Storing your pistol - Home Defense

[acarroline]

I have a couple of questions on storing your pistol:

1. How do you recommend storing a pistol, with home defense in mind, but safety first. Magazine loaded and ready beside the pistol; Magazine in the pistol and chamber racked; chamber open???

2. Some examples of how/where people would store a pistol with home defense in mind???

3. What is the recommended way to store extra magazines? Empty, nothing in the magazine; or magazine full. Any harm to the springs or tension to store a magazine fully loaded?

 

[Quarterbore]

I assume you have kids that you are asking. I have a tall dresser and I put my primard HD gun on top of it every night before I go to bed. It is loaded with loaded mag and a reload.

During the day, I have my daily CCW gun on me and it is always loaded.

With home invasions, you may well not have time to unlock and load a gun so I teach my kids not to touch and I keep the gun locked up during the day when I have my CCW gun on me. At night, I bring out the HD gun and put it up where I can find it but smaller kids can not reach.

JMHO but works for us

 

[ECUfan]

I have a 6 and 5 year old. I bought a mattress holster from the NRA website. It is near the head of the bed between the bed and nightstand. About 6 inches from my head. I have a lockbox in my closet. The pistol comes out at night after the kids are in bed and goes back in the morning before they wake up. It is not very visible especially at night plus it is very close to my head in case a kid wakes up and comes into the room.

From what I understand about magazines, mainly from this site, the vast majority of wear on your mag springs comes from use. They will last a very long time if left completely unloaded or completely loaded. The compression/release causes most of the wear. There are others on this site who have probably conducted their own studies on metal fatigue who could answer better.

 

[Bigfoot62]

1. I don't use a pistol for a primary HD gun. I use a pump shotgun.
I do carry a pistol in my truck, and on my person. They are fully loaded, all the time.
An uloaded gun will just get YOU killed in the event of an attack.

2. As already suggested, the mattress holster is good, under the mattress, or just under your pillow.

3. What ECUfan said,

From what I understand about magazines, mainly from this site, the vast majority of wear on your mag springs comes from use. They will last a very long time if left completely unloaded or completely loaded. The compression/release causes most of the wear.

If your concern is your children, then you need to teach them about your guns. Since mine were very small, they know not to mess with them. They also know where they are located and that they are loaded. Also, from the time they were very young, they were taught how to handle a gun and how to shoot. We started with a BB gun when they were 5 or 6.

JMHO

 

[acarroline]

Thank you for the good replies thus far...please keep them coming.

I do not have children right now, preparing for that. Currently have the pistol within arm's reach of my bed, with rounds in the magazine and the magazine right next to the pistol. Wife is slightly concerned with the magazine being fully engaged in the pistol. One thought I had is to put the magazine in the pistol, just not locked. So then all I/she would need to do is click the magazine in when grabbing it. Thoughts?

Also, both of us are training with the pistol and have other firearm experience.

Sounds like storing the extra magazine loaded is not going to hurt the magazine springs.

 

[halfmoonclip]

When your kids are very small, keeping an autopistol with the mag loaded but the chamber empty is an effective way to keep a gun handy. When they get old/strong enough to rack the slide, then it's time for Plan B. I applaud the folks who get a gun out at night and secure it in the morning; personally, I'd forget to do one or the other...I'm TIRED at bedtime, and sleepy at 0:dark 30.
Gunproofing your kids is a great idea, and mine was trained; but I could never live with myself if something happened. What's more, our child got home half an hour/45 minutes before us on many occasions, and sometimes her friends would join her.
So, err on the side of caution with kids in the house. I'd suggest a lock box with a Simplex combination lock; bolt/chain it to the bed. It give fairly quick access; and, personally, I don't want to grab a gun right out of a deep sleep. Bad ju ju. Practice opening the lock in the dark.
Moon

 

[Blizzard]

At night I put my SR9 In the night stand. One in the chamber with the mag removed, but close by. The SR9 won't fire with the mag removed, and when the mag is inserted, the gun is good to go without having to rack the action. I put it in a lock box during the day.

 

[graygun]

Bedroom bedside stand...SR9...10 rds,chambered,safety-ON...live alone,except for pets.

Living room...Bersa .380...5rds (7rd mag)...chambered...safety-On...under the sofa.

 

[ECUfan]

I have a Beretta 96 in my matress holster. Even though I think I have made all the necessary precautions to be safe, I still like a pistol with a thumb safety and a hammer. I know that a striker fired pistol with a trigger or grip safety is perfectly safe, I like a decisive safety lever and a somewhat beefy first trigger pull. Even if they did get their hands on the Beretta 96 it would be very difficult for them to remove the safety and pull the trigger.

 

[22/45 Fan]

I keep my SR9 in my bedside nightstand. It's in a lock box with a Simplex push-button lock that can be operated by touch and doesn't need a key or number combination and doesn't rely on batteries. I can open the box by touch in the dark if needed and it's only an arm's length away.

The box is bolted to the inside of the nightstand using carriage bolts with the nuts inside so it can't be removed without opening it. You would have to steal the entire piece of furniture to get it.

I have the pistol loaded with one in the chamber and the mag in place. I also have a spare loaded mag with it. We have no children still at home but our grandkids visit from time to time so the lock box is a necessary safety item.

One advantage of the SR9 compared to, say a Glock, is that it has a manual safety. Even in the very unlikely event one of the kids (or an intruder) does find it, the safety makes it "proprietary" enough that many people won't know how to disengage it to get the gun to fire.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . One thought I had is to put the magazine in the pistol, just not locked. So then all I/she would need to do is click the magazine in when grabbing it. Thoughts?. . .

Would not recommend that. Example: It's the middle of the night, you're dead asleep and suddenly you're startled awake by the sound of (______). You pick up your pistol, only to have the unsecured magazine drop free and hit the floor. Now, you have a completely empty gun in your hand.

 

[onesureshot]

I use a HOMAK pistol safe that I got from Cabelas. It is securely screwed to our headboard. It is battery operated, punch in a code that you set and press the door, it pops back open. If the batteries die, there are two contact points that you touch a 9 volt battery to that allows you to open it and replace the batteries. I am really happy with it.

http://www.homaksecurity.com/PistolBoxes.html

 

[acarroline]

What are thoughts on loading the magazine and not rack the slide? Putting the magazine in the gun, no round chambered, and on safe. Then it would only be a matter of racking the slide and flipping the safety.

 

[jhearne]

Time involved chambering the round. Time you may not have. If your putting the gun on Safe anyways, why not chamber it. The safety is designed to keep the weapon from discharging every time without damage to the pistol. All the safeties I've seen require you drop the safety then rack the slide, if you are bent on using it like that. I'm a strong believer that an unloaded gun is nothing more than a paperweight.

The end safety in every weapon is the one in between your ears....that's the only one you can rely on.

Josh

 

[DA_TriggR4Ruger]

...2. As already suggested, the mattress holster is good, under the mattress, or just under your pillow.


If your concern is your children, then you need to teach them about your guns. Since mine were very small, they know not to mess with them. They also know where they are located and that they are loaded. Also, from the time they were very young, they were taught how to handle a gun and how to shoot. We started with a BB gun when they were 5 or 6.

JMHO

PLUS 1! YAY I don't feel crazy now!

 

[ConradM]

I keep my SR9 loaded, off safe at all times. At night it's on the night stand out in the open. My kids have their own rifles and have done plenty of shooting to the point of boredom. They actually turned down a shooting trip over the weekend to go skateboarding :lol:

So basically, the kids don't care about my gun laying around because their is no mystery about it. They've also been taught to never handle my guns without permission.

 

[flyers76]

I keep mine loaded, round chambered, with safety on in a gun safe under the bed -- just requires a 5-number combination on a keypad to open. Can do it in about 4 seconds. Live in a 2-story house so have plenty of time to hear a downstairs break-in and arm myself (also have a home security system that's god-awful loud when it goes off -- my neighbors can hear it). My SR9 also has a laser sight on it so I'm not that concerned about lining up sights. So it's basically open safe door, pull out, flip off thumb safety and shoot...

 

[Tekman]

I keep a revolver and flashlight in a drawer of the nightstand where I set my glasses before rolling over.

 

[sargents1]

For home defense I keep my P85 loaded and locked in a GunVault mini safe on the nightstand. I also keep a maglight with fresh batteries next to the pistol safe. If you keep the gun locked up it is fine to keep it loaded with a round in the chamber. As some have stated, with an automatic you may get some measure of safety from small children by keeping an auto with a loaded magazine and an empty chamber, assuming that the children are not strong enough to rack the slide. Personally I feel that counting on this is not wise. Kids a surprisingly adept at doing things that they are not supposed to be able to do, I say this as a reformed kid my self. My father used to store his guns in a closet locked with a padlock. this worked well until i figured out i could take the hinges off the door and remove the door entirely, never mind the padlock. He didnt find out about this until I told him a couple years back.

I feel that this is the best compromise between having a loaded weapon on hand while still keeping it locked up and out of sight and away from curious little ones and a gun-fearing Liberal mother-in-law.

It takes about two seconds to unlock the safe in the dark (you can do it by feel alone). I figure that if the bad guys are less than two seconds away I am already screwed anyway.

The rest of my guns are locked up in a metal cabinet (one of the Stack-On variety from Cabelas).

I often store the keys to the big cabinet in the mini safe, the keys to the mini safe stay on my keyring. This way if someone breaks in when we are not home they wont be able to get into either gun safe without power tools and lots of time.

I dont bother with extra magazines for the home defense gun. Which is to say, i have several extras, but I dont keep them loaded. Fifteen rounds of 9mm hollowpoints will fix a lot of wagons. I do rotate magazines periodically to reduce the wear on the mag springs. Label you magazines so this is easier, and just swap them every few months. I would suggest owning at least three magazines.

I also feel that you can't beat having a good dog around the house, just make sure the mutt sleeps somewhere other than the foot of the bed or else you will be tripping over a snoring dog whilst fumbling with your pistol in the dark
javascript:emoticon(':shock:') A barking dog does lots of good things for you, first it will wake you up and inform you of a potential break-in, and second it will send most badguys running. Dont worry about your dog being no good at actually protecting you, they just need to make some noise. Small dogs are just as good as big dogs at sounding the alarm.

Of course my dog also wakes up the baby every time he hears coyotes howling out in the woods...or the mailman dropping off the mail, or someone goes jogging by the house...but I digress

I have a couple of questions on storing your pistol:

1. How do you recommend storing a pistol, with home defense in mind, but safety first. Magazine loaded and ready beside the pistol; Magazine in the pistol and chamber racked; chamber open???

2. Some examples of how/where people would store a pistol with home defense in mind???

3. What is the recommended way to store extra magazines? Empty, nothing in the magazine; or magazine full. Any harm to the springs or tension to store a magazine fully loaded?

:shock:

 

[onesureshot]

For home defense I keep my P85 loaded and locked in a GunVault mini safe on the nightstand.

I often store the keys to the big cabinet in the mini safe, the keys to the mini safe stay on my keyring. This way if someone breaks in when we are not home they wont be able to get into either gun safe without power tools and lots of time.

Double check your Gun Vault, as there are issues with some of them. See below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8i3zVGQFKo

I have also seen a video of one that is dropped from not very high and it pops open. I will keep looking for that video and post a link if I can find it.