Rule number one: treat ALL firearms as if they are loaded.

Rule number two: keep ALL firearms loaded because an unloaded firearm is almost completely useless.

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Ban this man,
'89

When it's not in the safe, within arm's reach.

It's not my primary tool though so, it's usually in the safe.

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Freedom isn't free.

Cruiser ready, tube downloaded by one when in the country so I can slip in a birdshot. Otherwise, tube full of 00.

I am out in the country and have chickens, which means fairly regular visits by coons, possum, skunk, coyote, bobcat, and occasional visits by cougar and bear. The 18" 870 bubba special is right next to the door, with 2 rounds of 00 buck followed by 3 rounds of #4. All in the tube with an empty pipe.

Not real Pretty, but highly effective.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

Normally I would agree. However, my shotgun is not the only firearm I have access too. The bad guy is going to have fight his way to my shotgun. And my house is a safe.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

When I kept a pump it was my Mossy 500 20" with rifle sights, rear app removed to make a fast ghost ring. I kept the chamber empty with 4 of 000 followed by 4 slugs. I sold it off because of an arm disability.
I have a mongrel SXS 16G hammer gun, 18 1/2". Chambers loaded, 6 on a butt sleeve but really backed up by 3 M66s.

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NRA LIFE
Reserve Officer 9yrs

Cruiser ready differs from condition 3 as I learned them. I always considered cruiser ready with the hammer down on an empty chamber, safety off, and an unlocked action. I always considered condition 3 as having the hammer back on the empty chamber to allow the action to remain locked. On a Remington I might consider safety off and pulling the trigger to be the most expedient manner of readying. On a Mossberg, the safety can be deactivated as the slide release is depressed or as the trigger is pulled.
I like making as little motion and noise as possible.

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

I learned condition three as chamber empty, full magazine, hammer down, safety off. Just like a 1911. If each system had individual condition stages, it would get confusing very fast.

Oh, apparently it already is!

Kevin

And of course the irony here is I am using 1911 conditions and I am one of very few that can not comfortably handle the beast. I much prefer my N frames.

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

FWIW, it made it simple to keep the shotguns and AR's in the same condition of readiness in the veh's.

Empty chamber, loaded magazine, hammer forward & safety off ... except in the case of the AR, the safety lever had to be on FIRE when the hammer was forward. If it was on SAFE, or could be moved to SAFE, you knew somebody had previously retracted the charging handle and cocked the hammer. You just couldn't know if the chamber was also LOADED (without further inspecting the weapon).

Either simply had to be charged/chambered to make it ready-to-fire in an emergency situation.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Safeties, especially on shotguns are generally fragile and sort of "iffy", too much faith is put into safeties by the untrained and inexperienced,imo.

I'm going to swim against the tide a little and say I keep my mag only half loaded. So a 6 round tube has 3 rounds, 00 buck, chamber empty. I carry a 6 shot side saddle with slugs and a 6 round butt cuff with 00 buck.

This give me 15 rounds total. I don't want a spring fully compressed for a long period of time to give me an issue when I need it most.

Before someone asks if I carry my mags for autoloaders fully loaded the answer is yes. The difference is I shoot my handguns once or twice a month, but shotgun only once or twice a year. I can keep better tabs on the handgun mags.

What's the reason for mixed shells? 00 & #4

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Stay protected my friends.

If the gun were loaded and chambered, the reason is the 00 Buck can be cleared from the gun with one rack. I'm going to guess this is the plan after the gun gets racked upon retrieval if needed.

I'm hoping that's #4 Buck and not fine shot left in the gun. If you're going through the trouble to get to the fine shot you can just as easily load a single shell and still have a shotgun loaded with a little more horsepower in case the fine shot doesn't solve the problem.

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

11-87 , extended mag, 1 in chamber safety on. Live by myself , rural area.
Nearest neighbor 300 yards , hills in between.

Unloaded and locked up in the gun safe!

Revolvers are our weapon of choice for home security.

Shotguns in the safe are loaded, chamber empty because to get them out means tipping it with the barrel too close to my face. I like my face where it is. 12 gauge 00buck is the load.

The coach gun under the couch has both barrels loaded. #1 buck in the chambers and 00buck in the stock sleeve.

Remington 11-87 Premier. Can shoot up to 3 1/2 inch shells but since I don't have to use high recoil and more expensive "non-toxic" steel shot on home invaders at home invasion distances, I have the magazine fully loaded with 2 3/4 inch highly toxic lead slugs which also allow more capacity. Empty chamber. Attached shell holder with several additional slugs.

Red dot sight and green laser. In an actual situation, I would prefer to use the red dot initially, for stealth.

It's part of a multi-layer defense perimeter. External sensors around the property, then security system whose multiple consoles indicate where the breach/breaches occurred.

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NRA Benefactor - Life

Mine hangs in the closet. Loaded tube chamber empty. Rack slide , shoot, repeat.

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Two Handguns every day

Why #1B in first followed by 00B?

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This≠DodgeCity&You≠BillHickok

I keep my 1911 Commander in the house, loaded and ready.

Because that's what was in the sleeve when I finally found some #1 buck. I just never pulled the 00 out.

If there isn't a "safe direction" people will need to create one.

Tube fed shotguns are way up on the list of guns that are associated with negligent discharges at gun shows. I saw one of these in Chantilly VA. The guy "cleared" it in the parking lot, but as is too often the case, had a round hang up so that it ended in the chamber when it was cycled. Fast forward a few minutes, he pulled it out of the case to demonstrate it was cleared, but managed to do so with his finger inside the trigger guard. Two stupid mistakes resulted in one loud boom, but fortunately no one injured.

If someone plans to do this at home, and in particular in an apartment. it's a good idea to spend $10 on a 5 gallon bucket with lid) and a 50 pound bag of playground sand. Cut a hole in the lid and glue a neoprene mouse pad over the hole with a slit in it for the muzzle. it'll contain the shot or slug if you do have an ND when pulling the trigger.


I've seen several references to "cruiser" ready and yours is the only description that I've in agreement with.

The rest require pulling the trigger to eliminate the need to press the slide release to chamber a round. The idea sounds great - just grab it, operate the slide and you're ready to rock.

However, in the real world that requires a vehicle rack that will secure the butt and the slide, so that the slide won't potentially operate or partially operate itself in a vehicle.

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However, for a homeowner operating under different conditions, there is a potential argument for keeping the chamber loaded and the safety on, to ensure it can be quietly made ready for use.

12ga pump; 00buck; action open and in the closet locked in a Mossberg
"Lok-Box"... keys in it at night. Can't shoot handguns accurately when shaking and sweating profusely in the middle of the night. Anything in front of a shotgun is gonna get hit.....
During daylight hours, everything locked securely; lotta kids in the neighborhood and they are all cute and nosey.
IMHO,
J

This is how I kept my closet shotgun. Now that I keep pistol caliber carbine, same thing.

Are there many (any) real world examples of this having happened?

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Stay protected my friends.

Will this do? I know is works on Racoons.

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

Mossberg Shockwave, 12 gauge double ought, 5 in the magazine, 1 in the chamber, safety on, in a biometric safe next to the bed.

Cruiser ready in action:
YouTube

Unfortunately state law prohibits cruiser ready, in my cruiser. Loading up to cruiser ready in my house would require a Defcon level higher than the one I'm in at the moment.

Other then in the "cruiser" and Police use in the vehicle,why are shotguns different then handguns? Why not keep it with one chambered.

If anyone says they keep their handgun with an empty chamber, or empty cylinder they usually get scoffed at and told the gun is unloaded and they waste time having to rack the slide?
Should an AR15 or AK be left with one in the chamber??

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Still Running Against the Wind

Handguns are generally drop safe. They're designed so that a firing pin safety or other internal mechanism keeps the firing pin from contacting the primer unless the trigger is pulled. Even in a 1911 without a firing pin safety, you can make it drop safe with a titanium firing pin and/or an extra power firing pin spring.

My understanding is that long guns don't have such passive safeties and can fire if dropped with a live round in the chamber. Even having a manual safety engaged won't prevent this from happening as they don't restrict movement of the firing pin.

As I've said before, I'm not a long gun guy, so I could be wrong, but this has always been the way it was explained to me.

Kel-Tec KSG with 12 Federal Tactical #1 Buck in the mags, hammer down, empty chamber. A quick rack and it's hot.

Plus, a few other guns around.

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Neither am I (shot gun)which is why I asking. I have several defensive shot guns but do not keep them loaded I have the shells on a stock shell holder. For home I prefer a handgun

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Still Running Against the Wind

Having worked for, and taught firearms for, 3 separate agencies, I can tell you that there is no uniform "one way" to carry it that every agency uses.



The largest was a federal agency ( now over 12k) carried "tube loaded, action locked, "on cock" (meaning the action bar lock had to be depressed to rack it), and on safe. This took 3 actions to accomplish before firing was possible. (action bar lock depressed, fore end racked, safety taken off).
Sometimes called "Assembly area load".


The second (also a federal agency of over 2100) carried it "off cock" (dry-fired on an empty chamber), off-safe, tube loaded. This required 1 action before firing was possible (fore end racked). Sometimes called "Gun box" or "gun bag" load.


The third, my first agency required "off-cock", tube loaded, safety on, requiring 2 actions before firing (fore end rack, safety taken off).


It all came down to whether the need was perceived to be immediate and the amount and frequency of training each officer or agent received, as viewed by the administrators. They all will work, but none had a round in the chamber, as noted in previous posts. I currently tell those that are on a multi-agency task force to check with the others, and be sure how each carries their shotgun - just as each family member should know, if neccessary, in the home.

Was this because there was a perception that if a bad guy managed to get the gun out of the car, it was unlikely that he could figure out how to operate it to chamber a round?

While that would be a definite benefit, I suspect it was that they generally kept the guns unloaded in storage, and didn't want triggers operated during loading, which generally happened pre-raid, in the presence of others.

this is correct- ALL shotgun manual safeties are ONLY trigger blocks. The firing pin is not kept from mechanically failing & going forward into the primer.

I keep the barrel loaded. I have carried a shotgun unknown how many days and miles while hunting in fields, woods, crossing ditches and creeks with the barrel loaded and never had the gun go off(ND). I am lead to believe I can keep it setting in the corner and pick it up and point it down the hall without the gun going off (ND). Larry

Shotgun isn't my first choice but this tube is full of whatever birdshot I last used in the Ithica...

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