
 

cricketdad

Regular Member
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
381
Location
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
The fact is, if you need more than 6 rounds in a situation, you probably "brung the wrong pardner to the hoe-down", and you SHOULD be using a 12ga shotgun, or a rifle... :eek:[/QUOTE]

IIRC Clint Black said a handgun is for fighting your way back to the rifle you should have brung with you to start with.
 

rotorhead

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
862
Location
FL
Agreed. If one magazine isn't enough ammo, I'm using it to get myself to a safe location. The primary reason for carrying an extra magazine is in case of malfunction.

Lies!

The primary reason for carrying an extra magazine is to look cool. Plus, you can show people the latest manly rounds you use without dropping your magazine that's inside the gun.

What's all this talk about practicability and utility, anyway? :eek:
 

buzzsaw

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2008
Messages
189
Location
Sneads Ferry, ,
I ran that quote by an old buddy with infantry training who enlightened me as to the remainder of the quote. "A hand gun is just a tool that you use to fight your way back to your rifle (which you should never have abandoned in the first place) which you use as a tool to fight your way back to your crew served weapon." US Army wisdom?? Who would a thunk it???
 

muccione

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
237
Location
Conover
I carry extra mag for firepower... Zombie control.... My XD only holds 9+1...

And it does look COOL....
 

bushwacker

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
as for states that allow regulation of guns to be unloaded (like commiefornia/ organ, i know how their spelled ) it is idiotic to carry unloaded but not pointless cause you are still pushing for you 2a rights and your visual shock and aww reminds people that we do have rights that needs exercising and it is still a foot on the pathway to the change of law towards oc loaded, and every bit helps here's an example just take five years ago in kali, if you was walking down the street with oc unloaded you would probally get swat ,heilos, news crews all over ya just a spazzing out , now today , due to oc unloaded you don't have much of a spaz. maybe oc unloaded is not good for crime situtations but it has really toned down the spaz factor.
 
Top