Chambered and "safe?"

[John Henry]

Recently bought a Mossberg 590A1, took a shotgun class at a local range, bought some snap caps and practicing at home-absolutely no live rounds anywhere near me! I was viewing some videos on line and came across a Mike Lamb-ex military, teaches shotgun and looks like one bad dude. He states that he keeps his home defense shotgun in "cruiser ready" mode. He'll rack the forend back, visually and physically check for no rounds in chamber, push forend forward and then dry fire the gun. He then will load the magazine and store the gun wherever he usually keeps it. His logic being that if he needs it in a hurry he just racks it without having to remember to press the action release first. After trying this with my 590A1 a few times with snap caps I could see his point but then I thought: wouldn't it be better to open the breach, load a round (with the safety on) rack it forward and then load the magazine? This way I've got a max of 9 rounds in gun and if needed in a hurry for the "bad guy" you just take it off "safe" and you're ready to go. Even in Mike's "cruiser ready" mode, I'm sure he would be using his "safe" and that would need to be taken off and then racked so why not have it already chambered and ready to go? Am I missing something?

[SkyHawk]

On many guns you cannot engage the safety unless the gun is cocked. So in cruiser ready there is no way for the safety to be on. For others, of course most folks would not leave the safety on if the gun is not cocked. Many LE departments require the 870 to be unchambered, uncocked and safety on before placing it in the cruiser.

I keep my HD shotguns in cruiser ready. I do not have the safety on. My reason is that my HD guns go a long time between use, and I don't want my hammer spring to take a set from sitting cocked so long. Some people will tell you that springs can't wear from storage only use, those people have never left a springer pellet gun cocked for a few years. Springs do take a set and lose power if they are stored 'sprung' instead of unsprung. It's the same reason my SxS shotgun has exposed hammers - I don't store springs compressed or sprung.

[LeadFarmer74]

Have you tried to load a round through the breach under stress or load the tube under stress. You'll realize how much it slows you done so what's wrong with the tube full and the chamber is empty. Doesn't get much easier than that.

[Thefeeder]

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Follow the Safety Rules you learned at the class

[j15w]

I use cruiser ready on all my HD guns. On the shotgun, full tube, not chambered, safety off. Probably not ideal but I don't like having chambered guns around for some reason.

[bigbearbear]

From what I read on the internet, police load their shotguns in cruiser ready mode because those pump shotguns are not drop safe. With a round in the chamber, it might accidentally go off if they have a car crash.

For me, my HD shotguns (wife and mine) are also our trap shooting shotguns and we shoot almost every weekend. As such, I don't chamber a round in them when they're in HD standby mode.

Been looking at getting a Mossberg 590A1 or a Keltec KSG as a dedicated HD shotgun, something I leave loaded all the time. If I get it, I'll probably leave it without a round chambered too because of habit. That way, if I grab some other guns I won't forget that I have to chamber it first.