How should my HD shotgun be kept?

How to keep my HD SG?

  • Unchambered and saftey Off.

    Votes: 56 60.2%

  • Chmabered and saftey On.

    Votes: 37 39.8%
  • Total voters
    93
If it is a 500 and you have to "pull down" the safety, you are storing it fully HOT the safety is pushed up/forward for fire and pulled down rearward for safe...

As for "precautions", depending on where you reside, this may not be the requirement.

Here in Florida, the law simply states that I may use any force up to and including lethal force against anyone who makes "unauthorized" entry into my home. I do not have to lock my doors, warn the intruder of impending doom or anything. If a person is in my home without permission I am legally allowed to assume he intends to do GBH to myself or other occupants, thus I am authorized and civilly protected in using any force to eliminate the threat facing us.
Brent
 
I keep mine loaded, one in the chamber, safety on. Same philosophy with handguns....I don't want to be mucking around with chambering a round in a stressful situation.
 
Your right i had it backwards in my head,but the safety is on and pulled back.
We have the Castle Doctrine same as you in FL,but that doesn't mean i will shoot without investigating a situation as much as safely possible.

Even tho for now im cocked and locked like my handguns,ill still be re evaluating whats best for me for a while.
 
For Home Defense? I do keep a shotgun loaded, but for me, 99% of the time, I'll grab my .357 Magnum if I need to go check out the house, basement, or porches. It's in my headboard shelf within hand's reach. I can't see how anyone would really grab a shotgun over a handgun in most HD situations, unless there are lots of attackers, and some distance involved .... say, a van full of terrorists out in the street shooting at the house?.

A shotgun in the house, even with a short barrel, is still long, and more easily knocked to the side at close range, or grabbed and used with leverage against you. Especially in a dark house, with hallways, corners, etc., I can keep my left hand free for self defense, and even if I got knocked to the floor, I could hang on to that gun and get that double action around and into someone's side or gut and squeeze a few shots, way easier than with a shotgun.

How you leave the safety & chamber isn't what matters. Having a plan, knowing it, and being able to execute it quickly, quietly & flawlessly in the dark while you're half asleep is what matters. Just my 2 cents.

Josh P
 
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For Home Defense? I do keep a shotgun loaded, but for me, 99% of the time, I'll grab my .357 Magnum if I need to go check out the house, basement, or porches.
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Same for me, more or less. My 357 is on the nightstand, shotgun is about 6' away above and inside the closet door, 45 wanders around a bit but is never very far. I like having the revolver right there, it's DAO, no external safeties, nothing to mess up if I need it NOW. Shotgun is the "if I have time" gun.


And to answer the poll, I store it cruiser-ready; empty chamber, safety off, hammer down and a tube full of 3½" 00 buck. Sure it makes noise chambering a shell, but any intruder that's not in my bedroom has probably figured out already that I'm in my bedroom, this apartment ain't that big so it may as well go KACHUNK and hopefully save the poor fool from making me shoot him.
 
If your not familiar with the 500SPX here is a pic:

MB51523.jpg


Its purposely short and has no issues maneuvering it,and with 2 hand on it i find it harder to have it wrestled away.With a short 18" barrel and collapsed stock its a very compact weapon.

My 1911 is 12" from my hand at night and my 500 is 18" away,and the SG is much more effective.

Im surprised at these last 2 comments as most people will take a short barreled SG over a hand gun any day for HD.
And for distance shooting ill take my chances with my 1911 over a SG with an open bore,unless i had slugs loaded wich i dont.I use 3" 00buck.
 
Actually I dont even keep my 870 loaded it and my AR are sitting side by side empty in the closet with loaded mags and loaded speed loaders for the 870 near by.I sleep with a 1911 condition 3 in the nightstand and SWMBO has her P-226 condition 3 in hers I have a 85lb Boxer with exellent hearing he'll let me know if I need to load the longguns.
Oh and I prefer the KISS thoery when it comes to SD/HD shotguns the 870 is a SPS turkey gun with a 3 round extension and I kept the speed loader set up from my IPSC 1100.It wears a standard stock and is loaded with 2 3/4" 00 buck. I have a cheap 25 round bandoleer loaded with more buck and a few slugs.
 
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Im surprised at these last 2 comments as most people will take a short barreled SG over a hand gun any day for HD.
And for distance shooting ill take my chances with my 1911 over a SG with an open bore,unless i had slugs loaded wich i dont.I use 3" 00buck.
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Ah, there's a very good reason for why I would go handgun first much of the time: Exiting my bedroom door, I have to turn right in a narrow hallway to face the living room/kitchen. I am very much right handed, so maneuvering a shotgun around that corner is not easy. And once I'm in the hallway, it's two more blind right turns into the rest of the apartment. If I lived in a larger house or something I would be more comfortable with the shotgun in a HD situation, but in my current situation, if I chose to leave the bedroom, it seems the shotgun will leave me a bit exposed.
 
If I were to keep one out I would have it ready to chamber the round. Nothing will put the fear into some one like hearing a that pump sound.

Over the summer we had someone who entered the back yard uninvited After 12:00 am. I new because my kenneled dog was growling and woofing. I looked out a window and saw some one there, I immediately went to the gun safe and retrieved my shot gun while calling 911. The operator kept telling me "Sir for your safety you need to put the gun away" I told her for his safety the officers better get there before he does something he can't live with. It did not take me very long to get the gun out and loaded and I had plenty of time because the dog warned me. She got an ata girl and a biscuit for doing her part. As it turns out he had just got his butt kicked at a bar and was hiding from the police, he had no intention of entering my house. But the point is that my early warning system worked as it always does any time some one comes to the house, and I had the time to get the gun out of the safe and loaded.
 
Grubby, that's a good point.

If the possibly hostile are kept out and we're alerted before they can get inside, things are much safer for us.

Maybe more of us should focus on what we need to do to render our domiciles less permeable and us less vulnerable and not what else we can bolt on our shotguns....
 
I have worked in emergency medicine for quite a few years and I have seen the results of leaving guns out where children can get them. That is a tragedy that is incomprehensible. It tears a family up dealing with that. I would rather leave my guns locked up so no one can get them than live with the fact that one of my kids killed themselves or some one else with one. Also my wife has said she does not have what it takes to shoot some one, so in the safe they go, no need in arming the bad guy so he can do more.
 
I keep the Mossbergs in Condition 3.

Magazine full / Chamber empty / safety on.


If I have to grab either one it's safety off / pump / ready

takes less than 2 seconds.

99% of the time for my situation(s) this option (shotgun) will
be used in a safe room only. I will not be leaving that room unless
it is down an escape ladder. I do not care if trouble outside
of the room hears a round being loaded.

Police are called and the safe room door is being guarded from
an angle behind a dresser.
 
In hd I think if you rack a shell you are just giving away your location if the intruder has a weapon
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If someone breaks into your house, they probably assume you are already there. I think if someone breaks into my home, the racking of my 590A1 will either a) make him sh** his pants and run, b) give up and leave or c) a and b.

that's also why you hit 'em with the SureFire. If they can't open their eyes, they probably can't shoot you.
 
It's your job to do everything possible to stop an intruder from entering your home in the first place, before you are required to use deadly force. That's why door locks (dead bolts), alarms, flood lights, dogs, etc
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+1 to dogs. Best burglar alarm/deterrent you can buy.
 
Ya any buddy looking for a four legged house alarm let me know, I have one ready to go and as soon as my old reliable is ready she is getting bread again.
 
I have worked in emergency medicine for quite a few years and I have seen the results of leaving guns out where children can get them. That is a tragedy that is incomprehensible. It tears a family up dealing with that. I would rather leave my guns locked up so no one can get them than live with the fact that one of my kids killed themselves or some one else with one. Also my wife has said she does not have what it takes to shoot some one, so in the safe they go, no need in arming the bad guy so he can do more.
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grubbylabs-I see your side and understand it fully.I just think we look at things a bit differently.I still feel you should have a gun of some sort close by that can be secured so no one but you can access it.
My 13 year old daughter doesn't live with me,and shes scared to death of guns since me and her mother have been divorced since she was 3.Sadly i just got back into guns this year after a 20 year absence and have had no positive influence on her about guns,but im trying.
When she is here my guns get put up and she doesn't even know where,she wouldn't touch them even if she did know.

I know this is a different subject,but id like to share it also.
It really bugs me my daughter is scared of guns and feel they are only made to kill people.This is what her mom and her side of the family has taught her,as well as the school systems in Ohio.
I slowly try and speak with her about this and why her concerns are based on fears of other people and she should think for herself.Every chance i get when go to the range i ask her to go,and also tell her if im bugging her about it to tell me and ill stop asking.But she has shown interest in Airsoft guns,i just bought one a few days back.The next time shes is out and i get paid im gonna teach her gun safety and how to shoot airsoft and then go buy her one.It will stay at my house so it can only be used under my supervision.
And hopefully one day she will want to shoot my .22 and .25 and see guns can also be a fun hobby,and a way to protect yourself,especially as a woman.

Both my parents have a handgun within arms reach when they are awake,and both will kill an intruder.Id still grab my SG over my .45's if im in my bedroom when an "EVENT" may happen,if im not there i have my P238 on my side at all times.

We dont have a fenced in yard,and tying a dog up outside i dont find to be a very humane thing.If i was to have a dog it would be a house dog,but i dont like all the care they need.Dogs are dang needy animals.
I like cats and have 2,they are useless against intruders.But easy to take care of and dont bug me.Id still love an English bull dog or Basset hound,but with my cats thats gonna gonna be anytime soon.

We do have a security light,and dead bolts.We live in a smallish town with 2 stop lights.But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be ready for anything.Thats why im prepared as much as i can,but since its my parents house and im on a low fixed income there isnt much else i can do.
 
A fully loaded sg leaning against the nightstand with a hg inside it. thats all you need .In my case it's loaded with a hollow chamber ,safety off. My wife being proficient with her sig is a big help if i have to move about a dark layout. I have the circut breaker board in my bedroom if i choose to keep the perp in the dark . I want him knocking over lamps instead of switching them on . Sorry ,i forgot ,nobody is getting inside unless they use a pickup truck to pull the door off with a chain. By then my nieghbor has him sighted in with his AR.
A canine is a must. Without mine i feel unsafe therefore i am unsafe. ADT , also a must but the dogs will be my earliest warning of danger. Our drills keep the dogs with my wife (my kids are grown and gone. Both police) ...with my wife in a strong room . She is fully armed with reserve ammo and 2 cell phones. I however choose to be moving about alone with the threat hopefully to join back up with them after the threat has been neutralized. She don't open that door until the police or myself ask her to.
My glocks are all hot and ready chambered. One here ,one there. A S&W m66 under that. One behind that. Thats all you could do beside praying that God keep your family smart and safe .
 
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It only takes me few seconds to get to my guns they are in a small safe in my closet, and with the early warning system I feed twice a day it I should be able to get thing out and ready within a reasonable time. I have had to get my shot gun out before and it happens very quickly.
 
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