Loaded vs Unloaded

[Alpengeist]

I was wondering how many of y'all keep y'alls guns loaded at all times.

[hattles]

Never. I do keep a loaded clip at the ready next to my Sig and a few rounds available with my scatergun, but never loaded...I haven't felt threatened or a need to.

[L84Cabo]

If the purpose of the gun is for home defense, it really doesn't make sense to me why a person would keep it unloaded. The amount of time it would take to load it, should you need it, could be the difference between life and death.

 

To be clear, I keep my home defense guns in a quick entry safe. This is opened at night and locked during the day when I'm gone. I live alone and there are no children in the house. Obviously you need to make whatever adjustments are necessary for your own situation to keep things safe.

 

The rest of my guns are kept unloaded.

[HopetonBrown]

I have my HD guns loaded with one in the chamber. I'm shocked by the number of guys who even carry without one in the chamber. It's usually younger and less experienced shooters.

 

There's a reason why many modern handguns don't have any sort of manual safety (Glock, Sig, etc). In that split second moment you have to operate your weapon, fine motor skills go out the window, adrenaline is pumping and many officers would forget to disengage their safety, ultimately costing them their life. I want to get as many of the odds in my favor as possible.

 

Set your alarm clock for 4am. When the buzzer goes off, see if you remember to insert your mag and rack the slide before going out into the living room:-)

[KB Fab]

Bad guys bank on folks with unloaded guns. YMMV but I'll keep mine fully loaded.........and that includes one in the chamber.

[chuck_s]

If you put your seat belt on just one second before a crash you'll be fine with an unloaded weapon.

 

-- Chuck

[redw&blue]

Loaded all the time.

There is only one firearm that has a "clip" all others have magazines.

 

What firearm takes a "clip"?

[Broken Legend]

Magazines are places where bullets are kept in the gun before using, sometimes in a replaceable container. A clip (also sometimes known as a stripper clip) is a strip of metal bent so that it will hold bullets of a certain caliber. For example, with an M1A, a clip would be placed above the open action in the clip guide and the bullets would be shoved into the magazine of the rifle.

 

Here is an example of someone using a stripper clip to load a Mosin Nagant which has a non removable magazine (the bottom part).

 

[SgtCathy]

Okay... I was under the impression that revolvers that utilize half moon or full moon (such as a model 1917 .45) uses "clips". Or are they half moon "speed loaders"? I've also heard many old timers refer to the M1 Garand "N" block magazine as a "clip". Their is also a older bolt action military rifle that you insert the entire stripper clip into the weapon and as you fire and work the bolt, the stripper clip comes out the bottom. Is that a magazine or clip?

[Broken Legend]

Okay... I was under the impression that revolvers that utilize half moon or full moon (such as a model 1917 .45) uses "clips". Or are they half moon "speed loaders"? I've also heard many old timers refer to the M1 Garand "N" block magazine as a "clip". Their is also a older bolt action military rifle that you insert the entire stripper clip into the weapon and as you fire and work the bolt, the stripper clip comes out the bottom. Is that a magazine or clip?

 

Yes, those half moon and 1/3 moon revolver bullet holders would be considered clips. The old timers are right with that terminology as the clip wasn't a stripper clip, but stayed in the magazine. Then the clip would get ejected after the last bullet was fired.

 

[HOGWILD]

Unloaded guns are kinda like X wifes:p worthless!!

Rule #1 Muzzle control and if you can't figure out that one i suppose you need to keep it unloaded!

[mishtub]

Like the old cowboy said: "An unloaded gun is a poor hammer!"

[SweetM4]

The old timers are right with that terminology as the clip wasn't a stripper clip, but stayed in the magazine. Then the clip would get ejected after the last bullet was fired.

 

i heard some place (maybe history channel) that the enemy eventually learned that when they heard the sound of a clip being ejected and hitting the ground that they knew the rifle was empty and would come out from cover and start shooting. but some clever americans also realized this so they would intentionally drop an empty clip on the ground so as to entice the enemy out from cover. this was news to me. anybody else hear this story?

[Sukhoi_fan]

i heard some place (maybe history channel) that the enemy eventually learned that when they heard the sound of a clip being ejected and hitting the ground that they knew the rifle was empty and would come out from cover and start shooting. but some clever americans also realized this so they would intentionally drop an empty clip on the ground so as to entice the enemy out from cover. this was news to me. anybody else hear this story?

 

The enbloc clip from the M1 Garand makes the 'ping' when ejected from the rifle every time, not when it hits the ground (maybe on rocks, but definitely not on soft dirt). The rumor is that GIs would attach a Garand enbloc clip to a stick and strike it against a hard object when a shot is fired, thus getting the desired effect upon any nearby enemy troops.

[JoshR]

I've heard that as well. I think that was in the European Theater with the Nazis. Kind of like how the Japs learned to scream "corpsman" like an injured Marine and then shoot them. I think this was all on some History channel show...

 

And as to the OP's question: Loaded & Chambered. I can attest to the fact that your reflexes are only as good as your muscle memory, so if you are going to carry loaded but not chambered/ on safety, you had better practice hours of drilling yourself in reaction to a threat and coming off safety/chambering and presenting.

 

Smooth is fast and fast is smooth

[Alpengeist]

The old timers are right with that terminology as the clip wasn't a stripper clip, but stayed in the magazine. Then the clip would get ejected after the last bullet was fired.

 

i heard some place (maybe history channel) that the enemy eventually learned that when they heard the sound of a clip being ejected and hitting the ground that they knew the rifle was empty and would come out from cover and start shooting. but some clever americans also realized this so they would intentionally drop an empty clip on the ground so as to entice the enemy out from cover. this was news to me. anybody else hear this story?

 

yeah it was the history channel

[twowheelhooligan]

I have my HD guns loaded with one in the chamber. I'm shocked by the number of guys who even carry without one in the chamber. It's usually younger and less experienced shooters.

 

There's a reason why many modern handguns don't have any sort of manual safety (Glock, Sig, etc). In that split second moment you have to operate your weapon, fine motor skills go out the window, adrenaline is pumping and many officers would forget to disengage their safety, ultimately costing them their life. I want to get as many of the odds in my favor as possible.

 

Set your alarm clock for 4am. When the buzzer goes off, see if you remember to insert your mag and rack the slide before going out into the living room:-)

 

+1 well stated!!!

[chuck_s]

Top Row: M1903 clip, M1 clip, M16 clip.

Bottom Row: M16A2 magazine (well worn!)

 

 

-- Chuck

[BEAR_ICE]

If you put your seat belt on just one second before a crash you'll be fine with an unloaded weapon.

 

-- Chuck

 

Great analogy Chuck!

 

Perfect example: Neighbor wakes up from a helicopter flying low at 1:18am with its spot light search yards, patrol cars flying up and down the street. The neighbor had a break in and didn’t hear the intrusion, but heard his dog barking and growling. So he gets up and heads to the sliding glass door wondering what the **** all that commotion is out there. Looks to his right and there’s the intruder , climbed through his window. So he takes off running toward his bedroom and thinks; Sh*T! I can’t leave him in the house. So he turns around and runs toward the burglar and shoves, launching him back out the window breaking the window. He runs to the garage, runs over to his safe and tries to open his combination safe, calling the police with the other hand. Well, to make a long story short, the burglar got away, the police never caught him and the neighbor will NOT keep a loaded gun next to his bedside, keeps it in the safe.

What’s more humorous is he asked another neighbor about a year ago if he could buy five 357 mag rounds from him. Neighbor asked him “Why don’t you just head down to the store and buy a box”. He said he only needs five to load his gun.

 

This could have been a tragic story for having an armed safe instead of an armed owner.

 

Seconds count guys!

[drmarc]

Might as well use a baseball bat for self defense if you are not going to keep a firearm loaded. It is useless empty and in a high stress sleep fogged state of mind having it unloaded with a mag nearby "ready to go" is hoping for the best.... hope is not a plan.

[Super33]

I have kids in the house. So what I do is load it every night, I then unload it every morning and put it away in a safe place. Then I load it again that night and put it up on the shelf out of the reach of children, LOADED with the safety on. Then in the morning I take the thing down and unload it and lock it up. Then at night I take it out again and load it and put it on the shelf, then in the morning I take it down and unload it. The following night I take it out and load it again. Then the next morning I unload it and put it away again. Then, I take it out and load it again for the night, then I take it and put it away in the morning, unloaded. Then at night time, I bust out the Benelli and load it and put it on the shelf, when I wake up in the morning, I take it off the shelf and unload it and put it away. So I said "sometimes".

[dprichard]

Loaded all the time.

There is only one firearm that has a "clip" all others have magazines.

 

What firearm takes a "clip"?

 

I had a Mauser broomhandle that took clips.

[Super33]

Loaded all the time.

There is only one firearm that has a "clip" all others have magazines.

 

What firearm takes a "clip"?

 

I want to say, M1 Garand.

[chuck_s]

The Mauser "broom handle" could use a clip to load the non-detachable magazine, but it wasn't required. The bolt closed when the clip was removed. The SKS can use a clip to load the non-detachable magazine. The M1 Rifle requires the clip to load the non-detachable magazine and the clip remains in the magazine The empty clip is ejected along with the last empty cartridge case. The M14 Rifle can use a clip to load the detachable magazine in or out of the rifle. Etc.

 

But in all cases the clip is used to load the magazine.

 

M1917 "half moon clips" are can be used to load the cylinder of the M1917 Revolver. Was required in the early straight cylinder Colt version.

 

-- Chuck

[StrangerDanger]

There are also stripper clips used to load integrated and removable magazines. Example, I have 45 stripper clips for my SKS loaded for Red Dawn II -- Rise of the Bloody Cresent