Those of you (there was a thread about this) that utilize your AR as your home defense weapon, how many of you kept it in the condition of magazine seated, bolt locked to rear, safety on?
Those that do NOT lock the bolt to the rear, is it due to young ones in the home being able to bump the bolt release catch?
Thanks for your time.
Any firearms I own are for home defense. However my personal favorite is an old 870 12ga Tactical Pump behind my headboard. Don’t have to worry about hitting the neighbors across the street if I miss!:rolleyes:
locked to the rear, magazine inserted, on safe… somebody actually does this, and has some sort of explanation for why?
goodness gracious, children.
bolt to the rear does not add any degree of safety, but does add some potential problems. i’d be interested to hear the reasoning behind this method.
I cant give you any reason for it bkb I refer to Iraq Ninja’s post .
As for me I have a full mag with the saftey off,empty chamber,and hammer resting on the fire pin with dust cover closed. To bring into action all I have to do is cycle the charging handle.
Do you all really feel that an AR Platform chambered in a high velocity rifle round is best for home self defense? Myself, I pride in being a much better rifleman than a pistol man, but I honestly would be terrified of collateral damage from discharging a rifle cartridge at an intruder and missing wondering where it the bullet is going to end up! I live in a populated residential neighborhood and feel that I would be much safer discharging a shotgun round in the middle of the night when I’m still half asleep because I have an intruder in my house. The bottom line is that the minute I wait for the “Fight or Flight” to kick in, I am afraid I will be a dead man! I truly believe that I would have to win the fight on instinct and not on adrenaline!
Just my $0.02 though. To each their own. That’s what’s great about or country!
A pistol round, or OO buck shot from a shotgun has a much higher chance of going through a wall and killing somone on the other side than a proper (fragmenting) 5.56 projectile. This is well documented.
Off topic a bit, but some folks do this while swimming. It allows the water to drain from the bore. You can also use a thick rubber band that holds down the lower portion of the bolt release if you are worried about hitting it on accident. The idea was that if you just got out of the water and had to shoot, you didn’t have time to clear the water from the bore. It was done only till you got off the beach and to the initial rallying point.
So, if you live on a boat it may come in handy 
So, we can dub this “Condition Spongebob” if I understand you correctly?
Buckaroo
Any ready condition that starts with the bolt to the rear does not work for me. I’ve seen too many examples of empty ARs, M1As and M1 Carbines where the bolt slams forward with any kind of rough handling. The bolt release is a RELEASE and it’s primary state is to allow the bolt to close. It will release the bolt when you want it to and when you don’t want it to.
Fully loaded or cruiser ready should be the only ready condition unless you are swimming to shore.
Gringop
My choice is so-called “Condition Three”:
Magazine inserted, hammer cocked, bolt forward, safety on.
Sometimes I go condition one, sometimes 3. Depends on my mood and most importantly how I’m storing the rifle. I’m the only one in my house, save for my a-hole cat…if the rifle is stored in a way where it can’t be knocked over I keep it locked and cocked. Otherwise full mag in, hammer cocked but chamber empty and safety on.
I like it that way, I always practice to flip down the safety right before firing anyways so it’s a habit of mine. I prefer having the safety on even with an empty chamber so that when I do chamber it and do not need to fire right away the safety is already on. Less chance for me doing something stupid when tripping over my cat at 2am because I heard something.
Bolt locked to the rear is not acceptable for me. It’s TOO easy to let it fly forward. And I don’t mean by hitting the bolt catch… A slight bump to the buttstock will release it too.
I leave my bolt closed on an empty chamber with the hammer down. KevinB has posted that he likes a condition 1 AR. I can’t argue with him, but to me I’m not comfy with a weapon in condition 1 when it’s not drop safe.
There’s trade offs to either approach I suppose.
(I even showed my wife how to deploy and charge the home D carbean in the event that I’m fighting an intruder that got to me before I woke up)
All things considered, I would prefer the bolt in rear due to the ease of a child being able to flip the safety. I posted this cause im playing around with another useless device like the accuwedge, something to block the bolt catch, but have a thumb loop so you could rip it out and roll your thumb pad onto the paddle to close bolt… im just playing around, but was curious…thanks for the input.
Same here.
no rnd in chamber,un cocked and mag inserted, in gun safe when not home. grew up in house holds of that way. never had issue of it. otherwise its like taking the spark plugs out of engine after parking vehicle.
How about storing the weapon with mag in and an empty chamber? With the appropriate technique chambering a round is extremely fast and you don’t have the worries that go along with a bolt that is “locked” (in reality loosely held) to the rear.
This.
Cruiser carry; bolt forward on an empty chamber, trigger pulled, safety on fire, dust cover closed, magazine inserted.
To place in action, work the charging handle.
If the condition of the dust cover has changed (opened) then the action has cycled; a condition indicator.
Simple and effective, no worries about the bolt release getting bumped.
Bolt to the rear doesn’t seem any safer than Condition 1 other than the fact that a round isn’t in the chamber. Plus the bolt release can easily be bumped allowing the bolt to close on a round in the chamber. The child would just have to flip the safety after that point.
I like Condition Three because: 1) You aren’t running around with a live round in the chamber when you don’t exactly need your weapon at that point, and 2) the chances that a small child could rack the charging handle and chamber a round in an AR are slim to none. Besides it’s not that hard for me to go from Condition 3 to Condition 1 should the need arise. All I have to do is simply rack the charging and if I intend to fire, flip off the safety.
You understand that in cruiser carry the safety selector cannot be turned? The bolt is forward, the rifle or bolt catch cannot be bumped to let the bolt go forward and chambering a round. In cruiser carry condition the bolt is forward on an empty chamber, the trigger has been pulled and the selector is on fire. Placing the rifle into firing status requires cycling the action; easy enough to do under stress; impossible to do by accident.