Bedside shotgun, chambered?

[Soap]

No kids? Chambered? Of course.

 

[davhina]

Leave the chamber empty. That way if a BG is in your home, he hears you racking the gun, runs out the front door, and the only mess you will have to clean up is the one he left behind on his way out.

 

[geekWithA.45]

With kids in the house, chambered guns are a non starter.

All our defense guns are in fast access safes, and never with chambered rounds. Racking a slide takes about 250-400 milliseconds. If I don't have that to spare, I need a different plan.

 

[Chuck R.]

Here's a pic of my Benelli with mounted M3X light in it's V-Line Long Gun case. 6 in the tube, 1 on the lifter. It resides under the bed and is an easy slide out due to the smooth finish on the carpet, muzzle is towards the door. I've got it set for the same 3 button simplex combo as my V-Line pistol case in my nightstand.

When my 3 1/2 year old son became mobile, HD gun security became paramount. It also cuts way down on my weekly gun dusting.

Chuck

 

[B. Adams]

I have a Winchester Defender with 7 in the tube, hammer down on an empty chamber. During the day it goes in the big metal box that's not quite a safe, sometimes but not always comes out at night. It's always loaded though.

I don't always bring it out because I've got a .40 in a holster screwed to the underside of my nightstand, and a .357 on top of the nightstand when I'm in bed. Getting the shotgun out at night just seems like overkill, but I usually do anyway.

I keep the hammer down so that I don't need to worry about the slide release, and so that my girlfriend can still handle things if she needs to.

 

[AStone]

OK, I'll admit it: this thread is making me reconsider my option of loaded chamber. Even though there are never any kids in that room,
(just ain't gonna happen), it may be overkill given the other weaponry nearby.

However, at the risk of opening an old debate ,
I'm just not convinced that "racking" is going to make Mr. BG runaway.

Suppose Mr. BG is also armed. If you rack it, he'd know where you are (at least your general location).

Suppose his .357 mag will shoot through your drywall, etc.



I dunno. I just don't want to advertise where I'm at
in the building (part of the element of surprise),
and would prefer to have the option of not even letting them know
I'm armed unless I choose to tell them so.

In my case, if I'm awakened to nose in my space (and I will be awakened - it's set up in a way as to be virtually impossible to come in without making noise), then I'm going to have weapon in one hand and phone in the other calling 911.

If the intruders get stupid enough to try to break into the safe room before the cops arrive, they'll hear me shouting "Get on the floor NOW!" and see that 12 pointed in their direction from safe cover as they come through the door, so they're going to understand the "armed" part pretty quickly.

If they were trying to break down the door and I wanted to just say no, I'd be more likely to warn them verbally rather than just rack the shotgun.

Just thinking out loud here. YMMV.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Suppose Mr. BG is also armed. If you rack it, he'd know where you are (at least your general location).

Suppose his .357 mag will shoot through your drywall, etc.

I dunno. I just don't want to advertise where I'm at
in the building (part of the element of surprise),
and would prefer to have the option of not even letting them know
I'm armed unless I choose to tell them so.

The way I look at it, racking the shotgun lets the BG know you are home, you are armed, and you now have a shotgun shell in the pipe. If that doesn't make him run you know it's not smash and grab and you are probably about to have a gun battle on your hands (or at least he/she is willing to take that chance, so they are probably armed also).
As for the advertising where you are and not letting them know you are armed unless you want them to know implies you are going to start shouting that you are armed at some point. Since that takes longer than the time it takes to rack a shotgun you are advertising your position more AND you are now forced to decide whether it's a shoot/no shoot situation once you announce you are armed depending on how they react to that information (which you'd already know or at least have a good idea of had you announced it by racking).
The only advantage I see by keeping stealth is if you are going to clear the house yourself or if you want to lie silently in wait and ambush the BG, which may come back to bite you in court.

 

[AStone]

The only advantage I see by keeping stealth is if you are going to clear the house yourself or if you want to lie silently in wait and ambush the BG, which may come back to bite you in court.

DTD, I hear your concerns.

My strategy is a bit different, though. I'm not interested in "ambushing" the BG. There's really nothing outside the safe room worth shooting him for. (It's all insured anyway.) Anything of value is in the safe room with me behind a metal exterior solid core door (mounted in an interior location with a deadbolt lock).

If Mr. BG succeeds in breaking down said door (highly unlikely without a sledge hammer), and still refuses to stop his advance despite being "advised" of firearms in the room (including a potential warning shot of 00 through the door), then ... I suspect that the jury would not be as kind to him.

At that point, he's broken through at least one window, several doors (including that metal solid core door mounted in an interior location), and comes another six feet even then, it's clear that he's up to no good.

Besides, in my state, shooting intruders (and not even those who break down so many doors) is tolerated legally much more than in other states. One recent shooting during a break in involved the BG getting shot as he was trying to get out of the house. The shooter was not even detained.

Bigga bada boom.

 

[VMIRat1995]

M590-A1:

Mag. loaded, chamber empty, safety on.

If possible, gun physically secured in place.

 

[BedPimp]

20 gauge youth 870 with slugs and 12 gauge 1300 Defender with #2 buck. Magazines are capacity - 1 as to not keep the spring too compressed.

Both are empty chamber, hammer down, safety off. From my perspective, it's the best compromise between safety and security. The girlfriend tends to be accident prone, so having a round chambered without a firing pin block would not be prudent. Given past history, my screaming nekkid body will cause far more fear than any sound the shotgun will make.

Kids aren't allowed in our apartment, so that's not a concern, but they do go into the safe when we are not home.

 

[brerrabbit]

I keep an 870 unchambered, loaded with OOB for HD. The slide lock is tripped and the slide is pulled back just a hair. This way I do not have to fumble in the dark to either unsafe the shotgun, or to find the slide lock to rack a round in.