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M4 home safety


tekguy

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As of today I am a owner of a new M4. I have a a question about safety. I was surprised to find that the M4 only holds four 2 3/4 in the tube. From my reading I thought it was 5+1.  I was planning on keeping the chamber empty and 5 in the tube with the cartridge drop lever ready to accept the round. How safe is this firearm if it is kept in condition 1?  Funny I'm asking this on the day I sent my Sig P320 in to have the trigger voluntary recall work done due to the drop issues.

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Push harder, it should hold 5.

If I believed I needed a shotgun with the mag loaded for safety reasons, then there would be one in the chamber as well.  You just have to make certain unauthorized individuals, children, gun amateurs, etc. do not handle it without permission and oversight.

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I m using Sellier&Bellot. I comes in at 2.48 inches on my mitutoyo calipers. I called Benelli and they told me to check for blockages and if there are none, to cut the spring. I just ordered a 7 round tube and Wolff spring. So we can close this topic. 

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20 hours ago, tekguy said:

As of today I am a owner of a new M4. I have a a question about safety. I was surprised to find that the M4 only holds four 2 3/4 in the tube. From my reading I thought it was 5+1.  I was planning on keeping the chamber empty and 5 in the tube with the cartridge drop lever ready to accept the round. How safe is this firearm if it is kept in condition 1?  Funny I'm asking this on the day I sent my Sig P320 in to have the trigger voluntary recall work done due to the drop issues.

I totally understand the desire to keep a round in the receiver ready to rack into the chamber. It's all just a preference and you have 1 more round than you would if you didn't.

My father keeps every weapon in the house fully loaded, round in the chamber and safety off. I personally don't feel "comfortable" with that, but he does. "Safety" can be argued from different mind sets. I just do what I'm comfortable with.

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I'm not so worried about the trigger safety. I'm more worried about drop safety. I have no kids or people in and out of my house. I keep my striker fired weapons ready to fire and my 1911 cocked and locked condition 1 but I also know those have at least some type of drop safety. Does anyone know if the M4 is "drop safe"? I would think that being a US Marine weapon, bouncing around in Humvees that they would be drop safe to an extent but I dont know the mechanics of the M4 and I don't want to be That guy. But now that I have the tube and spring coming it really does not matter as much to me, as I can keep 6 in the tube and one on the carrier. 

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4 hours ago, tekguy said:

I'm not so worried about the trigger safety. I'm more worried about drop safety. I have no kids or people in and out of my house. I keep my striker fired weapons ready to fire and my 1911 cocked and locked condition 1 but I also know those have at least some type of drop safety. Does anyone know if the M4 is "drop safe"? I would think that being a US Marine weapon, bouncing around in Humvees that they would be drop safe to an extent but I dont know the mechanics of the M4 and I don't want to be That guy. But now that I have the tube and spring coming it really does not matter as much to me, as I can keep 6 in the tube and one on the carrier. 

The M4 is not "drop safe". When the safety is engaged, it merely blocks the trigger from being pulled. The sear or the hammer for that matter, is not captured in any way to prevent the hammer from falling should the gun receive a violent blow. I never keep a round chambered, I maintain a full magazine and one on the shell carrier when in home defense mode.

 

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Just don't drop it when loaded.

One shouldn't be screwing around with a loaded gun anyway as it ultimately always leads to a problem (speaking from personal first hand experience). If I pick up one of my stowed loaded semi-autos without intending to immediately use it the the very first thing I do is unload it...or put it back into a safely stowed position...which of course (should) eliminate the possibility of a negligent discharge.

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Thank you all for your replies and help. Also just to update. I just purchased a box of Hornandy Critical Defense 00 buck 2 3/4 inch and five fit in the tube effortlessly. S&B are just to long to fit to maximum capacity. All is good in my world now. 

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On 5/31/2019 at 9:06 AM, Scout_21 said:

Sigh...what ammo are you using?  Not all 2 3/4 shells are the same length.  9rd Federal buckshot is known to be longer...heck there's another thread about this exact same issue on the front page

tek, this might help

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember with my 7 round Benelli-brand tube on M4, could only fit 7 of some brand of 2+3/4" slug. Just a fraction of an inch short of getting past the latch, so you know it's close. Sounds like M4 takes 7 but only barely and only at a certain tolerance.

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The M4 is pretty drop safe. I was concerned about the design years ago. So I unloaded it and repeatedly bounced the gun on the carpet in various angles to try to get the hammer to fall. It never happened. 

You’d need to throw it hard enough for the trigger to be pulled in order for the hammer to drop I don’t think you could shock the hammer to get past the trigger hook or the disconnector if it rebounded enough.

What I use the safety. Round in the chamber, magazine topped off. I don’t mess with ghost loading since I’ve seen it cause malfunctions. I use a larger DMW safety that I can feel poke my trigger finger when the safety is engaged. It’s instant feedback to know its condition. I also trim 1.5 coils from the spring so that I can press the safety without breaking my firing grip. It’s still firm to press, but not factory straining firm. 

 

As a certified firearms instructor, I should add some comments about safe storage.

I’d urge everyone to store their firearms in some kind of safe even if you don’t have children. A cousin of mine when he was 3-4 went to someone’s house who didn’t have children and they had the shotgun leaned against the back of a door. No one thought of the gun and he went and grabbed it being young and not knowing any better. He pressed the trigger and the shotgun discharged thru the roof right next to his head. He was fine, but it could have easily not been. The only victim that day was the sheet rock in that guy’s trailer along with his pride.

There are a bunch of cool high speed locking systems out there now with biometrics and back up PIN numbers. They have them for rifle and shotgun storage now, not just pistols. They’re not meant to protect against theft, they’re meant to keep the firearm out of unauthorized users’ hands and keep them accessible to you if needed. From a training perspective, if the firearm has been out of your immediate control for any length of time, should you trust that it is still in the condition you left it in? No one wants to spend a couple hundred bucks on a lock box. Most of them suck anyway, but what if you got one that presented the pistol grip to you so you could draw it easily with the trigger guard covered? Sweeping a loaded pistol off a night stand in the dark can be a safety issue. Did the cat jump on it and move the way you position it? 

Depending where you live can add another layer of culpability if an unauthorized user gets ahold of one of your firearms. Even if they’re a burglar. Having at least this second layer of protection will help keep you out of trouble when LaShawn steals your gun and smokes the cashier at the Stop & Rob.

 

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