The ‘loaded chamber indicator’ on a gun, if it has one, is often decried by some as a non-essential do-dad stuck on a gun by some lawyer to fend off lawsuits. There’s some merit to that line of thinking. Suits have been brought to court nothing the lack of an LCI when some idiot teenager removes the magazine from a semi-auto pistol and shoots their friend thinking it was unloaded.

But they have their uses.

Now that spring is upon us I figured it was a good time to tear own my bigger pistols that I used for carry during the winter. One is a S&W 1911 and the other is a Glock 21. The S&W has a loaded chamber indicator on it, in that there’s a small cutout that lets you see brass if you look down at the pistol from the top of the slide. Works pretty well, though I would prefer something that could be felt in the dark like the Springfield XD series has. Anyway, the Glock has nothing of the sort.

Guess what I found when I took them out of their holsters and unloaded them? The Glock didn’t have a round in the chamber. I thought it did, but it didn’t. Of course the S&W did because I was able to verify that every single time I stuck it on my belt quite easily. Sure, I could have press-checked the Glock, something I have no qualms against, but failed to do so I don’t know how many times.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I like having an LCi on a pistol. I’d never rely on one to tell me that a gun is unloaded, but it sure is nice having a super easy way to verify that one’s already up in the pipe before you set off for the day’s activities.

Note to self: Start press checking. None of my spring/summer pistols have an LCI on them.

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