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Who sleeps with their 1911?

6K views 77 replies 63 participants last post by  Skunkabilly 
#1 ·
Just wondering where you keep your PD gun at night? If you were woken by a potentially armed intruder in your bedroom, do you have to go scrabbling under the pillow, is it resting on the bedside table or else in the locker in your cupboard??

Was reading something recently on the WWW, concerning wound/trajectory paths, about how a man managed to kill his wife with his gun as they lay in bed; the police assumed that he murdered her, but it was apparently proved from the angle of the entry wound to her head that the gun he kept under his pillow would have to be pushed so far into the mattress (by the weight of the guy lying on it) before the shot was fired that he could not possibly be holding it at the time - it was ruled as an AD leading to a tragic accident in the end. I didnt take all of the detail in, but i had no reason to distrust the article. I don't know whether it was a cocked SA or a unlocked DA, but assuming that no-one would sleep on a chambered pistol(!?), it could be a DA with the lock swept off by movement of the pillow above it; i can then believe that the bedclothes could get wrapped inside the trigger guard, then as the guy rolled over the dragging movement of the fabric allows the discharge to occur.

Might be an unlikely event, but personally i'd be scared witless sleeping with my gun sticking in the back of my head. Dont think i'd even feel that comfortable with an un-chambered SA there! I dont really think that a gun under the pillow is going to be any quicker to get to than the gun on the table in this situation, though it has the advantage of being hidden from sight.


Sorry to drift off topic a little there; the question is, do you keep your defense weapon close to hand,(and in what readied state?) or put them away for the night? Do some people even store their weapons in another room, hoping they'll never have to get to them in a hurry?

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"England, twinned with our great friends the PRK."
 
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#5 ·
1911 cocked and locked on bedside table.
Night sights so any time I'm awake I can see those three little cat eyes staring at me.
Wouldn't be any trouble to find in the dark.

Only hits count

gunhamr
 
#7 ·
Ain't dogs great. Two in the bedroom also, wife in the bed, and gun next to me on the floor right close. Cocked and locked, like it's supposed to be.

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If it flies it dies, If it runs it's done.

[This message has been edited by Peter Zahn (edited 04-27-2001).]
 
#9 ·
Mine rests on a filing cabinet beside my dresser, just out of my reach as I'm lying in bed. This requires me to sit up and plant my feet on the floor before being able to reach my gun, so I'm morelikely to be awake when I do so.

Nearly thirty years ago, my oldest brother awoke one night to what he thought was an intruder, grabbed his pistol, and darn near shot his wife coming back into the bedroom after the baby's 0200 feeding. He told me he'd never keep a gun where he could reach it when he's asleep again.

Me, I figured it couldn't happen to me, until one late morning in the hot summer of '81; I'd worked a midnight shift the night before, and my (first) wife was gone to work. Our baby sitter wasn't available that day, so I had to watch my 3 YOA step-daughter. At some point during the morning, I sat down on the bed to fold some laundry, and fell asleep. My service revolver was on the nightstand next to my bed. I woke with a loud ringing in my ears, a stinging sensation in the palm of my hand, gripping my S&W 44 Mag. Terrified of what I'd find, I followed the path of the bullet, calling my step-daughter's name; there was a hole in my bedroom wall, through the hallway into my step-daughter's bedroom, the outer wall at the rear of the house, and God only knows where it came to rest.

I found my stepdaughter playing happily in her sandbox in the front yard. I had no trouble staying awake the rest of the day, and since then, I've never kept a gun where I can reach it while I'm asleep.

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Roger Shambaugh
Ottawa, Kansas
 
#13 ·
Full mag, tube empty, lying naked in my night table in arms reach beside my bed. The idea of Cocked and Locked scares me, as it would be more likely that I have an AD then the one in a million chance of an intruder coming in. The noise of someone breaking in would give me more then enough time to rack a round in the pipe.
Don't get me wrong, there are advantages to C/L for other people and I respect that, just not for me. Anyway I have a Safe for all my guns just the 3 handguns I keep out all loaded the same way. One in the nightstand, the other two in my dresser at the foot of the bed in separate draws. Don’t really know why I have all three out of the safe, I guess there so beautiful to look at I keep them out. Colt Government XSE, Colt Officers XS, S&W 1506 9mm (Pre-Clinton cave in agreement.)
No kids, just the wife that knows about them and to not touch unless needed.
Things will change when my wife makes me some kids.
 
#14 ·
OK guys - here's the Canadian version of "sleeping with the 1911."

Must have trigger lock on the gun. Gun then must locked in a secure container or safe.

I have to resort to sleeping with my Triple K baton, and my CRKT M16-10 (tactical folder).
 
#19 ·
KS,
You were asleep? And somehow managed to acquire a shooting grip on the pistol after reaching for it while asleep?

Were you having a nightmare or what?

I've just never heard of someone firing a gun while sleeping...
 
#20 ·
The 1911 is a mechanical work of art. There is timeless genius in its design, and it is a sight to behold; however, there is nothing in my house quite so wonderfully wrought as is the Mrs.
Therefore, she and me share the bed, and the weapon is elsewhere but near at hand.
 
#21 ·
LW,

I have never been able to remember the dream, but I must have been dreaming, because when I woke up, I was sitting up in the bed with the gun in my hand, my ears were ringing, and the 44 had been fired. I doubt that I was sleeping very solidly, as I wasn't supposed to asleep at all, and I'd worked a midnight shift the night before. Also, the S&W 44 is a hard-kickin' gun, but I suspect the main reason my hand was stinging was I didn't have a correct firing grip on it; I was holding it just good enough to fire it.

Some people have no trouble coming instantly awake with a clear head. A good friend of mine, a former military special operations operator who is currently a SWAT team leader and a firearms instructor, sleeps with his HK P7M13 within reach. He's spent years in unfriendly places, and he's never shot anyone he didn't mean to, and I have no problem with what he does.

I don't trust myself that far, though. I like to be sitting up with my feet on the floor when I reach for my gun, and not lying on my bed, semi-conscious.

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Roger Shambaugh
Ottawa, Kansas
 
#22 ·
I keep my Kimber loaded in the drawer just above my head on the headboard, but not cocked and locked. No safety reason (no kids), but the same pistol is my carry piece. I keep it uncocked overnight to relieve the sear spring tension, otherwise it would be cocked 24 hrs/day.

FWIW, I was protecting a friend from a stalker some years back. I slept on the couch in the living room (only entry door) w/my .357 in a pack on the floor next to me. My friend screamed when she saw the perp out her bedroom window. Before I was really awake, I was sitting upright w/the .357 in my hand, finger OFF the trigger, looking for a target. I'm a fast/easy waker, so it was probably the quickest draw of my life. The perp got one peek at my cannon and split, never to return. Thank you, 2nd Amendment!

Regards,
TBob

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"To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them"
- George Mason, American Statesman (1725-92)
 
#25 ·
At home, my carry gun, a Pro CDP, is kept overnight in a GunVault (with touchpad lock) on the nightstand by the bed--we have grandchildren. When camping, a Glock 22 with night sights is placed between the drop cloth and pad. If there are youngsters along, the Gunvault goes too.
 
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