placing a weapon in battery

"In battery",referring to hand-held firearms simply means that the action is closed as in normal ready to function condition.

You will sometimes hear of a "slamfire" caused most often by high primers and floating firing pins where the weapon fires "out of battery", meaning that the action wasn't fully closed/locked. This can be a bad, bad thing.
 
Brian Pfleuger said:
...Placing a weapon "in battery" has nothing to do with the original/traditional meaning of the term cocked and locked.

Cocked and locked refers to ONE thing, the condition of a single action handgun with the hammer cocked and the safety engaged.

The term may have been co-opted by people to refer to other things, because it "sounds cool", essentially, but it only has one real meaning...
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Brian Pfleuger said:
"In battery",referring to hand-held firearms simply means that the action is closed as in normal ready to function condition.
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Brian has nailed it.
 
Every reference I've been able to find and what I recall basically states that the term "out of battery" refers to when a "round" is not properly seated in the chamber and the firearm is not able to or has not yet been placed in its normal safe-to-fire condition. In "battery" is the opposite. That's why I stated in or out of "battery" refers to the round and "cocked and locked" refers to the firearm's condition... whether there's a round in "Battery" or not.

... Again, they are not the same.

A firearm can be "cocked and locked" and be empty.

The term "in battery" doesn't even refer to the firearm.

The phrase: "The rifle fired out of battery and blew up" is technically incorrect. It should be stated: "The rifle fired with the round out of battery and blew up."

... At least that's the way I've always understood it. I could be wrong... I usually am...LOL!!!
 
oneshot onekill said:
Every reference I've been able to find and what I recall basically states that the term "out of battery" refers to when a "round" is not properly seated in the chamber...
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No, as Brian pointed out in post 21:
Brian Pfleuger said:
"In battery",referring to hand-held firearms simply means that the action is closed as in normal ready to function condition.
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It just so happens that if the action was in the process of feeding a cartridge, and the action fails to go into battery, the round will not be properly seated in the chamber; but that is not the issue. The issue is that the action has not closed fully so as to be in its "ready to fire" state.

A gun can be "in battery" or "out of battery" even if there's no cartridge present.

oneshot onekill said:
...The term "in battery" doesn't even refer to the firearm....
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No, "in battery" or "out of battery" refers to the state of the firearm.

oneshot onekill said:
...I could be wrong... I usually am...
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It's happened again.
 
Having once being required to speak and understand the lingo used for operation, test, maintenance and control of shipboard gun systems, I still remember all those different "battery" situations.

Regardless of weapon or gun type (30 cal. rifle, .45 cal pistol, .50", 20mm, 40mm, 3", 5", 6" and 8" cased ammunition types as well as the bagged guns of 8", 12", 14" and 16"), "in battery" means all the mechanical stuff's in a position to fire the weapon; doesn't matter if it's loaded or not. The firing lock mechanism on bag guns using combination percussion and electric firing methods need not be cocked for percussion firing its primer nor its electric contacts closed for the mini blasting cap inside one to get current when the firing key's closed at some remote location. An "out of battery" condition means some mechanical part ain't all the way "home" to properly and safely fire the darned thing. The breech may not be completely closed or the counter recoil (spring or hydraulic) system may not have pushed the barrel/breech parts all the way back into a firing position. Even the op rod of an M1 or M14 being 1/16th inch short of all the way forward but the bolt's fully closed is an "out of battery" condition even though, if loaded, the rifle will fire safely, the op rod may not function properly.

After moving on to guided missile systems, an out of battery on the launcher meant the bird was not completely positioned on the launcher arm rail such that the electric contacts could couple into the missile all the pre-launch signals as well as the firing circut completion.
 
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drail sez:
Ex Air Force Weapons Systems Tech here, IMO the correct definition is exactly what Bart B. posted.
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And I think knowledgeable leathernecks and doughboys from the other two armed forces will agree it also applies to their weapons from .22 rimfire all the way up to the "Little David" 36-inch mortar.
 
As has been mentioned, the term "cocked and locked" or conditions 0-3 were devised specifically for the 1911 pistol or other similar handguns such as the Ballester-Moline, Browning Hi-Power, or Star Model B and these terms do not cross over well to other types of firearms. The conditions are as follows:

Condition 0: Magazine loaded and inserted in pistol, round in chamber, hammer cocked, safety off

Condition 1: Magazine loaded and inserted in pistol, round in chamber, hammer cocked, safety on

Condition 2: Magazine loaded and inserted in pistol, round in chamber, hammer down, safety off

Condition 3: Magazine loaded and inserted in pistol, chamber empty, hammer down, safety off.

Also, some would argue that there is also a fourth condition:

Condition 4: Magazine empty/not inserted in pistol, chamber empty, hammer down, safety off.
 
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