Keeping loaded guns in the safe…

[Alexx1401]

I would like to add that if you do keep loaded
Guns in your safe, please put a note inside your safe stating that all could be loaded.

I helped an elderly lady a few months ago. She was unaware that most of her husbands guns were loaded. She was embarrassed of the laundry/safe room condition so she was bring them out one by one. Yep the first one she handed me, hey this is loaded. She said hmmm from the other room and then Boom!
Hole in the basement ceiling and up into her living room.
She got over her embarrassment of the mess in there then.

My Wife and kids all know the guns in the house (not just safe) are loaded. If something happens to me they know that they are. I have to guess that guys Wife did not shoot with him?

 

[oknow]

This was posted in a recent thread here.

9 Myths about Fireproof Gun Safe Fire Ratings - Gun Safe Reviews Guy

''Storing flammable or explosive materials unnecessarily in a fire protection safe doesn't make a lot of sense. I have yet to see anyone with an opinion on this say that it's a good idea to store ammo in the same gun safe as your guns and valuables.

According to Vincent DiMaio's book Gunshot Wounds, .22 LR cartridges will detonate ("cook off") repeatably at only 275 °F. .38 Special rounds make it until 290 °F, and 12 Gauge shells cook off at around 390 °F. Interestingly in these cook off experiments, the primers did not go off — it was the powder.

You'll see below that the metals used in ammunition gather heat faster than other materials, so in a fire ammo will heat up faster than the other valuables in your gun safe. A home fire carries a real risk of setting off the ammo inside your safe even before a 350 °F internal temperature is reached''.

Keeping ammo in a good safe is a recipie for a disaster. if it gets hot enough to start cooking off ammo there will be enough pressure to turn your safe into a very large grenade if you have a decent amount of ammo in it.

 

[Koda]

Ive been holding off on replying because it seems the vast majority here keep their guns loaded in the safe... I do not. In my opinion unless a gun is in my holster or in my hand its to be unloaded. Any gun thats out of my physical posession, I dont see any reason why storing them loaded would be any advantage.

To clarify, a safe to me is for secure storage. If I felt I had a need for self defense I would not even keep it in the safe at all it would be loaded in a fast access security device or possible loaded with an empty chamber, when Im home.. Anyways....

As long as your responsible I dont care and its none of my buisness, I think the best advice I read so far was from Andy...."Once you decide on what works for you , do not deviate from your system."


So im curious...
Whats the reason to store a gun in a locked safe, loaded?

 

[Alexx1401]

Keeping ammo in a good safe is a recipie for a disaster. if it gets hot enough to start cooking off ammo there will be enough pressure to turn your safe into a very large grenade if you have a decent amount of ammo in it.

Unless the safe was airtight that's not how it works. Black powder would and could but the smokeless stuff will not. This is one of those things people will write about on the assumption that it "sounds correct".

 

[Alexx1401]

<snip>

As long as your responsible I dont care and its none of my buisness, I think the best advice I read so far was from Andy...."Once you decide on what works for you , do not deviate from your system."


So im curious...
Whats the reason to store a gun in a locked safe, loaded?

For me it's because if I need a gun from the safe I want it ready to use. Probably never happen but I see no reason to leave them with no ammo in them since no one but Wife and I can get at them. I don't claim it as the be all to end all if others keep theirs empty. I just don't see any reason to leave them empty. Same reason I keep at least a couple mags for each gun loaded in there too. Have a box full of mags to grab from when we head to the range. For each gun in the safe though there is at least 2 loaded mags ready to go.

 

[BillGabby1]

As far as I'm concerned an empty gun is either an expensive brick or club.
Does that answer your question?
The only thing I don't bother loading is my pellet guns.

 

[BillGabby1]

View attachment 330106 View attachment 330105
Sounds like you've been to my house!
Here's some tomahawks and knives to go with my Hawken.
Andy

Show off I've only got one hawk and several knives of various configurations. LOL
My problem is my shoulder doesn't work like it should and throwing is greatly affected, just keep the hawk as decoration any more.

 

[BillGabby1]

I see I'm not the only Knight Owl!

 

[Alexx1401]

I see I'm not the only Knight Owl!

Difference is I'm actually getting paid for this. Hey it's a rough job but somebody has to do it.

 

[BillGabby1]

Difference is I'm actually getting paid for this. Hey it's a rough job but somebody has to do it.

Didn't you tell me you are on the road?

 

[Alexx1401]

Didn't you tell me you are on the road?

Nope right now in one spot. With the WiFi I can often hide out for a while and play even though we are working. If they don't need us we can play.

 

[Connor Murphy]

i treat every gun as if its loaded because... mine are ALWAYS loaded. even the ones in the safe too.

There's something to be said for always being loaded. The guns too.

 

[Dennis Cooper]

We keep bedside Shotguns loaded with 00 buckshot in Shotlock solo vaults (unlocked when sleeping). Concealed pistols on our person or locked in bedroom handgun safes (loaded). All long guns and non concealed pistols are locked in the big safe (unloaded) behind a dead-bolted reinforced door. Ammunition is stored in separate safes, away from the weapons. We keep range bags containing 100 rounds in magazines for the CC pistols and 300 rounds in magazines for the AR-15's in the locked closet that the large safe resides in. With grand babies in and out of the house we need to keep everything secure until they are old enough to learn to handle weapons responsibly.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ive been holding off on replying because it seems the vast majority here keep their guns loaded in the safe... I do not. In my opinion unless a gun is in my holster or in my hand its to be unloaded. Any gun thats out of my physical posession, I dont see any reason why storing them loaded would be any advantage.

To clarify, a safe to me is for secure storage. If I felt I had a need for self defense I would not even keep it in the safe at all it would be loaded in a fast access security device or possible loaded with an empty chamber, when Im home.. Anyways....

As long as your responsible I dont care and its none of my buisness, I think the best advice I read so far was from Andy...."Once you decide on what works for you , do not deviate from your system."


So im curious...
Whats the reason to store a gun in a locked safe, loaded?

Do you keep gasoline in your automobile fuel tanks?
Heavens!

 

[SmitKoWitz]

If I had enough guns to justify a Safe.
And if they were collectible and expensive?

I would not store them with anything combustible.

Ammunition is not likely to combust inside your safe, nor anywhere else. Even when ammo is burned in a fire, the fire is the problem not the ammo. Tests were done by the SAAMI (go to saami.org) decades ago (1974) to prove how safe ammo storage was, in response to laws being proposed in Chicago. SAAMI worked in conjunction with the Chicago Fire Prevention Bureau. They did the tests at the Olin Winchester Ammo Works in Alton IL. Published the works in 1977. You can read the results here:
Facts About Sporting Ammunition Fires - SAAMI

 

[Koda]

Do you keep gasoline in your automobile fuel tanks?
Heavens!

Do you keep your car in your gun safe?
Heavens!

 

[Certaindeaf]

Do you keep your car in your gun safe?
Heavens!

I keep my loaded firearms in the nursery. duh

 

[Medic!]

Your article SmitKoWitz.

Burning ammunition in close confinement. Page 4.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj9lZLW7YjRAhUBWmMKHWzeC8YQFggaMAA&url=http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/saami_item_212-facts_about_sporting_ammunition_fires.pdf&usg=AFQjCNF8pfl59rCl08BsPyf2It1REzUpNg&sig2=WmEDseT87h8sCfXVfy0iyg&bvm=bv.142059868,d.cGc

That describes something I don't want to expose my guns to [If I had any].

Your guns are yours.

 

[jaws]

I don't typically unload my carry or house gun when I put then in the safe. My routine when I get home is to open the safe, put my EDC in without unloading and retrieve my bedside gun. Then in the morning same routine again without unloading. Other pistols and long guns are only loaded when I'm out in the field/range….

I'm wondering how many do the same or some variation of this?

Always loaded but safe when guests are around. I was wondering how often do you reload your magazine or do you always keep it full?

 

[Alexx1401]

Always loaded but safe when guests are around. I was wondering how often do you reload your magazine or do you always keep it full?

I keep mine full until I shoot them. The high end ammo often left in the mags for years since I don't shoot much of that. Now before I trust a new mag I do check. Will load it with range ammo and let it sit. After months try it out. Then do this again for a while. Springs if made right will not take a set in your lifetime. Now and then if a bad one slips past the QC it will soon show up. So after I am sure they are good they stay loaded till I feel I need to clean them. The mags that get carried of course need cleaning more often than those that are kept at home.