Do you clear your 1911 at night or leave it cocked & locked?

[NK777]

What if you have a bad dream? Any sleepwalkers out there? If I don't have time to pull a hammer back or rack a shotgun then my perimeter security (or yours actually) needs some work.

Well I suppose if I was a sleep walker or anybody with access to the gun safe that lives in my house were sleep walkers I might have to reconsider, but nobody in my house is a sleep walker so I'm not to concerned about it.

I have 4 kids so yes I do keep my guns locked up when I'm not actually carrying them. All my kids are knowledgeable about guns and safety but I personally prefer to maintain strict control of the firearms in the house.

I agree with your security statement some what and I personally keep the shotgun loaded but with an empty chamber in the safe. All handguns are condition one however. To each there own I guess. I have one of those quick access gun safes. It only takes a couple seconds to open. I figure worse case scenario I can at least have a handgun ready to go in seconds. If I feel I have more time I'll grab and rack the shotgun but the handguns are fastest and have more rounds in them.

 

[A2theK]

My post was kind of tongue in cheek, but I have always wondered about people that sleep with a gun under the pillow. What about a bad dream where your letting the bad guys get some? I wonder if anyone has actually fired a weapon when they were asleep?

It's not like I wake up naked in the backyard with linked .308 belts crisscrossed on my chest or anything.

I prefer a 92fs locked and loaded or my SPAS next to the bed. I also have a helmet with NVG set-up for chasing someone into the woods if need be.

 

[techieguy]

I keep my 1911 on my dresser cocked and locked in the holster at night. When I remove my gun from my body it stays in the holster...btw I keep a SureFire
e2 Defender LED with the 1911. About the only time my 1911 is unloaded is on IDPA practice when I'm not shooting (cold range unless your the active shooter) and when I'm cleaning the it.

 

[orygun]

Cocked and locked. Rotate magazines every couple of weeks.

I'd like to add a couple of things and ask a question....

I have a "house gun" that's a .38 Special revolver. I also keep my .45 in a holster, stashed and out of the safe almost all of the time I'm home. The wife does similarly with her snubbie. It's just her and I at the house. If there are going to be some children around everything gets locked up except the .38 because it's in a secure location. At that time I may unload the .45 and put the hammer down.

So, many people comment about magazine spring compression when left loaded for a long time. How come I never hear of anyone talking about hammer spring compression in a gun that's left cocked and locked?

 

[NK777]

Springs only wear out when they are cycled. Plus I've never had a hammer spring wear out in my life. I think the hammer spring on most guns is over kill. I Mag left loaded or a hammer left cocked will never ever wear out a spring. Things that wear out springs are over compression (You constantly try to load one more round then the mag was designed for) or cycling (A spring can only cycle so many times before it's worn out).

Trust me I didn't used to believe this and I used to empty my mags at night and reload them again and again and again. Guess what in short order I wore out my mag springs. So I said what the heck "I believe" and started leaving my mag's full. Guess what I haven't replaced a mag spring since.

 

[sinco54]

I don't carry cocked/locked. I know, I know...i may not have a hand free to rack the slide if i need to blah blah blah. But i have a six year old daughter and the chance of me leaving it unattended for a minute and her deciding to 'play' with it, or any other dozens of things that could happen accidently with it around the house far outweigh the chance i would need it cocked in locked for a bad guy. And yes, she 'know's better, but still not worth the risk.
So due to playing the odds, i carry it 24/7, at home and outside the home. but without a round in the chamber. Figure it is better than being totally unarmed at least.

+1... I figure if its gonna come out I'll have the .55 seconds Ill need to rack the slide...
With as much as Im tugged on and grabbed at by an 8, 6 and 3 year old you never know.. Magazines full safety is off, just not chambered.

 

[crosse]

in a holster always, if concerned about ND by kids, get a safe even a small one gun one to put in/on the nightstand.

 

[crosse]

Springs only wear out when they are cycled. Plus I've never had a hammer spring wear out in my life. I think the hammer spring on most guns is over kill. I Mag left loaded or a hammer left cocked will never ever wear out a spring. Things that wear out springs are over compression (You constantly try to load one more round then the mag was designed for) or cycling (A spring can only cycle so many times before it's worn out).

Trust me I didn't used to believe this and I used to empty my mags at night and reload them again and again and again. Guess what in short order I wore out my mag springs. So I said what the heck "I believe" and started leaving my mag's full. Guess what I haven't replaced a mag spring since.

+1

 

[raindog]

I don't carry cocked/locked. I know, I know...i may not have a hand free to rack the slide if i need to blah blah blah. But i have a six year old daughter and the chance of me leaving it unattended for a minute and her deciding to 'play' with it, or any other dozens of things that could happen accidently with it around the house far outweigh the chance i would need it cocked in locked for a bad guy. And yes, she 'know's better, but still not worth the risk.
So due to playing the odds, i carry it 24/7, at home and outside the home. but without a round in the chamber. Figure it is better than being totally unarmed at least.

At night, you could put it in a GunVault, cocked and locked and ready to go, without worrying about your child. I don't know if that's better than having it condition three, but I use a GunVault.

 

[JC9995]

I would leave it cocked and locked, although I also leave all loaded weapons in a holster.

Ya theres the rub for me. I am also a Glock guy, and I cant remove it from the holster and slide into the NS safe without clearing it. No holster, no covered trigger, not safe.
In fact, it gets cleared before I walk in the house. EVERY time. Then it stays in my pocket until it goes in the gunvault in the night stand. No exceptions.
EDIT: (NS Safe)= "Night Stand Safe"

 

[raindog]

Ya theres the rub for me. I am also a Glock guy, and I cant remove it from the holster and slide into the NS safe without clearing it. No holster, no covered trigger, no safe.

What is an "NS safe"?

 

[The Heretic]

I not only have my handguns "cleared" (nothing in the chamber), I put them somewhere that I have to get out of bed, open a door, and retrieve them - to increase the chances that I will be awake when I do.

The reason is I have REM Sleep Behavior Disorder; I act out my dreams. I have removed guns from the drawer at the head of the bed and racked the slide, I have removed a pocket knife from my pocket and tried to stab a person in my dreams beside me, I have kicked and punched anything with in reach (several times knocking lamps off of tables) and screamed for help and so on.

Fortunately I live and sleep alone (when I was married I did flail about once and hit my wife with a backhand) - but I have moved my guns to where I can't easily reach them.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

That sounds like a terrible issue to suffer from, Heretic!
It sounds like you have trouble differentiating between real and sleep at times! Am I getting that right?

 

[Stomper]

This is the official runner up to the NECRO THREAD ressurection RECORD!! 6yrs 9mos.... 7yrs+ is the record... NICE JOB!

 

[Captain O]

I sleep alone. No problem.

 

[The Heretic]

That sounds like a terrible issue to suffer from, Heretic!
It sounds like you have trouble differentiating between real and sleep at times! Am I getting that right?

No.

THink of it as a form of sleepwalking.

When I am asleep and dreaming, my body is not relatively "paralyzed" like most people. If I am scared enough in my dreams, I can kick or punch or do other things.

Everybody dreams they are doing things - right? Ever been in a fight in your dreams? Drive? Run? But your body doesn't actually move - you don't punch your bed or someone sleeping with you right? That is because your body has a switch that turns off its actions because it is supposed to in order to prevent you harming yourself or others.

Ever seen a dog run in its sleep?

That's me. Notice the dog biting something just after it gets up? It probably was dreaming of being chased by something.

Some people have a faulty switch to where they become afraid enough or angry enough in their dreams (nightmares), they can override that switch to one degree or another. Once they wake up they are fine. As they get older, they sometimes find that they do this more and more. Some people who never did this, find that when they get to to be a "senior citizen" they start doing it.

If I can manage to get out of bed, I wake up. It takes a supreme effort for me to get out of the bed while dreaming and that wakes me up.

 

[Stomper]

That explains why Ricky and Lucy had separate beds!

 

[Ura-Ki]

Cocked and locked 24/7! Wife is the same! rotate mags every other week, only one round of ammo is ever used to chamber, and that round is inserted by hand, cleared easy so not to damage or seat back. Cary ammo expended every six months or so, and replaced with fresh!

 

[Joe13]

This is the official runner up to the NECRO THREAD ressurection RECORD!! 6yrs 9mos.... 7yrs+ is the record... NICE JOB!

I don't even need to hit the showed ignore button to know who posted on this one...

I did though and can say for a fact that un named person has never held a 1911 much less is qualified to give advice about a subject on the issue...

 

[Captain O]

"Down to Gehenna, to the steps up to The Throne. The man that walks the swiftest, is the one that walks alone." - Rudyard Kipling