HD Shotgun Protocal - Away from home?

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xjmox14x

New member
Good afternoon guys (or morning, depending on where you are ;) ). I was hoping for some input and various opinions on what you guys usually do regarding your HD shotgun. A little background info, I have a Remington 870 12 ga. which I use as my HD shotgun along with 2 3/4" 00 buck. I keep mine right inside the bedroom closet door, tube filled, chamber empty, safe on.

From reading past threads, I get that most of you prefer to leave shells in the tube with the chamber empty to save valuable time instead of trying to load the shells into the magazine with no light in the middle of the night while your heart is racing and a million things running through your head. I feel like, for myself, if I'm going away for an extended period (say for a few days), I'll empty the shotgun and put a trigger guard on it. Keep in mind, I do not currently own a gun safe.

My question is, what do you guys do when you go away for a short period of time? Say you're running out to the mall for a few hours with your wife to catch a movie or something. I guess there are no right or wrong answers really, just would like to see some ideas/opinions on what you guys do. Put the trigger guard on? Put it in a safe, even if only away for a an hour at most? Leave it as is?

Thanks guys!
 
Having a safe...

... doesn't do much good if one doesn't use it.

If I'm home, I may have a gun on my person or in the bedroom.

If I'm away, any gun that is not with me is in the safe.
 
what do you guys do when you go away for a short period of time?
Click to expand...

Doesn't this happen everyday when you leave for work? What do you do then?

I keep my shotgun unlocked and unloaded with the shells in separate unlocked location. There are no children in house and my housemates are aware that there are firearms in my bedroom.

The reason I keep it unloaded is that we currently lease a house and we have an agreement with our landlord that she or a hired repairman can come into the house without notice. I would hate for a hapless repairman to meander into my bedroom and handle my shotgun without knowledge of the Four Rules and injure/kill himself or someone else. In my setup, he would have go searching for ammo and purposefully load and chamber a round for a discharge to occur... at least in theory.

If I leave for vacation or a long trip, the guns get trigger locked and all ammo is stored in a locked ammo container.

I feel that given my situation, this is the best compromise between accessibility and fool-proof (as if there's such a thing) storage.
 
I put an exterior key locking door set on my closet door. When leaving I sit it in side the closet door and lock it... I may, one day, switch the door for a solid wooden one.
Brent
 
If I'm outta the house for a short period of time (work, in town running errands = less than 1 day) I'll just leave the nightstand gun in the nightstand and the Mossberg 500 stays in the bedroom closet. If I'm gone more than 1 day, what's not on my person or in my truck gets locked up in the safe.
 
I keep mine (mag capacity of 7 or 8, but downloaded to 5), action released (hammer dropped w/dummy round in the chamber) and safety on (essentially, in "cruiser" mode) at all times. In terms of security, I keep it locked up in a rack unless Im at home. My handguns remain loaded as well, but are kept in a safe while Im away. At night they come out.

I will admit, the shotgun notwithstanding, I will sometimes neglect to put the handgun(s) back in the safe during a short departure. But, as a general rule, when I am not at home the guns remain locked up. After all, a break-in can happen at any time of the day. Therefore, I generally choose caution over taking chances.
 
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If neither of us is home, the guns are all in the safe, except the ones we carry on our persons.

You don't tell us what your family situation is, whether there are minor children in your home. If so, your state may have safe storage' laws that you are violating- not to mention violating 'best practices' for storing firearms in the home.

No matter what your family situation though, you NEED some way to secure your shotgun- a Mossberg LocBox ( http://www.gunaccessories.com/MossbergAccessories/locbox.asp ) or the like, a security cabinet ( http://www.homaksecurity.com/GunCabinets.htm ) or a gun safe. Otherwise you risk arming a criminal.

lpl
 
Liberty makes a very small Centurion safe holds 12 long guns @ about $380.00 it is 12x59.25x17 good thing to have if live in a apartment or only have 1are2 guns :D
 
For a few hundred more...

... you can get a 14 long gun safe.

The thing about safes is, they tend to fill up faster than one might expect.

After I acquired mine (14 gun safe, on sale at Lowe's for the mid $600 range at the time), not only did I acquire additional firearms, but I also "acquired" my lady's documentation for her rather expensive equines.

For around $1k, you can get a 20+ long gun safe. Fireproofing is good; insurance companies say more firearms are lost to fire damage than theft.

Did I mention that fireproof, 500lb safes are great for storing such documents?

Your significant other is quite likely to notice this.

Get a bigger safe than you think you need, because the odds are you will need it.

One last note: My safe has already paid itself off. We had a burglary last Christmas. All guns stayed in the safe.

Cheers,

M
 
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