How do you mount your 870?

[Zebra62]

Very cool set-up you have, reeps. Functional and cheap, and if it works for you, I'm all for it...although I personally would take it a step or two further. I tend to over engineer things.

Seeing the angle your weapon is stored, I would wonder about the issue of it bindng as you extract it from the mount. You could mount a "cup" down at the bottom to rest your muzzle in and be able to adjust the angle more veritical. It would also take the full weight of the weapon off the rings. An unthreaded PVC pipe cap would do nicely and you could pad it with whatever you want to protect the weapon. Set it up with the weight of the weapon down in the cup resting on the muzzle and a single ring up top just to keep it vertical, shorten your nipple on top to just over the top of the ring. Cut off the threads on the top nipple and buff the edges smooth to prevent wear when extracting the weapon from the mount. That would be the way I would go.

Very cool set-up indeed.

[Synchronizor]

I wish I could keep my .380 on the nightstand ready for action, and there was a time when I did. Then I had children. Even though I have it in a safe under the edge of the bed with an electronic touch pad to open, I am still quicker getting my shotgun up and ready. I have always been better with a long gun anyway. My ex was the better shot with the piostol.

Family members, children especially, are a huge consideration in how HD firearms should be kept. As a bachelor who lives alone, my guns lie around loaded whenever I'm home, and get locked up when I leave (except for whatever I'm carrying, of course). Later, when I have a family, that's going to have to change. I currently expect to keep them all locked up when not in use during the day (with at least one handgun kept loaded in a quick-access container like Zebra62 has) and have something unlocked and within arm's reach at night; but I'll have to judge the situation when I come to it.

As far as muscle memory why is it a nonexistant benefit when you grab a shotgun with a chambered round? Theres 5 miles of "safe" realestate to grab in order to get your hands properly positioned.

The benefit I was referring to was the time-into-action. A long gun is not something you "quick-draw" (outside of Hollywood). The amount of deployment time you save by storing a shotgun with a round in the chamber is of negligible benefit in a real-world situation. The "bad guy ten feet away" scenario you mentioned earlier is not the time to reach for a long gun, he'll be on you before you have a chance of deploying it, loaded chamber or not.

Also let me clear up for future readers that it breaks no firearms safety rules to keep a shotgun with a round chambered. Its as safe as the user holding it is. And that goes for any gun in any condition. If one must try to guard against his possible errors in the future by setting the weapon up a certain way then it may be time to evaluate wether or not a guns the best choice for said user.

Never load a gun unnecessarily. That's number 2 of the ten commandments of firearm safety. There's no reason to have a live round under the firing pin unless there's an immediate need to use the gun. An empty chamber eliminates the chance of an accidental discharge, and can be loaded in a fraction of a second as the gun is picked up. It's certainly possible to bump off the safety when handling a gun, and it's even more likely for the safety to be accidentally or negligently disengaged already. Keeping the chamber loaded has caused accidental discharges in the hands of civilians and professionals alike. Such incidents have led to the common practice of law enforcement officers keeping chambers empty in their cruiser shotguns.

If you think you might take the safety off and pull the trigger while grabbing a shotgun after awakening then were on two different pages of two different books.

As I've said before in discussions we've had; proper firearm safety consists of multiple practices that - in theory - will individually prevent accidents, but that are used together as overlapping safety measures. One can't ignore muzzle discipline, for example, because trigger discipline is observed. Keeping the chamber of a HD shotgun increases the risk of a negligent discharge - no matter how good you believe your handling abilities are. With no trade-off in the gun's efficacy, this is simply an unwise way to store a gun.

[Kentactic]

The benefit I was referring to was the time-into-action. A long gun is not something you "quick-draw" (outside of Hollywood). The amount of deployment time you save by storing a shotgun with a round in the chamber is of negligible benefit in a real-world situation. The "bad guy ten feet away" scenario you mentioned earlier is not the time to reach for a long gun, he'll be on you before you have a chance of deploying it, loaded chamber or not.

The benefit of a chambered round in a home defense scenario is mostly noise. Racking the action once a guys in your home is very undesireable. But second to that is a guy forgetting to chamber a round. How many times have you seen guys carry their gun to the line, pull the trigger and then go "oh yeah it would help if i chambered a round"... and that was on a nice sunday evening with no one trying to kill you. Not saying a guy cant forget to take the safety off too of course. But speed of deployment isnt the reason for keeping a round chambered in a HD scenario.

Never load a gun unnecessarily. That's number 2 of the ten commandments of firearm safety. There's no reason to have a live round under the firing pin unless there's an immediate need to use the gun. An empty chamber eliminates the chance of an accidental discharge, and can be loaded in a fraction of a second as the gun is picked up. It's certainly possible to bump off the safety when handling a gun, and it's even more likely for the safety to be accidentally or negligently disengaged already. Keeping the chamber loaded has caused accidental discharges in the hands of civilians and professionals alike. Such incidents have led to the common practice of law enforcement officers keeping chambers empty in their cruiser shotguns.

It is necessary to chamber a round into a shotgun before the bad guy breaks in so you dont have to rack the action prefight and risk being fired upon blindly through walls among many other bad scenarios where the enemy knows your position better then you know his. If you were in the jungles in vietnam would you want to rack the action at 2am when you hear a charlie sneaking around in the brush? Then why would you when said bad guy with a gun is there to kill you in your home? Is there a chance thats the guy who broke into your house? even a tiny itty bitty one? then you better be ready for him. I mean your concerned about hitting the lottery(in a bad way) and having a guy break into your home anyways.. why not cover all rare dangers?

As I've said before in discussions we've had; proper firearm safety consists of multiple practices that - in theory - will individually prevent accidents, but that are used together as overlapping safety measures. One can't ignore muzzle discipline, for example, because trigger discipline is observed. Keeping the chamber of a HD shotgun increases the risk of a negligent discharge - no matter how good you believe your handling abilities are. With no trade-off in the gun's efficacy, this is simply an unwise way to store a gun.

Im not quite sure where your going here, but of course you must keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, finger off the trigger until its time to shoot etc. But it is in my opinion a REQUIREMENT that you keep the gun with a loaded chamber. It is more dangerous that i dont and another guy harms me then it is of me having a ND for keeping the gun that way. Notice i said me there. I cant speak for everyones training here.

In all honesty my only concern with keeping an 870 in this fashion is that the tool itself fails and it goes off. The chances of that are super slim though. But its still important to follow the gun safety rules incase it does happen so that no one will be harmed. For example im in an upstairs apartment. The gun is stored muzzle up. When i carry it, it is always muzzle up. If you never point it at anyone then the gun can never hurt anyone. Even of you screw up every other safety rule then no one will ever be hurt if you never point it at anyone. Worst case scenario youll have a hole in your roof or wall depending on your situation. But thats no excuse to ignore any gun safety rules.

[Zebra62]

Ever wish you could go back in time and just stop an arguement before it begins? Just reach over and hit the button for the Omega 13 like on Galaxy Quest, reset time and fix a mistake. Life would be so grand.

This thread started out as a way to display how we each mount our 870's and morphed into a heated arguement over whether we should keep a round chambered or not, complete with a little side fued over the sound of the action. I am not proud of my contributions to this arguement and I do apologize to everyone involved.

There are valid points to recommend both sides of choice in keeping a round chambered, but it is up to the individual. I choose not to keep a round chambered, but a full magazine and LOTS of ammo handy in the unfortunate even of a firefight. I do not foresee this ever coming to pass. I have never been broken in to and I have only ever had one attempted break in. I fired a single round from my .303 into a fence post in front of the individual who attempted the break in and the report from my weapon caused him to soil himself. He also froze in his tracks. Clovis PD showed up a couple minutes later. The bad guy went to jail and I was fined $75.00 for discharging a firearm within the city limits because he didn't actually get into my home, regardless of the fact that he was armed and he did try.

Let us stop arguing over this matter and get this thread back on track of how to mount our HD's. Keep yours loaded how you want and I will keep mine loaded how I want. No amount of arguement will cause me to change. If all of a sudden no one ever hears from me again, you can assume I was wrong. Until that time I am going to bet I am right.

Peace.

[Automag]

I have to agree with you zebra. Sometimes a whole new topic gets started somehow from the topic's main puprose. That said, reeps i think it's clever how you've mounted your 870 for quick access, especially in the last pic. However, the front of your 870 seems a litle too heavy, and it seems like it would make your gun off balance. I've never seen shells and shell holder mounted to the very front of a shotgun. Besides being front heavy, it would be hard to get at your shells while still being in control of your shotgun. Thats just my opinion though, it's different , i'll give ya that.

[Synchronizor]

Ever wish you could go back in time and just stop an arguement before it begins? Just reach over and hit the button for the Omega 13 like on Galaxy Quest, reset time and fix a mistake. Life would be so grand.

This thread started out as a way to display how we each mount our 870's and morphed into a heated arguement over whether we should keep a round chambered or not, complete with a little side fued over the sound of the action. I am not proud of my contributions to this arguement and I do apologize to everyone involved.

Points for the Galaxy Quest reference; brilliant film.

However, the topic of this thread, from the start, was how our HD 870s are kept. I don't feel that discussing how they're kept loaded is really off-topic, and it's certainly an important consideration in keeping any HD gun. As long as the discussion stays civil - which it has - I don't have a problem with it.

That said, I really don't have anything else to say on that specific point that I haven't already said, so I'll drop it where it is for now unless someone has specific questions or new points of discussion.

[Rambler]

"How do you mount your 870?"

I’m not that horny. However, I do keep a spare condom in the truck in case I need to jump the battery.

[Zebra62]

Good one, Rambler.

[Zebra62]

I have an update concerning how we have our weapons mounted. With recent events here at the ranch, we had to take a different approach.

Enter the Centurion 12 by Liberty Safes. We purchased it from Lowes for $326 on sale and put in place last Sunday.



It is listed as a 12 gun and one probably could fit 12 long guns in, if he had 12 SMALL long guns. Big long guns take up more space and I could barely get my 4 in one side.







The interior of the safe is cramped at best. The first weapon in was Dad's old A5 as the barrel is longer than the rest. The top shelf is cut out in the back to accomodate the longer barrel, but I still had to place it in at an angle to get it to sit without flopping over against the others. My .303 is next and I had to take the scope off to even get it in. There is no room for a scoped weapon in this safe. It too sits at an angle. Next is the 20 gauge. It is the only weapon which might have gone in without trouble, but since the others are sitting at an angle, it too must sit at the same angle. Last is my Tactical. With the rail on top of the receiver it will not fit without sitting at the same angle again. Only four long guns and it took two tries to get them scooted over enough for the door to close.

The other side with the shelves does have ample space for all ammo associated with these guns and my bandolier gets bundled up in the bottom. I still keep my Mossy Cruiser in the top of the closet at night as there simple is not enough room for one more. It goes to work with me everyday anyway. Gypsy's .380 is still in her gunsafe under the bed.

There are good points to the safe. The action of the dial is smooth and the combination mechanism is very precise. I tried to do the combo one number off and it would not go. The correct combination MUST be input or it doesn't open. The door lock is very smooth also sliding on nylon bushings. There are four holes in the bottom to bolt it down but no hardware in the safe. That is available from Liberty. There is also an electrical access hole in back and Liberty sells a kit for that as well as dehumidifiers and interior alarms. The safe has a 20 minute fire rating. The interior is carepetted and fire board is in all the walls and door. The thing weighs out at 245 lbs and is moved easily enough when not bolted down. Mine will be bolted next weekend.

All in all, not a bad purchase. I wish I could have had more time to make my decision and collect a few more dollars for a better safe, but this one will do until we can get a better one.

[Automag]

Thats a nice gun safe. It is a little on the narrow side, but with half of it basicly shelfing for handguns, ammo and accessories etc it's only going to hold so many long guns; i'm sure you knew that when buying it. Seeing as your shotguns have a few custom addons, makes it a tight but good fit. I like it. If you can unlock it pretty quick, it seems like a winner to me. Your guns arn't going anywhere, that's for sure; and it's a good idea with the kids around too. Looks like a sweet gun safe; i like the carpeted shelving and storage areas. The price actually isn't that bad; i've seen similar size safes for more. That dog will hunt!

I've now got two 870's and two rifles; Ruger Mini-14 and a Rem 700. I wouldn't mind having a safe like that for my Super Mag and my 700 and ammo and stuff, and use my wall gun rack for my 870P amd my Mini-14. That way i'd have quick access to my 870P 12ga and my .223, and my others would be locked away. Of course i don't have any kids that live with me. I'm about to buy a Sig P2022-40 S+W too. I need to get something to keep all my guns safe and secure, while still having quick access to my HD Shotgun. Man, money, money! Thanks for sharing. Looks good.