Best Way To Store HD Shotgun?

Status
Not open for further replies.
fiddleharp

fiddleharp

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
298
Location
Crackerville, Florida
It would seem since this would be your go-to home defense weapon, it should be standing by, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Seeing as how it might be years before any home invasion emergency occurs, if ever, does it hurt the hammer and magazine springs to be stored cocked and loaded for great lengths of time?
I live by myself and am never visited by children, teenagers, no cats or dogs, or overnight houseguests. I have a handful of friends who stop by for tea once in a blue moon, but the odds of them going into my bedroom and accidently discharging my shotgun are nil.
The way I live, I could safely get away with storing my pump shotgun with a round in the chamber and the safety catch off.
The question is, should I? How do you keep your HD shotgun ready?
 
I'd keep the safety catch engaged if it were my HD shotgun.

The way I live, I could safely get away with storing my pump shotgun with a round in the chamber and the safety catch off.
Click to expand...

I keep four round in the tube (six + 1 total capacity/I'd rather load it down a little so it doesn't develop a set and so that it functions when and if I need it too) and a round in the chamber, but for safety sake though keep the safety catch on.

I'm getting the impression that no one lives with you and that there aren't any pets so there's not much chance of it being disturbed, but it could still fall on the butt end or get knocked over and discharge accidentally that way. If you're used to shooting it quite a bit, you're going to flick the safety catch as part of the shouldering process as you prepare to fire.

So really it's part of the training and familiarization process than anything.
 
I go with cruiser ready, since that is what I'm used to. There may be better ways, but that is the best way for me.

I make sure the chamber is empty. Then I check it again to make sure the chamber is empty.

Safety off, point in a safe direction, pull the trigger.

Then I load the magazine tube.

For a pump, this means I can grab the gun, pump it, and use it. On the semi I have to slap the bolt backwards. I can toss either in the trunk with no worries about the firing pin bouncing around.

I understand I'm giving up a round and making noise to load the gun, but I'm happy with the compromise. In the past, I've seen cruiser ready variations including putting the safety back on, and some that don't pull the trigger and use the action bar release button. I described it the way I was taught.
 
Last edited:
I figured that safety catch remark would get some notice. I guess I said that to illustrate the point that that gun won't get touched unless I touch it.
Okay, I'll leave the safety on, but what about the hammer spring? If the weapon is cocked for years, will that hurt anything?
At least with handguns and lever rifles you can lower the hammer until you need to cock it again.
 
I used to have a full tube, chamber empty and against the wall under the covers next to me while I slept.
 
Springs are NOT an issue....

Seeing as how it might be years before any home invasion emergency occurs, if ever, does it hurt the hammer and magazine springs to be stored cocked and loaded for great lengths of time?
Click to expand...
I think tests and many people who have kept a gun loaded for years have all concluded that there would be virtually no wear on a spring if kept in the cocked position. The same holds true with magazines that are filled (to capacity) with ammo. The springs do not wear out. I think springs wear out from constant use (constantly cocking and firing, or constanly loading and unloading magazines). Gun springs are apparently not like car springs which, over time wear, causing the car to sit lower.

Keep it cocked, loaded, whatever is best for you, and sleep tight knowing you are not damaging your weapon. More importantly than spring wear is the question "is the gun the way you need it to be to be both safe and ready on a moment's notice to fire, if necessary?"
 
Okay, I'll leave the safety on, but what about the hammer spring? If the weapon is cocked for years, will that hurt anything?
Click to expand...

I doubt it, I've left it that way for years and I shoot it about once a month and I've never had a problem.

If you're worried about it, just replace it every couple of years or replace it with a factory spring if it's a Mossberg or a Wolff spring if it's a Rem 870. I don't think that it's gonna really do that much harm.

Wolff Springs For Remington 870

Mossberg Hammer Spring
 
empty chamber,hammer down 4 buckshot in the tube,5 more on the buttcuff. leaning up against the wall right nest to my dresser. box of sluggers on the nightstand next to a flashlight. if i'm not home its in the cabinet,i have the only keys to it.
 
I keep my 870 full, safety on.

I don't want to give away the fact that I've got a shotgun in a situation that I need to use it. Sure, it might get rid of the majority of guys breaking in, but for the one who doesn't leave, I've given away my position and given him cause to be more cautious than he would have previously been.
 
I don't want to give away the fact that I've got a shotgun in a situation that I need to use it. Sure, it might get rid of the majority of guys breaking in, but for the one who doesn't leave, I've given away my position and given him cause to be more cautious than he would have previously been.
Click to expand...

Many of us have our SOP, but for those who might be still in the process of forming their own, please consider the following;

Unless I know for positive sure that an intruder has come to kill, (i.e. the Terminator), I'm giving them one chance to save their sorry ass for picking my home to burglarize, and hopefully I won't have a big mess to clean up later.
A large percentage of home invasions (burglaries) are committed by young males in their late teens and early twenties, many of whom are unarmed. They're making a stupid mistake, sure, but they may not be deserving of a death sentence. I'll bet most of us here can relate to an incident in our own lives, when we were in our late teens or early 20's, that if things had gone down just a little differently the outcome could have been needlessly tragic.
Racking a pump shotgun, turning on a light, shouting, tossing something heavy, a blast from a boat horn, or firing a warning shot into the ceiling (a much smaller mess to clean up), preferably before your exact whereabouts are known by the intruder, could diffuse the situation and save yourself from the sickening feeling that maybe you snuffed out a life that didn't need to be. Most common thieves aren't expecting someone to be home when they enter the house, just pulling the string on your daughter's talking doll might be more than enough to send them streaking down the street.
The devil will always be in the details surrounding each individual situation, nobody can plan for every possibility, but you need to come to grips with how fast and how far you're willing to go when using deadly force ahead of time as it is literally a matter of life and death.
 
Yes, I understand that, but don't forget that violent criminals didn't always start out that way.

When someone comes into your home, time is extremely short, and stress is extremely high. No offense, but you really can't imagine what I'm talking about unless you've been through it before.

1) You have NO way of knowing if he is armed without challenging him, or physically seeing him at close range with sufficient illumination - not a tactically sound maneuver, and a good way to get yourself killed by anyone who is not a complete amateur at home burglaries/invasions and/or someone who just got out of the big house and sure as hell isn't going back.
2) There's a good chance that if you let him go, he'll just come back some other time, or bring an "experienced" friend with him next time to clean up YOUR ass.

Be careful out there. Don't be a vigilante, but protect your own. There's a reason SWAT can say "drop your weapon!" first - they usually have multiple men with superior tactics and weaponry, as well as somewhat decreased legal consequences for mistakes. A homeowner crawling around in the dark with a single weapon and neighbors and family members as well as a higher standard of consequences to worry about can't go one-man-SWAT style. You MUST protect your life!
 
There isn't anything safe about storing a gun with one in the chamber and the safety off, not that you should trust a safety. So therefore keep the mag full, the safety off if you want and shuck a shell in if you want. That sound will likely be all you need to clear your house.
 
Here's my configuration while sleeping:

hammer down, empty chamber, magazine full, safety on, muzzle down, propped up in corner next to my bed

When I'm awake, I store my shotgun in a safe and carry a handgun. It's a good habit to keep loaded guns in my immediate control, even if I lived in the boonies with no pets and hardly any visitors. It just takes that one in a million chance to change my life for the worse forever. If an accident happens with your loaded gun while your nowhere around, it's your fault.
 
Last edited:
Shotgun storage

One in the chamber, safety off, propped up on some saw horses facing the door with a string around the trigger to an eye bolt on the cealing next to the door, ultimately tied to the door handle............c'mon......did anyone fall for it???:neener:

OK, JUST KIDDING....cruiser ready like many others.
 
Okay, I'll leave the safety on, but what about the hammer spring? If the weapon is cocked for years, will that hurt anything?
Click to expand...

Springs wear out from two things, being cycled and over-compressed.

Leaving a spring compressed for years, will not hurt it.

I give my Cruiser ready 870 an semi annual ops check.
 
Before we get to shotgun storage lets talk about my layered defense.
Locked doors and windows
Alarms
Dogs
all of which might give early warning.
As for the shotgun, full mag safety off in the corner beside the bed. - the sound of a round being jacked into the chamber gives the intruder the message im ready to rock and roll, meanwhile the wife is dialing 911, and setting up an interlocking field of fire from her side of the room. with a 38.
for other rooms there are different plans.
 
Shotgun newbie

I would like a clarification. I apologize if my question hijacks the thread but it may pertain to the question asked.

In addition to how you keep your shotgun loaded, where do you keep it? Next to the nightstand when you sleep? Do you unload it and store it away every time you head off to work or out with friends and family? Do you keep it in an easily accessible place with a simple cable lock through it?

I'm only asking because I have thought about purchasing a shotgun but I'm not quite sure where I want to store it and in what condition. I want to avoid coming home and getting shot by a burglar using my shotgun.

Wouldn't it be better to store your shotgun and use your handgun as the primary defender until you can get to the shotgun or only keep your shotgun easily available during very bad times?

Handguns seem easier to store but that's probably just my own mental hangup.
 
Handguns seem easier to store but that's probably just my own mental hangup.
Click to expand...

Handguns are easier to store, but much more difficult to employ in a real life defense situation. By that I mean, a great deal more training and practice than most of us have time to do. A shotgun still requires training, but is much more controllable under stress.

Also a center of mass hit with a 12 ga is pretty much a fight stopper.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

P
  • Locked
how to store a HD shotgun??
Replies
6
Views
690
labgrade
L
N
  • Locked
HD Shotgun: Storage While Away?
Replies
4
Views
674
NoBite
N
W
  • Locked
How to hide HD shotgun?
2
Replies
42
Views
7K
Dave McCracken
D
M
  • Locked
Shotgun storage
Replies
7
Views
591
inSight-NEO
I
S
  • Locked
Storing Mossberg Semi
Replies
0
Views
300
Storz
S
Back
Top