Just curious, Does anyone really use the IL?

[Careby]

Originally posted by Model520Fan:
Careby,

Theoretically, an unauthorized person might have ammo, but not a common key, particularly if you don't want to carry your speedloaders and six loose cartridges in your pants pocket when you hang up your coat.

Frankly, I consider the IL a very weak solution to a slightly unusual problem, but I don't think that it is completely wasted, or at least wouldn't be wasted if they could make a reliable one.

520

I get that but theoretically it would be easier for an "unauthorized person" to carry one S&W key than to carry ammo for every different caliber S&W revolver they might find. I don't mean it to be a frivolous argument, it's just that IF you decide it's desirable to compromise readiness and (potentially) reliability to gain safety and security, then your solution should actually provide that safety and security, and not just the illusion of it. I am dealing with a similar issue right now with computer passwords at an institution with which I am affiliated. For security it was decided to require complex passwords that expire every three months. This resulted in people often forgetting (or writing on a post-it note) their passwords. This required implementing a way to allow users to reset forgotten passwords. The personal information required for a user to reset their password (a) never changes, and (b) is composed entirely of simple letters and numbers. My argument is that while users now have the inconvenience that goes with complex passwords, they did not get the security - only the illusion thereof.

I agree the IL is weak. Whether or not it is so weak as to not be worth its added cost and risk is a matter of opinion. In reality it was probably never a matter of safety or security, just politics.

 

[JD 500]

Have never engaged the IL on the three IL guns I own. Never had a problem either. I just use the IL on my safe. I do carry the key on my keyring though as Paladin does, just in case.

... and just out of curiosity, why does smith give a cable lock with IL guns ?

 

[godlessgael]

tried it once, and haven't touched it since on my 686.

 

[hitecrednek]

I would maybe, under some circumstances, use the IL as I have a toddler running around the house....I can see if we were on out (like on vacation) and I had to leave the gun in in the motel room that it would be usefull....

However, I don't own one. And I used regular trigger locks/small safe/large safe for storage.

 

[luangtom]

DOH.........not ANOTHER lock discussion

 

[29Wheelgunner]

One with the lock, never used.
29-10 Anniversary model.

 

[medic15al]

My 25-13 Mountain Gun locked twice on me on the same cylinder! It is now deactivated.

 

[Filbird]

Originally posted by luangtom:
DOH.........not ANOTHER lock discussion

Kinda-sorta, but I see the point of this question. In all of the threads about the IL, I've never actually seen a posting that describes how the lock actually works in practice, nor have I seen any posts where someone has said, well, this is how I use it, etc.

Maybe NO ONE USES IT!

I'm just curious as to the size and shape of the key, and how easy it is to insert the key and turn it the right way to lock or unlock the gun. Seems like almost no one who buys a J-frame with the damned thing ever ends up using it...

 

[Rugskipper]

A Smith semi auto with a magazine disconnect is far easier and quicker to make operable than any key-thingy, IMHO. I kept a 5906 with one up the spout, and magazine separate, unreachable and hidden when my little one was too young to know better.
I currently have no IL Smiths in my repertoire. I do own a new 642 no lock, and it's the second-favorite thing I keep in my pants.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Careby,

You and I are probably talking about different hypothetical situations. I'm talking about when I was visiting my parents, and might have had to worry about a kid or a non-shooter playing with something he didn't know enough about (I use he rather than she, because females usually aren't stupid enough to play with guns uninvited). For that purpose, the predictable suspects have neither a key nor ammo, but I would find it much easier to have a key in my pocket than two speedloaders and five or six loose cartridges.

You may be imagining a somewhat more public scenario, or at least a wider range of suspects. In that case, your logic would most likely prevail.

To clarify what might have been misunderstood, I would NEVER compromise readiness by locking a sidearm. Some hypothetically functional locking device would be used only as a temporary deactivation device for when I would NOT be carrying the gun.

None of this, of course, has anything to do with real life, at least not with mine. In MA, the gun is either on your bod or under your personal control, or it is in a locked container. IL's don't count. I don't think trigger locks do, either. While I do not engage in arguments with people who don't like this law, and I'm not so sure it should be the law, I actually have no disagreement with it as MY personal practice. You can see, of course, that, as a result, I now have absolutely no use whatsoever for either a trigger lock or an IL.

YMMV.

520

 

[Wayne M]

Locked on up once just to see how it worked. After that my keys laid in the bottom of the box and rusted.

 

[herbie1]

I think the built-in locks are a poor excuse for a real trigger lock. Keys are not unique, and you can't visually see that the gun is locked. I have never used an internal lock. I always use either a trigger lock or gun safe.

BTW, don't ever think that is adequate to just unload the gun, especially if you have kids in the house. I learned this the hard (but not too hard) way. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the incident was a real wake-up call. Now I am a huge, huge advocate of gun safety. Gun ownership has responsibilities that go with it.

H.

 

[godlessgael]

you can't visually see that the gun is locked

yes you can, a flag comes up when you lock the gun.

 

[dixiedawg119]

Tried it out when I got the gun, haven't locked it since.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

If I go into some place where I can't carry and need to leave the gun in a car without a lockbox, I use the IL.

Imagine what a jury (definition: 12 people too dumb to get out of jury duty) could do in a liability suit if the gun was stolen and you hadn't bothered to lock it.

 

[DonD]

Out of amusement, I've tried the key to see if it worked, it did.

I have two Model 500s, one has the lock removed the other is factory original. Never use the lock.

They both live in the gun safe in between range sessions. Don

 

[Gebe]

Haven't used it and never will but I still love my 442. Has been a rock solid, reliable and accurate shooter. I'd rather not have it but I have to live with it.

These locks kind of remind me of when Bic took away the adjustable flame feature on their lighters "for the children".

I raised 3 kids that were around guns, (without locks!), all of their lives. I taught them to shoot and I taught them to never touch a gun without permission. They never shot anyone or themselves and are now healthy, law abiding adults. How did that happen without ILs?

Funny how left wing liberals know so much more than we "unenlightened" folks.

 

[Minnesota Fats]

I have a 642 w/IL but never use it. I have a couple of Remington 1170 shotguns with an IL. My son and I got up early one morning, drove 20 miles, trecked another couple and set up for turkey hunting. As I am sitting there waiting for the sun to come up, I come to the sickening realization that both my and my sons guns are locked with the IL and I don't have the key. I untrecked, undrove back to the house, got the key, redrove, retrecked back to find my son standing next to my blind having discovered his gun locked and wondering where I was. From there on, the only gun locks I will use are external trigger locks. I can tell at a glance when my guns are locked.

 

[markedup]

New in the box: are they locked?

Thanks

Mark

 

[Match10]

Originally posted by ajr969:

Now, the only IL I have doesn't work - I was smoothing the locking lug, and got carried away.

What a coincidence... same thing happend to me. Twice.

A very common occurance during field stripping and cleaning, as coincicentally happened to me!