User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 10/8/2002 11:26:10 PM EDT
[#1]
Loaded, but not chambered. After all, it only takes seconds to charge that action. And anyways, the sound of charging alone, will scare off most "tresspassers".
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 12:54:27 AM EDT
[#2]
I believe the AR15 can be kept cocked and locked indefinitely without problem. However, if it bothers you, then just replace the hammer spring every few months (they aren't that expensive.)
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 12:58:41 AM EDT
[#3]
I keep mine with a loaded 30 rounder and a locked back bolt. Hit the bolt release and I'm ready to rock... at least in my imagination anyway.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 12:50:16 PM EDT
[#4]
I keep mine loaded with 10 rounds of 55gr SP bullets in a 20 round magazine. Chamber empty, hammer down.
Then again, my department has some very old Colt AR-15's from the '70's. The guns are generally kept cocked (hammer back) and an empty chamber. The guns are tack drivers and have never experienced any problems with the pressure being kept on the hammer springs. The only dumb reason the guns are stored that way in the armories is because guys that don't know squat about guns check the guns out for quals at the range. Then the guys clean the guns, re check the chamber to make sure it's empty and by default the gun gets cocked and stored away until next time. Most people don't know about lowering the hammer manually with your thumb (unlike "dry firing) to save wear/tear on the hammer spring. But like I said, the guns have been stored that way for over 30 years and they still shoot without flaw. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 1:42:37 PM EDT
[#5]
 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 2:25:00 PM EDT
[#6]
At least one sometimes two and an AK and a hand gun to boot. I wan't the bad guys dead body to scare the rest of them away.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 4:05:33 PM EDT
[#7]
If you have kids it's a bad idea, unless properly secured. Just remeber if the bolt is back and you drop it on the butstock, the bolt may go forward. How long does it take you to chamber a round?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 4:26:47 PM EDT
[#8]
I don't.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 5:30:19 PM EDT
[#9]
Yea, I think from now on I will leave just the mag loaded and charge the AR for when I need it instead of having one in the chamber.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 5:36:55 PM EDT
[#10]
That's what I do....
I don't feel completely comfortable chambering a round in any of my AR's in the house knowing there's a possibility of an "AD" with that free floating firing pin.... -John |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 5:48:01 PM EDT
[#11]
I keep a round chambered in my handguns since they can be decocked and the first shot is DA. Whichever rifle is in the rotation in a given week, be it an AR (15 or 180) or the M1 Carbine, has a loaded mag locked into place but no round in the chamber and hammer down.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 5:53:37 PM EDT
[#12]
M4gery stays in the safe locked but not loaded.
G-22 stays in the speed safe next to the bed locked and loaded. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 6:42:49 PM EDT
[#13]
My scenario: I keep whatever hangun I'm in the mood for (SIG or Beretta, in 3 days a Springfield Armory {yes}) on the coffee table or take it with me wherever I go in the house, without a round in the pipe, until I go to bed. THEN I chamber a round and it goes in a handy, easy to reach place (whether I'm on my back or stomach)in the headboard. I keep a 30 round mag (twenty five rounds loaded) for the ARs on top the gun cabinet, and the lock is set to "easy to open" whenever I'm home. The two ARs are in the middle of the rack, either one is fine for me. So, I guess you could say I have a handgun within easy reach to use to work my way to the rifle.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 7:29:03 PM EDT
[#14]
I keep an empty 30-round mag in my Bushmaster AR-15 14.5 inch carbine but 3 loaded magazines of 55-gr Lake City no more than 3 feet away at all times. This stays hidden in my 2nd floor bedroom. In 3 seconds I can be producing rapid, accurate, aimed fire. I am fanatic about always using ammo that fragments out to 100 yards (Lake City and Winchester 3031 white box M193). Beyond that, in my urban enviroment I don't need or want more range. I'll be buying an M1-A for that someday.
Additionally, I carry a Colt .45 ACP 3.5-inch barrel Officer's Model concealed with a loaded mag on board, hammer down, chamber full (condition zero), plus a 6-round spare mag. I am rather severely disabled, left-handed, and condition zero is best for me. I am 60 years old and nearly helpless, unless I can get my hands on a nearby always-loaded.45 or AR-15 before an attacker hits. Then the assailant is in deep doggy doo-doo. To me, safety is always having the ability to control one's mind and one's firearm under life-and-death pressure, not some smart(ass) mechanical device that can always fail, and often does. -Beldar |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 9:16:45 PM EDT
[#15]
I keep my 30 round mags loaded up with 25 rounds always. I don't chamber a round until I'm ready for business. I can charge the weapon in the time it takes to bring it up on target and to my shoulder. I don't think having a round chambered all the time is a very good or safe idea.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 9:55:51 PM EDT
[#16]
I have a 9 round mag in the AR, nothing in the pipe. My wife has five in the wheel of her Smith.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/9/2002 10:12:43 PM EDT
[#17]
Does your department issue your AR's? Do they allow burst or just semi? Thanks for the helpful email too!  |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 12:14:38 AM EDT
[#18]
In the car I keep an AK 74 clone in the trunk. 30 rounds in the mag, safety off, empty chamber and dot sight on (swithch batteries every week). I keep my concealed carry K9 on me with a round in the chamber and full magazine. At home I keep 10 rounds in my USP Tactical with one in the chamber, decocked, safety off and 30 rounds in the AR saftey off no round in the chamber.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 1:35:05 AM EDT
[#19]
Is the Pope Polish? You know he is! I keep a 20rd mag (19rds, empty chamber) in my rifle in addition to the extra 20rd and 30rd in my Fender Soft Guitar Case. Its my LA Express Card, I never leave home without it!hacko.gif
Ya Gotta LOVE Texas... |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 3:49:48 AM EDT
[#20]
One in every room in the house and one in the barn! Its like the Retired State Trooper that ran the hand gun safety class I attended for my carry permit responded when this woman ask, " Should I keep this gun loaded when I carry it"
Instructor, while restraining from other replies said, " Yes Ms, unless you plan to defend yourself using it as a club" |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 5:27:41 AM EDT
[#21]
I've got my HK USP .45 in my nightstand loaded with 230 grain Hydrashocks and a spare mag. Chamber is loaded, locked and cocked with safety on. In my closet I have my AR with 2 30 round mags.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 6:15:53 AM EDT
[#22]
Sig P220 in .45 ACP (JHP at the moment, can someone recommend a better .45 ACP home defense round?) in the nightstand, magazine full, but chamber empty. I can draw it from the drawer and rack the slide very quickly.
A few weeks ago, while wife was up at 4 am feeding our new born, the family room motion detector went off a few minutes after she and baby had come back to our bedroom. Our previously discussed home defense routine worked great. Wife took baby to bedroom walkin closet, where Mr. 870 Super Mag with 00 buck is ready for her, I drew my Sig from the drawer and loaded it and was ready in a few seconds. Long story short, it turned out to be a bad motion sensor. Why do these things always die in the middle of the night? My LEGP M4gery with an Aimpoint ML has a 30 rd magazine in it at all times, but nothing in the chamber and it is not cocked. Like many it seems, I think I can charge it very quickly. If we have visitors I use the fake 20 rd locking magazine from the Bushmaster website to lock the AR and the sig has the magazine removed and all is hidden. I do need to look into one of those nightstand pistol safes and eventually a full size safe for all of my weapons as my child gets older. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 7:04:51 AM EDT
[#23]
An AR with a loaded 30 round magazine is always parked against the wall near the bed. Bolt closed, hammer down, chamber empty. One fast move loads it, and that'll do.
Also, when I'm in the bedroom, the bedroom door is always closed and locked, which would give me a little extra warning and time to prepare. I wake up fairly easily at the sound of things moving around. I just have to be careful not to shoot the dog. (Or anything else that doesn't need shooting.) She's totally invisible in the dark as all her upper body fur is jet black, and she walks quietly but sometimes I hear her. She's startled me more than once in the dark. CJ |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 8:38:47 AM EDT
[#24]
A few years ago I left my Colt AR in the gun safe locked and loaded. Five years later (A tour in the Marines), I took it out back of the house (Safe Area) and put the selector to fire and it did. Now it was by total accident that it was left locked and loaded.
556 |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 10:04:58 AM EDT
[#25]
DevL, check your state laws reguarding loaded firearms in the car. Some state dont allow the firearm to be loaded during transportation other than a personal weapon on your body. It would suck to get a ticket or worse for that, especially since it takes an extra 2 sec to put the mag in.
SorryOciffer |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 10:55:52 AM EDT
[#26]
LOL, that is my philosophy also. I keep every think I own loaded. That includes the ones in my vehicle, shop, safes, house, etc... I also keep them loaded up all the way. No 28rds in a 30rd mag. I have never had any problems of fail to feed or all of that jazz. The only problem I did have once in the summer I was called out to look at a skunk that had bit someones dog or something. Anyway took out my 12gauge from the vet-mobile and shot the skunk and then tried to cycle another through and nothing. It appeared that the heat had caused the shells to mush in the magazine tube. Must have been the spring pressure on 7rds in the tube coupled with the heat. So now I leave it downloaded a shell or two in the summer. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 6:26:58 PM EDT
[#27]
My phone is no more than 2 feet away at all times with 911 on speed dial!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 6:31:52 PM EDT
[#28]
Just kidding of course. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 6:58:39 PM EDT
[#29]
Yeah you need to check it out here in Oklahoma you can with a CCL carry that loaded firearm on your person or in your vehicle(conceled) less than 50 cal and 15 inches long or shorter! So that leaves out the loaded Ak here! Bob
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 7:11:54 PM EDT
[#30]
Could you fill me in on how it's done? I always wind up dry firing mine before I put it away. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 7:29:01 PM EDT
[#31]
I keep a .40 SW glock by the bed loaded with one in the chamber. I carry a 9mm G26 on me all the time. When I walk in the door,it goes on thestand next to the door. There's an M4gery in the closet just next to the front door with a loaded 30 round mag in the well, uncharged. It has a tac light and an Aimpoint on it. In the bedroom I keep 2 other ARs..mags in the wells...one is an AR-10, one a 20 inch barreled SR-15 M5. The lady of the house keeps a Beretta 84 loaded at all times. In arizona, any gun in the car is considered loaded by definition. The definition of a firearm is loaded or unloaded..doesn't matter. A pistol in the glove box in a holster, loaded is not considered concealed. But I always carry the little glock concealed anyway.(got a CCW permit).
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 7:41:41 PM EDT
[#32]
Ya just put your thumb between hammer and firing pin and squeeze the trigger.[>(] |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 7:48:34 PM EDT
[#33]
Easy. Pull the rear takedown pin, pivot the upper forward off the lower receiver. place your thumb on the hammer and apply backward pressure to it while squeezing the trigger, and dropt the hammer forward. Close the upper and push in the takedown pin, and you're done. Point the rifle down when doing this, because if the free floating firing pin falls backwards, as it will if the rifle is pointed up, then it may not want to close as the firing pin will touch the hammer in its down position. CJ |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 8:00:38 PM EDT
[#34]
[deleted because cmjohnson provided a great answer before I did]
I will add that you can be certain that you'll not smash your thumb when you do this the first time if you put your thumb on the upper 1/2 of the hammer only, and can be doubly sure if you apply sufficient pressure to move and hold the hammer back 1/16" before pulling the trigger. After that, you'll know how much resistance is offered by the spring. |
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 9:13:39 PM EDT
[#35]
And ya'll lock all these guns up in the safe before you leave the house every day, right?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/10/2002 9:28:35 PM EDT
[#36]
Our department issues semi-auto AR's to line officers and sergeants while our Tactical Team gets suppressed full auto M-16 commandos & M-4's as well as HK MP-5's. Not all line officers have the AR-15's because there aren't enough to go around however, those that don't get an issued gun can buy their own on department letterhead and carry it on duty. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/11/2002 9:34:24 PM EDT
[#37]
I live in TX 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/12/2002 4:44:01 AM EDT
[#38]
No DScott, I turn on my alarm and my Rotty and if I am in the mood a couple of surprises if they figure out how to bypass the first two.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 10/12/2002 6:23:00 AM EDT
[#39]
Keep mine in the safe not because I don't like it as a self defence weapon. I just have others more practical. Like the others here though, I don't leave any with a round in the chamber. Just too many idiots out there. At least if an idiot chambers a round you have a second or two to duck or hit em over the head or something. Besides hearing a bolt slam forward makes a would be assailant think twice and could possibly save you from saying "I feared for my life. I want my lawyer."
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
