safe shotgun

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Bo

Bo

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Are today's modern (newer) shotguns, safe to carry a round in the chamber with the safety on?
 
If you mean can they possibly fire, yes they can. Anything mechanical can malfunction. That is why Rule #1 is always keep it pointing in a safe direction. Now we can all debate the various safeties, including the exposed hammer single shots, and how "relatively safe" they are. But any of them can still malfunction.
 
I've never heard of a shotgun that was drop safe. For whatever reason, shotguns do not have firing pin blocks like almost all modern pistol designs.
 
I always had chambers full but when walking to and from coverts I'd break the action open until I got to the road, then I'd dump the cartridges.
 
Bo said:
Are today's modern (newer) shotguns, safe to carry a round in the chamber with the safety on?
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Hopefully. Otherwise you might as well just carry a stick. Gun's useless for anything but target shooting if can't carry a round in the chamber.
 
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I've never heard of a shotgun that was drop safe. For whatever reason, shotguns do not have firing pin blocks like almost all modern pistol designs.
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...and then there's the story as told by a certified Remington armorer; a story about testing an 870 to get it to discharge a round in the chamber by dropping it. It couldn't be done. Something about the distance that the firing pin has to travel against spring tension vs. it's weight. He would have to chime in with the details...
 
I've never heard of a shotgun that was drop safe. For whatever reason, shotguns do not have firing pin blocks like almost all modern pistol designs.
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A handgun is much more likely to be dropped on the muzzle on a hard surface than any long gun. Firing pin blocks and locks are there to prevent inertia or disengaged striker from driving the firing pin into the primer.

On shotguns the safety is mainly there to prevent the trigger from being activated unintentionally or due to catching it on brush or other debris.

The safety in all circumstances is only one of the safety precautions used when hunting or on the range and should never be singularly relied upon. It should be noted that the standard rules of gun safety never mentions the guns "safety".
 
Any gun made, that is rifle, shotgun, or handgun use's the safety located between the ear's.

Any mechanical device can and has failed, it is up to the shooter to make sure the firearm is pointed in a safe direction.
 
It depends on your definition of safe. Almost any rifle or shotgun will discharge if dropped from high enough, if they land just right and on a hard surface even with the safety on. The 870 is as safe as most anything else. There are a few rifles that come to mind that would be harder to make discharge, but not many.

Most hand guns however are designed with extra features not normally seen on rifles or shotguns that are designed to prevent them from firing if dropped.
 
The reason I asked was, I bought a new Remington 887 for home defense. It will be stored in the safe most of the time. I was just wondering, if dropped on the butt, would it fire if there was one in the chamber. It's a 6+1 shotgun, I would just as soon have it loaded to the max.
 
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If it's in the safe most of the time, you could leave the chamber empty, action open and have a shotshell on a shelf ready to throw into the ejection port before you quickly close the action. Bingo: 6 +1.

And consider that from time to time it's better for the magazine spring if it's exercised. In other words, don't leave the magazine permanently stuffed; occasionally remove then replace shotshells.

Best way to do that, though, and practice your gun handling is to use dummy rounds/snap caps/expired shotshells...
 
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Amen... For this old retired cop - I carried and used a shotgun as my primary on any call that might involve weapons for well over 20 years... Here's how I would advise anyone that might need to use a defensive shotgun... Store it "cruiser ready" - rounds in the tube, nothing in the chamber and in cocked condition so that the slide release must be found and pressed before you can chamber a round - and have the safety engaged at all times. When needed, rack the action to chamber a round then advance into position with safety still on but your finger or thumb on it to release the safety just before firing, if needed.

Can't remember how many live targets I've pointed a shotgun at -but only once in all those years did the safety ever come off.... Even so I never pointed it downrange without a specific target in mind, period. As noted by others man-made stuff can fail, if you ever have an accidental disharge you're going to want the weapon pointed at the ground or at the sky ...
 
Bo said:
The reason I asked was, I bought a new Remington 887 for home defense. It will be stored in the safe most of the time. I was just wondering, if dropped on the butt, would it fire if there was one in the chamber. It's a 6+1 shotgun, I would just as soon have it loaded to the max.
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Somehow I missed this follow up post. I was going by the 1st one thinking he was talking about carrying the shotgun with a round in the chamber on safe while hunting. For home defense I agree 100% keep the chamber empty.
 
And today a father is up on second degree murder charges because he kept

HD shotgun with a loaded chamber. His nine year old son shot himself with the

loaded gun. All the news said, it was a short barreled shotgun.
 
"...never heard of a shotgun that was drop safe..." Never heard of one in operating condition that was not. Even those with exposed hammers. Any hunter's safety course will tell you not to trust a mechanical safety, of course, but any shotgun is as safe as the shooter.
"...stored in the safe..." There should not be a round in the chamber of any firearm in storage.
"...because he kept HD shotgun with a loaded chamber..." That isn't about carrying the thing.
 
While you may not have seen a shotgun fire when dropped or banged on the butt it is a real issue. As said earlier, shotguns do not have firing pin blocks. The safety just prevents the trigger from moving. So that means the sear could slip and cause the gun to fire.
 
200Apples said:
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If it's in the safe most of the time, you could leave the chamber empty, action open and have a shotshell on a shelf ready to throw into the ejection port before you quickly close the action. Bingo: 6 +1.

And consider that from time to time it's better for the magazine spring if it's exercised. In other words, don't leave the magazine permanently stuffed; occasionally remove then replace shotshells.

Best way to do that, though, and practice your gun handling is to use dummy rounds/snap caps/expired shotshells...
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Okay, I need to be educated on this issue and have a couple of questions. I'm not familiar with the Remington 887. But if it is stored with the action open and the magazine charged, would you not experience a double feed/jam (Bingo!) if you manually inserted a round in the chamber and then closed the slide which would feed a round from the magazine? Not trying to be a smart guy, I don't know. Also, as far as I know springs don't need to be "exercised." I believe we have established in multiple handgun threads that springs wear out when "exercised," not when stored compressed.

Also, I don't understand the OP's situation. If it's a home defense firearm, what's it doing in the safe? If the OP takes it out at night, or when he feels the need to be prepared , I then understand rc model's admonition to not store the firearm with a round in the chamber. NRA firearm safety rule #3, Always keep the firearm unloaded until ready to use. So perfectly acceptable to store the shotgun unloaded, then load it when taken out of the safe for social purposes. I question the wisdom of storing a defensive firearm in a safe, loaded or unloaded, but then I'm an old guy with no kids at home and can appreciate the concerns of those who do have children around.

Just by the way, what's an "expired" shotshell? Fired shotshells will not function in my pump action shotguns unless I recrimp to proper length (empty of shot and powder of course).
 
I believe we have established in multiple handgun threads that springs wear out when "exercised," not when stored compressed.
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Leaving them compressed can degrade them too. There are even threads in the shotgun forum about this.

How much/fast is most attributable how far they are compressed into their elastic range.


If spring only wore out from cycling, you'd be seeing at the very lease 10x the threads about replacing recoil springs as compared to replacing mag springs.
 
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