Leaving a Shotgun Loaded?

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fender1974

New member
I'm getting ready to purchase either a Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 home defense shotgun. I've never owned a shotgun before and wonder how long you can leave the shells in the "tube"? I know with semi-automatic handguns it's okay to leave rounds in the magazine for an extended period of time without cycling them out but wasn't sure how long you could leave shells in a shotgun. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
I left a Mossberg loaded for about..oh, 18 years. I know, I know, same ammo too. I only unloaded it to move, and then loaded it with the same ammo. I bought those 12 gauge rounds in 1981 and I still have a few left.

Not ideal, but it worked fine every time I test-fired it.
 
Biggest issue is with the plastic of the rounds bulging a bit under the pressure. Wouldn't hurt to switch ammo out every year or so.
 
With the low pressure of my old 20 gauge 500 mag spring, I don't know if it could ever deform a hull.
Brent
 
Well, if the gun is staying in one spot for an extended period, there really isn't a problem I can see, but if the gun is constantly being moved around with a loaded tube and you are using buckshot shells, the vibrations of constantly being moved will cause the buffering inside the shells to sprinkle out of the crimp in the shells and makes a mess inside the tube and worst of all can actually make the follower stick. And that's the last thing you want to have happen if God forbid you have to use it in a HD/SD situation. :eek:
 
Well, if the gun is staying in one spot for an extended period, there really isn't a problem I can see, but if the gun is constantly being moved around with a loaded tube and you are using buckshot shells, the vibrations of constantly being moved will cause the buffering inside the shells to sprinkle out of the crimp in the shells and makes a mess inside the tube and worst of all can actually make the follower stick. And that's the last thing you want to have happen if God forbid you have to use it in a HD/SD situation.
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HUH???????

My buckshot, (Winchester) is sealed from the factory at the mouth of the crimp - nothing has "leaked" from these shells in the years they have been in the gun
 
I leave my maverick 88 security "cruiser ready" (chamber empty, safe off) with 7 rounds in the tube 24/7. Every 6 months or so I practice with the loaded ammo and then reload it with fresh ammo.
 
Not to hijack the OP's thread, but do you guys also tape off the muzzle if you are leaving it standing for that long? (6 months to a year.)
Spiders and dust and things like that? In the desert we use to put tape over our muzzles when we had shotguns out in those blasted sand storms. It got to the point that we just left the tape on the gun when it was turned in to the armory. Just curious.
 
I don't put anything over the muzzle. If/when it gets fired, and there's a spider in there, he's getting one hell of a ride to eternity
 
the vibrations of constantly being moved will cause the buffering inside the shells to sprinkle out of the crimp in the shells and makes a mess inside the tube and worst of all can actually make the follower stick. And that's the last thing you want to have happen if God forbid you have to use it in a HD/SD situation.
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Well, that is assuming that one is using high grade ammo that might be buffered. I figure most folks are using what they can find cheap, or in these times what they can find period.

I'm pretty much with oneounceload here. Unless someone comes along and stuffs a gob of mud or a rock down my barrel (pretty darned unlikely), I ain't worried about miscellaneous dust, spiders, cobwebs, etc.

As far as leaving it loaded for long periods of time is concerned, if I were a very prudent man with lots of time on his hands I might go out and shoot those rounds away every few months and replace them. The reality is I am a busy guy. When I do get range time I usually choose to spend it at the skeet / sporting clays range, and they won't even allow me to shoot my HD gun on their range at all (barrel too short). Additionally, the largest shot size they allow is 7 1/2.

You folks have gotten me to thinking, though. I will go home tonight and unload my 870 that has been sitting by my headboard for a couple of years and closely inspect the Remington Managed Recoil 00 buck rounds for bulging, etc. I will be really surprised if they look much different than they did when I put them in there.

Another factor to consider, is the environment where the gun is stored. My bedroom never gets really hot. However, if that shotgun were riding around in my trunk here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metromess where it was 105 yesterday, then I would be concerned about bulging and deformation of the plastic in general.

Just thinkin' out loud.
 
IMHO it won't hurt to leave the same ammo in a shotgun for a reasonable period of time. I harp on shooting the same ammo for practice that you use 'for serious,' so you will know how it feels when fired and how it performs. I never worry about the age of ammo in a given shotgun because it gets shot often enough that the ammo is always fresh enough not to worry about. The ammo stays fresh, and so does my familiarity with the gun and its performance.

There's no need to buy SuperSpecial HiPerformance Prowler Fouler ammo for $10/round and then be afraid to shoot it because it costs so much. Just find something generic, buckshot and slugs, that work reliably in your gun and shoot like you want them to. Shoot the gun HOT (at least 15 rounds as fast as you can run it should get it hot enough) to make sure the ammo works reliably in a hot gun- some might not. Then buy a bunch of whatever ammo it is, and coast until it's time to do it all again.

The shotguns that are 'on duty' here are always loaded, except when they've been shot empty or are being cleaned. We keep 00 buck (right now, Federal LE 127-00) in the magazines and Brenneke KO slugs in the Sidesaddles. Magazines are loaded one round short to allow for a 'select slug' drill the instant the gun is picked up, if needed. All except one stand muzzle down, as they will be retrieved from a standing position and that leads to an easy assumption of an 'indoor ready' position. The one gun that stands muzzle up (the lone non-870 that is on standby, a High Standard K-102 Riot) has the strap of a Claymore bag which holds extra ammo draped over the muzzle. The Claymore bag has 20 rounds of buckshot in one pocket and 20 rounds of slugs in the other.

Of course, YMMV...

lpl
 
I had a contract to care for some of the guns at a local PD. They had constant issues with buffer leaking out of the cheap shells they used. Of course, some of them would oil up the action when they started to bind up, making it much worse. The shells were Remington OO 2 3/4" loads. I don't have the contract anymore, so I don't know if they ever changed vendors.
 
Springs

I know during our deployments to Iraq you always seem to have that magazine (5.56MM) that stays in the vehicle as an emergency back up and I know that the springs in the mags will loose tension with time if left loaded to full capacity. Think of it like an old spring mattress. The people at the store advise you to flip and rotate your mattress every so many months this is to prevent the springs from getting a worn spot and causing sagging in the mattress. A spring is a spring and if left compressed for long enough it looses compression which in a firearm can cause miss feading leading you looking for a second shot. Not a situation you want to be in.
 
Magazines and tubes left loaded for a long time can be loaded a little short if you're worried about the spring. I had a Platoon Sergeant once who would "flip his friggin wig" if any Marines on guard had more than 28 rounds in their M16 mags or 7 in the M590 (of 30 and 8 max cap respectively)... but honestly, we all knew that guy was a wack job.

I keep my 500 loaded cruiser ready (5+0) at all times, and just toss it in the cabinet when I leave the house.
 
Isn't it better and safer to leave it unloaded and load it when you need it? Here in Canada, it is illegal to store a loaded firearm.
 
Isn't it better and safer to leave it unloaded and load it when you need it? Here in Canada, it is illegal to store a loaded firearm.
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Safer for whom? You or someone wishing to do you harm? My thinking is it benefits only your adversary. An unloaded shotgun is little more than a baseball bat and you can't count on having time to load it. Having said all that I don't advocate breaking the law, but evidently the laws in Canada and the laws concerning such things here in Texas are considerably different.

There are always different circumstances, of course. We no longer have children in our house, and very rarely have any visit, so that is not a consideration. The fact that I'm just a tiny bit shy of 60 and no longer quite as nimble as I once was definitely is.
 
I'm with OneOunce on this stuff...

I don't keep a tactical shotgun around - but if I did, it would be "cruiser ready"...
 
Isn't it better and safer to leave it unloaded and load it when you need it? Here in Canada, it is illegal to store a loaded firearm.
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You should consider moving to a free country.
 
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