Coach gun

[RugersAllTheWay!]

Gang,
I have a question about a Stevens 12ga coach gun. If you were going to use it for home protection, what would be the best way to keep it ready? If you break the barrel and load it, it is ready to rock and roll! So, I am thinking that with kids around it would have to be kept unloaded. Anybody with other ideas or options? I am open to suggestions.
Yes, I know that a pump with an extended magazine would be the preferable choice, BUT I don't have one YET. I do appreciate your time.
Lance

 

[gunzrfunz]

I'm afraid keeping it unloaded if you have kids around is your only real option. I wouldn't leave it loaded with only a safety on(if it even has one). I have a Remington 870 that I load every night and unload every morning before I go to work. I NEVER leave a loaded weapon around with kids in the house.

 

[ilbob]

any reason you can't just lock it up in a gun safe that you can get to and open pretty fast?

i am not a big fan of loading and unloading a gun every day. just seems like something you might forget to do. and even if you remember to unload it, it is entirely possible that the munchkins might find ammo for it somewhere.

 

[TFin04]

With used pumps being so cheap I don't see why you couldn't just pick one of those up.

I found a good condition Moss 500 for $100 at a local gunshop recently. You could buy a shorter barrel or just hack off the current one (Keep it legal though!) and you have a reliable gun for HD.

Keeping the gun unloaded and ready for HD don't really go well together.

 

[RugersAllTheWay!]

ilbob - I am not a fan of having to load, unload, reload each night either, that's what brought about my question. A handgun might be better to secure, but I like the firepower and ammo variety that the 12ga offers. Thanks

TFin04 - What state are you in? I'd love to find a used 12ga pump for $100! I am not real big on cutting off the barrel, though.

I just thought of something, I do have a 20ga "camper's combo" Moss 500 with pistol grips all around. Could I just get a short stock for that? Maybe a youth size to keep the overall length down? What do ya'll think about that?

Thanks for all the replies so far and very quickly. I do appreciate the input.
Lance

 

[The Deer Hunter]

hang it above your bedroom door.

 

[sm]

Educate the kids.
Eddie Eagle is a start to assist with this parenting.
We don't know the ages, still there is not a "too young" to start.

Coach gun is an excellent serious situation shotgun.
If you ever get to see someone run a 3 gun with one, it will blow your mind.
Cowboy Action Shooters will also share a LOT of great defensive shotgun lessons.

PM sent on securing this.
Some things do not need to be public.
Sorry folks, illegal eyes read Internet too.

Steve

 

[Robert Hairless]

Educate the kids.
Eddie Eagle is a start to assist with this parenting.
We don't know the ages, still there is not a "too young" to start.

True wisdom.

Parents who attempt to childproof the world do the child a serious disservice. They create adults who need protection for the rest of their lives.

But parents who worldproof their children help grow strong, competent adults capable of caring for themselves and their families.

 

[toivo]

Keep the coach gun unloaded and have a shell or three in your pocket. Or on your nightstand while you're sleeping.

 

[TFin04]

TFin04 - What state are you in? I'd love to find a used 12ga pump for $100! I am not real big on cutting off the barrel, though.

I'm in Michigan. You can find used pumps or single shots for that all day long around here. Usually the stocks are beat up and the gun needs a good cleaning, but a Remington or Mossberg is about as bulletproof as you can get. I scrubbed mine down with some solvent and a brush, added some CLP and it is very very smooth. It has become my clay gun.

A HD gun needs to be ready at all times. If the fecal matter is hitting the proverbial ozone moving device you don't have time to load shells from your pocket, drawer, etc. I keep my HD gun (20" moss 500) in "cruiser ready" state which is no shell in the chamber but the hammer down (trigger pulled). I just pick up, rack, fire.

 

[toivo]

A HD gun needs to be ready at all times. If the fecal matter is hitting the proverbial ozone moving device you don't have time to load shells from your pocket, drawer, etc. I keep my HD gun (20" moss 500) in "cruiser ready" state which is no shell in the chamber but the hammer down (trigger pulled). I just pick up, rack, fire.

I think that unless you always walk around the house with the gun in your hand, the major time factor would be getting to your gun. Once you get it in your hand, the difference between racking a pump and popping two shells into a side-by-side is going to be a few seconds at most, assuming you've practiced with your gun. I'll grant you that the pump is handier, but his question was how to deal with the SxS in such a way as to be prepared and safe.

 

[Ala Dan]

Are you sure its a Stevens, and not a Stoeger Coach Gun? Anyways, with
small children a'round, its wise too keep it unloaded.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Quote:
Educate the kids.
Eddie Eagle is a start to assist with this parenting.
We don't know the ages, still there is not a "too young" to start.

True wisdom.

Parents who attempt to childproof the world do the child a serious disservice. They create adults who need protection for the rest of their lives.

But parents who worldproof their children help grow strong, competent adults capable of caring for themselves and their families.

+1000 on that. I grew up on a farm and we had a loaded bolt action rifle and a loaded pump shotgun on a rack above the back door at all times. Even as very young kids we had been educated about those guns, that they were armed and dangerous and that we were NEVER to touch them without an adult around.

As I grew older I eventually earned the responsibility to be able to handle them. Damned good thing too as I had to handle a pack of rabid dogs once while my sister was trapped in the barn!

 

[ZeSpectre]

Quote:
Educate the kids.
Eddie Eagle is a start to assist with this parenting.
We don't know the ages, still there is not a "too young" to start.

True wisdom.

Parents who attempt to childproof the world do the child a serious disservice. They create adults who need protection for the rest of their lives.

But parents who worldproof their children help grow strong, competent adults capable of caring for themselves and their families.

+1000 on that. Understand age-appropriate training and safety but if you love your kids you need to start training them to be gun-safe.

 

[sm]

Folks,
Let us put aside for a just a second the Hardware [Coach Gun] and think Software.

-Personal Responsibility.
Parenting.
Being an Adult even if you do not have kids.
Kids come to visit, or you visit where kids are.

-Getting involved with local legislations in regard to firearms.
Some jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring guns be locked in a approved container, have a approved gun lock, gun and ammunition stored separately
from firearms.

~~

We have folks from all over the World that are not only Members of THR, also those that are not members that just find us to read and learn.
Some are Pro RKBA.
Some are Against RKBA.
Some are Criminals.

Please keep this in mind when you post and share information.

~~

RugersAllTheWay!,

Has chosen to take Personal Responsibility, and one tool chosen is a Coach Gun.
Publicly I shared educating his kids.

Privately I shared some other ideas.

I do not know his jurisdiction and any enacted legislations that may affect any decisions he may choose.
None of my business , or anyone else's, as to exact details of where he lives, type , age, gender, of kids.
None of my business if he, wife, kids, have any physical limitations.
If any of the kids have special learning , or developmental concerns.

In the past I/we have had parents/ adults ask with concern about kids with Down's Syndrome, Autism, and TragedyTrauma , such as a child having been Abused, shot, witnessed a Mom being shot during a violent abusive beating.



There is more to responsible firearm ownership than firearms.


Steve

 

[HiWayMan]

I would keep it unloaded, but have a 5-round butt cuff on it loaded 2-0-2 ready to access. Also, if they are very small children they will have a hell of a time getting enough leverage to open it. At age 10, it was difficult for me to open a 26" Stevens single shot. Pushing the lever over with one hand and grasping the barrel far enough away for mechanical advantage was all I could do.