What does "lock and load" actually mean?

[Abenaki]

Jim Keenan

I am familiar with the loading drills.
Man what a pain. Kinda like wearing a bright red uniform in the middle
of the summer!!!!!

Abenaki

 

[alphaboo]

Lock and Load

I always thought that lock and load meant that you opened the breech which you locked open to load as on an M1 and loaded the gun by inserting the clip into the open and locked breech. Once the gun was loaded weather with single rounds on a basic bolt action hunting rifle (in the Dead Zone Christopher Walken opens and locks the breech on his rifle, loads the bullets one by one, then closes the bolt and breech in preperation to firing. I don't remeber if he chmbers a round at this point or does that later) or as on a M1 type clip or a box type clip like a thompson or sten gun or a modern assualt rifle, then you closed the brech so the gun had been locked and loaded and was now ready to be used by releasing the safety and pulling back the bolt (I doubt you could apply lock and load to a revolver.)or however you charged the particular weapon you were using. A paratrooper might lock and load but I doubt he would jump with a chambered round and the bolt pulled back.

Hope this helps,

Alphaboo

 

[Pure Kustom]

It means SHHTF!!!!

 

[everallm]

British Army

Entering a hot zone be it range, exercise or combat
Lock a mag in place or check the currently seated one is seated and secure
Load a round in chamber
Safety re-checked and is still on safe

Ready
Safety off, prepare to fire on command or as required

 

[moooose102]

while i do not know where or when the phrase came from, i know esentially what it means, but i always thought it should be said the other way around. load and lock. but lock and load does sound cooler.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A thread from the dead.

I suppose it can't hurt to refresh our memories from time to time.

 

[MIL-DOT]

Interesting thread, but with all the conficting information, I still don't know for sure the exact meaning or origin of the phrase beyond what I already knew,which is,"prepare whatever firearm you're holding, to fire."

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I always thought that lock and load meant that you opened the breech which you locked open to load as on an M1

Take it from a guy who trained on the M1, who trained others, and who carried one on his first combat tour: "Lock and load" means "Engage the safety lock and load your weapon."

For the M1918A1 Automatic Rifle (the BAR) the corresponding command is) "Cock and lock" which means to draw the breechblock back until it engages the sear, then engage the safety lock.

 

[TankerCadaver]

I always thought it was "lock" the bolt back.... then "load" the rounds/magazine (and subsequently release bolt into battery).

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Take it from an old Infantryman, the "lock" in "lock and load" means "engage the safety lock."

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Wow, many varied answers; interesting - I'm placing my bettin money on Jim Keenan & Vern Humphrey!

 

[woerm]

lock load naval term

I had aways heard this as a naval term goi ng back to the 17 century when the 'modern' navies started putting flint and later percussion 'locks' on their naval cannon. The order was to get the lock out of storage and mount it then load the weapon. With blackpowder you don't want to leave that corrosive stuff in the cannon for long periods of time. and the flint and percussion actions were to fragile to leave on the cannon. Later fuses got more reliable and cased breech loaders didn't need all that but the term still has utility 'get ready for action'

 

[10X]

Remember the phrase "Lock, Stock and Barrel". This refered to flintlocks.
In the 20th century who talks about their rifle's "locks"? I believe this to be an old pharase carried over to today meaning to prepare a musket now rifle for immediate firing.

I copied the two paragraphs below from the Saving Private Ryan dictionary page. They are as good an explanation as any.

One explanation of the phrase comes from the actions needed to prepare a flint lock rifle for firing. In order to safely load a rifle of this type it was necessary to position the firing mechanism in a locked position, after which the gun powder and ball could be safely loaded into the rifle barrel without any chance of the rifle misfiring.

The second explanation is that the phrase (as "load and lock") originated during World War II to describe the preparations required to fire an M1 Garand rifle. After an ammunition clip was loaded into the rifle the bolt automatically moved forward in order to "lock" a round into the chamber.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Lock and Load

It was our formal goodbye to all our cronies while leaving work about 16 years ago every Tuesday. It meant "don't forget your equipment tomorrow" as we went to the range every Wednesday after work.

 

[woodybrighton]

using lock and load in the British army means lots of press ups :banghead:

 

[dhoomonyou]

praise the lord and pass the ammunition

 

[iapetus]

Holy thread necromancy, Batman!

Data the Android
Used the term in a Star Trek movie.

I thought that was funny to apply to a phaser rifle.

Not much odder I suppose than describing a directed-energy weapon as a "rifle".