So you loaded a round for a bump in the night...

[Skribs]

I was just thinking about this after reading the thread on here about storing SD shotguns: you hear a bump in the night, so you grab your shotgun and chamber a round. Either the bump turns out to be nothing, or your shotgun scared the BG off, or you shot the BG and now have one less round in the magazine but a replacement in the chamber. Now, your SD shotgun that was kept "chamber empty" has a full chamber.

Does this mean that you have to completely unload the tube just to take the shell out of the chamber and put it back to store "cruiser ready" again? I know some shotguns have a magazine disconnect, but many do not.

Maybe I'm just being lazy, but part of me is looking at it as having to disarm yourself (unload it completely) just to remove the round from the chamber.

 

[TurtlePhish]

Slide back, shell ejects, new shell feeds onto lifter from tube. Keep slide back, take shell out of ejection port by hand or by tilting the shotgun to dump it out, slide forward. Put two shells back in tube.

 

[JEB]

Slide back, shell ejects, new shell feeds onto lifter from tube. Keep slide back, take shell out of ejection port by hand or by tilting the shotgun to dump it out, slide forward. Put two shells back in tube.

+1 thats how i would do it.

 

[Skribs]

Yeah shoulda thought of that.

 

[briansmithwins]

Benelli has a weird manual of arms. Simply cycling the bolt doesn't release the. Ext round onto the shell lifter, it just empties the chamber. To release the next round (without pulling trigger) you have to manually trip the release lever.

BSW

 

[Inebriated]

If anyone's done a slug/buck changeover in their 870 knows how to do this. Press slide release, and hold the round in tube with right thumb. It helps to keep the shotgun steady under your right arm. When you pull the slide back, the round ejects, and when you push it back forward, you have an empty chamber. Which is why you use that for ammo changes. You can quickly empty the chamber, and throw a new one in. For those who don't use 870's, I can't say how to do it. For 500/590's, you have to flip the new round out of the lifter and out, then you're good.

But me, I keep a full tube and one on the lifter with the slide back. So I'd pull the slide back, push the lifter up, and reload the tube.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Depending on how the action works and the length of the forearm if it's a pump, it's possible to hold the shells in the magazine with the tip of the support hand thumb while the action is opened slowly and the chambered round ejected.

Works well with 870s with LE length forearms...

 

[foghornl]

Mossberg & Maverick pumps, you can press the shell stop and empty the mag one at a time, then pump it to eject the round in chamber. OR hold the rounds in magazine with a thumb, and eject the chambered one, as Fred Fuller posted.

 

[303tom]

I was just thinking about this after reading the thread on here about storing SD shotguns: you hear a bump in the night, so you grab your shotgun and chamber a round. Either the bump turns out to be nothing, or your shotgun scared the BG off, or you shot the BG and now have one less round in the magazine but a replacement in the chamber. Now, your SD shotgun that was kept "chamber empty" has a full chamber.

Does this mean that you have to completely unload the tube just to take the shell out of the chamber and put it back to store "cruiser ready" again? I know some shotguns have a magazine disconnect, but many do not.

Maybe I'm just being lazy, but part of me is looking at it as having to disarm yourself (unload it completely) just to remove the round from the chamber.

Are you serious ?

 

[RhinoDefense]

I never have to cycle a round into the chamber. It's already loaded. Stop believing the myth that the sound of you working the action will scare someone.

 

[Skribs]

It's not that, Rhino. It's just that I prefer to leave my long guns in the "cruiser ready" condition so there's nothing in the chamber to go off, but I can leave the safety off without worry.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I never have to cycle a round into the chamber. It's already loaded. Stop believing the myth that the sound of you working the action will scare someone.

Amen to that....In addition, the last thing I want to do is make a bunch of racket and give away my position.

 

[Naterater]

500 mossberg:
slide the pump almost all the way back, the chambered shell should be parallel with the barrel, then pry(pull) out the chambered round. If you go too far back, another pops in from the magazine and you have to tilt the gun to get it to fall out.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Just read the moderator Fred Fuller's post
question answered

 

[evan price]

Wow, overthinking it.
Pull out both rounds. Close the action. Put them both in the mag tube.

 

[Virginian]

Amazin ! Dead guy laying on the floor and you are worried about a round in the chamber instead of calling your lawyer. Don't worry about getting the gun ready to go again, the cops will take care of that for you. And from your posts, you better get a good lawyer, and keep your mouth shut.

 

[bigfatdave]

shove a snap-cap in the tube, cycle the action
Now you have a snap-cap in the chamber and a live round on the floor to load back in the tube

... not the best way, but another way to skin this dead cat if you dislike fumbling around inside the action of your weapons

 

[Skribs]

Interesting idea BFD.

Virginian, I mentioned 3 scenarios, two of which do not involve a dead guy. And I didn't say my only concern was about what's in the chamber. That is a concern, because when they're not being used, my shotguns are cruiser ready. To store it differently is inviting a ND. KISS principle - do everything the same way so you don't screw it up when you switch.

The rest of what happens (which may or may not include calling the cops, calling my lawyer, making a post on FB saying I wont be posting for a while, sacrificing a goat to the voodoo gods so that they can protect me from my bunkmate in jail) wasn't relevant to the issue of securing my firearm. Police may do it for me...when they get there.

 

[Sam1911]

A comment and an answer:

Comment: If I've SHOT, the gun will stay loaded and directly on my person until assistance arrives. I'll probably even top it off if I have the presence of mind to do so. Never know who else was around (i.e.: if the intruder was alone or not).

Answer: Same as Fred. If I've not shot and want to return the gun to cruiser ready (which is how I store mine, because I keep it cable-locked due to little hands in the house), I'll hold the next shell forward in the mag while I rack the slide to eject the chambered shell. Alternately, rack the action all the way to the rear, ejecting the chambered shell, and then tip out the shell that's on the lifter. Return both to mag.