Are AR15's Drops Safe? Do You Keep One In The Chamber For Home Defense Or "Cruiser Ready"?
Posted by MasterPang89@reddit | Firearms | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Steel-and-Wood@reddit
ARs are not drop safe. In fact many rifles aren't. It's less of a concern than pistols being drop safe because rifles tend to be dropped far less.
Source: google it lmfao
SpiritualSet5877@reddit
Google says the EXACT opposite you moron
chris5527@reddit
Google literally says they aren’t drop safe. You MORON.
Recon_Figure@reddit
This company claims they are.
7ipptoe@reddit
No firearm is truly drop safe unless there’s nothing in the chamber. Especially nothing with free floating firing pins.
I do not know of many people who keep loaded shotguns or rifles around the house or vehicle. Only takes a second to chamber a round.
Handguns are different, since you are most likely to keep that on your person, in a holster.
xCharmCity@reddit
Could you explain the first paragraph. Are modern day striker guns with firing pin blocks not drop safe? How would a drop cause the firing pin block to depress when it’s under spring tension?
7ipptoe@reddit
For rifles/shotguns, the firing pin usually isnt under spring tension it free floats. Drop it on the butt/stock it’s fine. Drop it on the barrel/muzzle and it might go off.
Striker fired Handguns are safer as they are mostly not free float, but usually held with a spring as you mentioned. The problem lies in the frame/trigger/sear mechanisms and a hard drop, at precisely the wrong angle can cause any number of parts in the mechanisms to slip or very light triggers with low travel to go off. This tends to happen ALOT less frequently with OEM components as they are usually designed and tested to prevent this. But a lot of older handguns are not, and many new handguns are predominantly polymer/plastic, which can flex/deform/break when dropped.
Drop safe is very dangerous marketing IMO. It’s like water proof vs water resistant.
Don’t drop guns. Bad things can happen.
xCharmCity@reddit
Wait what? Are you saying that dropping a striker fired handgun with a firing pin block can cause the fire pin block to be raised allowing the firing pin to go forward? If so I have a bridge to sell you. If you’re saying the drop can cause the trigger bar to move rearward due to inertia, I’d say this only affects striker fired guns without trigger shoes like the P320 when they were having drop fire issues. If you’re saying a drop at the right angle can somehow cause the trigger shoe to depress then I have a second bridge to sell you.
7ipptoe@reddit
Not all striker fired handguns have a trigger safety in the shoe to prevent trigger travel when dropped, ontop of a fully cocked striker vs half cocked, and no manual safety/grip safety, and you have a pretty basic recipe for it going off when dropped hard enough. Again, the likelihood of this happening is pretty small to overcome the trigger travel, but it’s not impossible. Especially when aftermarket modifications are in play to remove or alter safeties, triggers, springs, etc.
In any case or design, these are all mechanical safeties, which can fail. They’re idiot resistant, not idiot proof.
Glocks and Sigs alike go off when dropped in very specific scenarios apparently, that are seemingly unrepeatable in simulated testing. But it happens enough for lawsuits to happen. I’m sure it happens to Walther, Springfield, Ruger, etc too, but they just don’t have the market share to reflect media attention.
I carry Glocks and Sigs too, I just don’t drop them. And if I did, I’d want it to be my mostly OEM ones, not the one that has a 2# trigger and about 2mm of travel until it breaks.
buffilosoljah42o@reddit
You are the first person I have ever heard say glocks aren't 100% drop safe. The only scenario I can imagine is maybe a timney alpha trigger and a plunger delete. But jesus you'd be asking for it at that point and it wouldn't even be the guns fault.
HotTamaleOllie@reddit
Glocks are drop-safe. Google ‘Glock drop safety tests’ and you’ll see how unbelievable their testing is.
GunMun-ee@reddit
Unless your AR platform rifle has a firing pin safety, which 99.9999% of them do not, it is not drop safe. The only ones i can think of off the top of my head are sig MCX's and HK 416's.
Firing pins are basically free floating on an AR bolt carrier, they move freely, but not really ever with enough force to set off a round, but pretty often will leave an indentation on a primer if you would like to test it yourself.
It takes a direct muzzle down drop onto a hard surface to set it off. My old boss dropped his MK18 face first into his driveway and it went off. So trigger choice will not affect this, as he was running a geissele ssf, and those are known to be pretty safe
Agammamon@reddit
Yes. Counter to Grand Master Jay, you can't get an AR to fire by slamming the butt onto the ground and no, recruits have not died because of this.
As to whether or not the gun is kept with one in the chamber - no. Unless I'm carrying it its either unloaded or the one that's available for 'home defense' has the bolt locked back and a magazine in. Grab it, bolt release, ready to rock - but some casual who picks it up and fingerfucks the trigger is less likely to blow their head off (not that there are any casuals in my home).
With that said - don't go throwing your guns on the ground.
yeehawpard@reddit
My AR is my house gun and it lives it's life with one in the chamber as much as possible
ilikerelish@reddit
Unless I know I am going into dangerous territory I keep the ammo in the mag regardless of what weapon it is.
Sekora_IO@reddit
At-15 might not be a good home defense choice. The rounds have a higher chance of going through walls. Personally I have a 9mm loaded with hollow points
ServoIIV@reddit
This has been tested many times over the past 10-15 years and every time the 9mm goes through more walls than the 5.56 and people keep repeating this. Tons of tests are available on YouTube showing that your 9mm will go through more walls than a 5.56 AR.
Sekora_IO@reddit
Good to know. I’m surprised, but it’s always good to learn something
Sekora_IO@reddit
Seems that the much higher velocity or a 5.56 would lean towards the opposite though. Might be worth a test at the range this weekend
ServoIIV@reddit
The longer faster projectile is less stable so it tends to skew sideways quickly which causes rapid velocity loss and hitting subsequent walls with more surface area which causes a loss of ability to penetrate. Basically 5.56 is great at penetrating the first thing it hits and rapidly loses effectiveness. Handgun bullets generally aren't going fast enough to be deformed by drywall and their short height to width ratio causes them to not tumble as much and they tend to keep punching through drywall fairly well. They aren't as good at penetrating a hard barrier but drywall really doesn't give much resistance.
Sekora_IO@reddit
I stand corrected. Thank you, it’s always good to learn the truth
zupius@reddit
See garand thumbs recent video. 9mm penetrated more than a 77gr 556…..
mosullini@reddit
And the standard ball ammo went through as many walls as anything else, this was also with a 13" barrel I believe, anything shorter or longer could (could) have significantly different results. I hope he does a follow-up with more .223 lengths and bullets. Not enough people stress ammo selection in rifles like they do pistols.
skylinesora@reddit
a tale as old as time
Kromulent@reddit
Drop safety is a matter of degree. A double-action revolver without an external hammer, like an S&W 642, probably could not be fired by any impact that did not crush the ammunition. Glocks are quite safe, but it's not impossible to set one off. Most other modern pistols are safe enough to satisfy any practical concern, and rifles tend to be a step below that.
As for your specific question, it's a matter of comparing two risks - the risks of an accident if the weapon is dropped, and the risks of losing a fight do to noise and delay in getting ready.
Milspec AR triggers are generally pretty safe - the Army does not want accidents and not every soldier is above average. Target triggers can be pretty touchy, and most commercial triggers are somewhere in between.
Bertolli_28@reddit
I keep handguns loaded and chambered and long guns with a loaded mag but empty chamber, most long guns are not drop safe
jfm111162@reddit
Some factors that could come into play are wear on Fcg parts or a dirty firearm a friend of mine asked me to look at his savage 12 ga A5 design It would unexpectedly double or empty the magazine in full auto mode wear on fcg combined with the recoil allowed to do this
thethugbaker@reddit
Just keep a round in the chamber.
MaximaSpeed@reddit
Personally I keep my rifle with a round in the chamber. However my wife and I have no children yet, the gun sits on a large flat surface, and my wife is familiar with safe handling if she would HAVE to move it. Im moving soon though and will probably have to change up storage a bit. Probably will be storing empty chamber no safety.
stormchaserXx@reddit
That’s a good question!
Burnett-Aldown@reddit
You ever treated your gun like the whore it is, taking round after round? Ever fracture a rib jumping on your rifle? It's drop safe.
One in the chamber is the way. Flip the safety and it's go town.
forwardobserver90@reddit
I keep all long guns “cruiser ready.”