Loaded Chamber Indicators are Dangerous
They are dangerous and unnecessary
Source
Loaded chamber indicators on handguns are a common feature at this point, and they have been for some time. I happen to be of the mind that they are basically useless and possibly dangerous additions to many handguns. Why do I not think they are a good idea?
To put it plainly, a false sense of security on something which can quite literally kill you is a terrible idea. An LCI is small and mechanical. They can fail, and failure can have dire consequences. If an LCI is stuck in the upward position, running a finger over the slide might indicate that there is a bullet in the chamber when in fact there is not. In short: click, but no bang. When you want a gun to go bang and it doesn't, bad things can happen. It's just a small metal piece pinned in place and there may be a spring. If the pin is too tight, sand in the action, or if lubrication is solidified, then the indicator might give a false positive.
Should the tip of the indicator break off, the indicator will give a false negative. This is dangerous since it will indicate that the chamber is empty when in fact it is very not empty. The fragile tip can also fall deeper into the action inducing a nonrecoverable failure when it is most needed. A defensive handgun should have as much mechanical simplicity as possible. Anything more than the bare functional necessities is just introducing more failure points.
What will you do without an LCI? Well, look in the chamber yourself. Lock the slide back and engage your eyeballs! If it is dark, either know the condition you keep your guns in, or just run the slide to be sure. If you hear a round hit the floor, then you are most definitely ready to go.
If you have a defensive gun with an LCI, I suggest removing it. It doesn't do anything you can't do yourself and can cause serious failures.
I love my S&W M&P9 M2.0, where the indicator is just a hole (half cut in the frame, half cut in the chamber) to look through. But there are models of the M2.0 with a mechanical indicator (as you described) as well.
I also give you right with "don't trust anything else than yourself" when we talk about (and not only) guns.
Know the conditions of all your weapons all the time is a good step forward! And (you also know) even this is no guarantee.
I like your article because it gives the people more awareness. Especially when they buy guns and they are looking for fancy and shiny features, which claim something, but (maybe) can't be a solid thing in daily (or necessary) usage.
Thumbs up! & my follow for sure.
thanks man! I think for a competition gun or whatever they are pretty fine. I felt motivated to write this after I watched someone shoot competition and their LCI broke and ruined their changes. That could happen when you life depended on it.
It's just another thing that raises the price tag on guns like those stupid locks you get when you buy a new gun that no one ever uses them but i'm sure it's like an extra $20 added to the sale price of the gun.
oh man nickle and dimes everywhere!
It is one of those things that... its a step to making us safer... and gun owners were like, meh.