Keeping loaded guns in the safe…

[Flopsweat]

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

There is a video about this. saami ammunition fire video - Bing video

 

[Mudpupp]

My bedside gun and extra mag is in a separate quick access safe. I remove and inspect it once a month. My EDC equipment (gun, knife, pen, and flashlight) goes on a separate shelf in my big safe. I keep 3 loaded magazines for the AR's on another shelf, but the rifles unloaded. I do keep 6 rounds in the lever action magazine, but none in the chamber. All other rifles, shotguns, and handguns are left unloaded.

 

[Jon B]

Chambered EDC and mags go into bedside box at night. We have a 2 year old in the house. Keep double stack 9mm chambered on top shelf of safe next to a full mag for the AR. Everything else in safe unloaded to keep it safe and simple. Ammo stored in cans nearby due to lack of room in safe. Separate safe or locker for ammo on the horizon.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

My family knows that the long guns in the safe are empty, and also that handguns are very likely to be loaded! Only one way into the safe, that's with my guidance!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

That's a key point right there ...
Make sure that if others have access to the safe or guns , they know how they are stored.
( Loaded or empty )
Andy

 

[Flopsweat]

That's a key point right there ...
Make sure that if others have access to the safe or guns , they know how they are stored.
( Loaded or empty )
Andy

Nobody but me goes in my safes, which explains the cocked mousetraps that I keep on the top shelf, right next to the web cam.

 

[BillGabby1]

Empty guns kill people too, if you keep them loaded you know they can kill you.
That being said a home with small children should take measures to protect them.

As I was growing up our firearms were stored in the lower part of my parents
Hide-a-bed.
Back then when there were 6 of us living in a 2 room cabin and my brothers were in the back room and I was in the front with mom and dad, they slept on the hide a bed which they folded up in the day time, with their bedding and the guns below.
Most of you youngsters won't even know what a Hide-a-bed was.
As long as I was young and weak and couldn't open it up, I was safe, and by the time I could open it I had been taught gun safety and was even allowed to take our old single shot 22 apart to clean and preserve it, and put it away. First with supervision and later without. I was around 6 or 7 by then.
I never once fired it without permission.
Gabby

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Nobody but me goes in my safes, which explains the cocked mousetraps that I keep on the top shelf, right next to the web cam.

Yes, I see what your saying! However, the circumstance could happen that I'd be away from home and my wife or my son (40yrs) might need to get to the guns. I have the necessary key and the combination in a super safe place that I could guide them to, over the phone, etc! That's why they need to know what is pre loaded or not!
BTW, my son does not live in my basement! But in an emergency he would grab his wife and our grandson and beat it over here!

 

[OcelotZ3]

That's a key point right there ...
Make sure that if others have access to the safe or guns , they know how they are stored.
( Loaded or empty )
Andy

EVERY gun is loaded. Doesn't matter if someone tells you the ones in the safe aren't, you have to assume they are.

 

[Flopsweat]

Yes, I see what your saying! However, the circumstance could happen that I'd be away from home and my wife or my son (40yrs) might need to get to the guns. I have the necessary key and the combination in a super safe place that I could guide them to, over the phone, etc! That's why they need to know what is pre loaded or not!
BTW, my son does not live in my basement! But in an emergency he would grab his wife and our grandson and beat it over here!

Not arguing at all, just saying some day I may have a fun video to share.

 

[440volt]

Handguns in condition one NOT locked up unless the grandkids are over, long guns in the safe with magazines fully loaded, except my M1. Point of the whole exercise is to pick up a firearm and make it go bang ASAP if some tweeker or whatever kicks in the door.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

regarding post #69,
For the record I know to treat every gun as being loaded.
And I check every gun that gets in my hands.
Please don't tell me to assume anything...

Stuff can get mixed up if others have access to your guns and safe was my point.
So make sure that everyone who has access operates like you do.

I just don't like surprises.
Surprises like needing a loaded gun , reaching for a loaded gun , only to find it empty 'cause someone else cleared it.
Andy

 

[BT BT]

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?

UserNameInUse's note has it Ezy Pezy: Add that keeping a gun loaded with the same clip/magazine will reduce the spring pressure over time and should clips be changed regularly. We teach all new recruits this principle of weakening magazine springs; same goes for leaving your gun calked because of the firing pin spring.

 

[BT BT]

I keep carry pistols in a separate, smaller safe.

All the guns in the small safe are loaded and all the guns in the big safe are not. Easy peasy.

UserNameInUse's note has it Ezy Pezy: Add that keeping a gun loaded with the same clip/magazine will reduce the spring pressure over time and should clips be changed regularly. We teach all new recruits this principle of weakening magazine springs; same goes for leaving your gun calked because of the firing pin spring.

 

[Alexx1401]

UserNameInUse's note has it Ezy Pezy: Add that keeping a gun loaded with the same clip/magazine will reduce the spring pressure over time and should clips be changed regularly. We teach all new recruits this principle of weakening magazine springs; same goes for leaving your gun calked because of the firing pin spring.

Calked? The firing pin spring? Recruits?WTF

 

[Flopsweat]

UserNameInUse's note has it Ezy Pezy: Add that keeping a gun loaded with the same clip/magazine will reduce the spring pressure over time and should clips be changed regularly. We teach all new recruits this principle of weakening magazine springs; same goes for leaving your gun calked because of the firing pin spring.

Actually, it's just the opposite. Leave one spring under tension for two years and compress and release another, identical spring daily for two years. Which will be weaker at the end of two years? The second one. Continue the experiment until failure. Which will fail first? The second one.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I keep carry pistols in a separate, smaller safe.

All the guns in the small safe are loaded and all the guns in the big safe are not. Easy peasy.

Same here.

 

[MrMillspecer]

UserNameInUse's note has it Ezy Pezy: Add that keeping a gun loaded with the same clip/magazine will reduce the spring pressure over time and should clips be changed regularly. We teach all new recruits this principle of weakening magazine springs; same goes for leaving your gun calked because of the firing pin spring.

You should teach your recruits that a clip does not have a spring it links cartridges together. A magazine has a spring. Cycling them is what weakens them.

Ammo imop should be kept in a metal container. Like military ammo boxes or a safe. When ammo cooks of on the ground the bullet is most likely heavier than the case. They both fly with much less energy than the casing being held solid.

People should learn in the first grade what a trigger on a gun does , and why it is the true safety , you just don't go pulling it. It's a firearm !

Don't smoke while pumping gas. I could have just saved a life.

 

[308Tom]

I keep carry pistols in a separate, smaller safe.

All the guns in the small safe are loaded and all the guns in the big safe are not. Easy peasy.

I agree, but would add: Stored guns should be unloaded and separate from ammo. ON THE OTHER HAND - Ready-For-Use guns should be secured separately.

This helps ensure that in the dark or in a hurry you know if you are grabbing a hot gun or not.

I'd also suggest that how the Ready-For-Use guns are secured is a function of your household - so it depends.

Consider this; When you are not home - if you leave a gun in or on the nightstand, in the top dresser drawer or on the closet shelf you can be sure that any burglars will look there first and it will be gone.

 

[BT BT]

Actually, it's just the opposite. Leave one spring under tension for two years and compress and release another, identical spring daily for two years. Which will be weaker at the end of two years? The second one. Continue the experiment until failure. Which will fail first? The second one.

Any/All springs, the longer they are kept in a condition that is UN-restricted: either compressed or extended will weaken them faster. Sorry but true: Reference Spring Durability and Spring Fatigue link, Spring durability and spring fatigue are of great interest for springs and talk with almost any militery armor even the sniper team Sargent's if you need more on what a spring does.