What do you prefer?  I prefer to lock and load cause that's how I was trained in the Air Force.

This term gets tossed around alot.  It just means lock the mag. in place and load the weapon.  Not lock the bolt home and then load.

I was trained on the M-1 Garand, and to me it meant pull back the operating rod, lock the safety on, and load the clip.

Concur with Kalash. Lock the action open, and load a mag/clip. It's short for 'lock and load and go into battery and put on safe and watch where you point it cuz now it's loaded', or something to that effect.

Semper Fi.

Arq12

(Edited to scrape off excess sarcasm from monitor)

lock and load, fire one round for affect

I have never heard load and lock.  The manual of arms is lock and load.

Lock and Load

This imperative phrase originally referred to the operation of the M1 Garand Rifle, the standard U.S. Army rifle of WWII. Its meaning is more general now, referring to preparation for any imminent event.

The original phrase was actually reversed, "load and lock." The phrase refers to inserting a clip of ammunition into the rifle, "loading," and "locking" the bolt forward thereby forcing a round into the chamber. The phrase first appears in Gach's 1941-42 In the Army Now. It was immortalized by John Wayne (who else?) in 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima, where the Duke reversed the phrase to the current "lock and load."

[url]http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorl.htm#lock%20and[/url]

Load and Lock is not correct it has to be Lock and Load as long as you are referring to the Garand. As we know to load a Garand you first must lock the bolt to the rear and then you insert the clip at which point the bolt travels forward and chambers the round and if it doesn’t happen to be your day also attempts to chamber your thumb along with the round.  The information in the link was wrong at least about Load coming first you do not manually lock the bolt forward on a Garand. Unless they are referring to loading and then engaging the safety which locks it against accidental discharge.  As far as I am concerned it is still Lock and Load..   Have a nice day.

I think lock and load goes back to muzzle loader days...Pull the "LOCK", to the rear..(ready for recapping, or re-primeing if a flintlock)...Then put in the powder and ball..which is "LOAD"

The hammer mechanism is called the "LOCK" I think

yep the lock (action) the stock and the barrel

I found the following from page 26 Aug/2000 American Rifleman:
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QUESTION:I have heard "lock & load" a lot, and it seems to me that "load and lock" would be more appropriate.  Where did the phase come from?

ANSWER:"Lock and load" is a military range command pertaining to self-loading firearms.  Military range protocols requires that shooters approach the firing line with actions already open and safeties engaged.  If ammunition is already at the firing points, shooters will be told not to touch it until ordered to do so by the range master.

When the shooters are in position and the targets are ready, the command "lock and load" will come from the tower.  This means "lock a magazine in the magazine well of your firearm and a load a round in the chamber by releasing the bolt or slide."  The tower may issue a specific command to release the safety or simply order "commence firing." Glenn M. Gilbert