Lock and Load?

[Old Sourdough]

When I was getting gun training many years ago (military or Jr rifle team, I can't remember which), I'm sure the firing line commmand was "load and lock" as in load one round and lock the action until ready to fire. Now the rallying cry is "lock and load" Lock the action and then load? Am I wrong about this or just getting senile?

All opinions accepted, my wife has already voted!

[swifter...]

I think it means:

Lock: A magazine into place...

Load: The chamber...

I suspect we may have learned the commands in another era, when a lot of these guys weren't born.
Hell, for all I know, Hollywierd got it wrong, and it caught on...

Tom

[26point2]

That's the way I learned it..lock the mag...load the chamber...

[C.R.Sam]

Load n Lock......stripper clips and front stuffers.
Lock n Load....detachable magazines.
?

Sam

[PATH]

I always thought it meant lock a magazine in place and load the chamber. If this is not the case I surely would like to know.

[echo3mike]

I'm pretty sure that these sayings are from military firing lines, but don't quote me.

With bolt action rifles, (Spr 1903, Krag, etc.), you have to "load" a round into the chamber and "lock" the bolt into firing position. The reverse, ("lock and load"), can't really work.

The advent of enbloc / magazine fed infantry weapons, you'll "lock" the magazine into place and"load" one round by letting the bolt go home. But, if you think about the firing cycle of a semi-auto, ( firing, extraction, ejection, cocking, feeding, chambering, locking), the "load and lock" version seems more appropriate. .

My memory of echo line, weapons btn, P.I., goes something like...
"Now that first relay...your first stage of fire will be the 200 meter slow fire..you'll fire a total of fifteen rounds: 5 rounds sitting, 5 rounds kneeling, 5 rounds standing in a time limit of 20 minuets.
SHOOTERS...with a magazine and five rounds, LOAD AND LOCK , slap the magazine, let the bolt go home, tap the foward assist to ensure the bolt is fully seated..."

... I could be wrong.

Regards,
S.

[40ozflatfoot]

LOCK: engage the safety (safe ON).
LOAD: load the clip/magazine, and close the bolt on the first round.

I first heard this when they issued us Garands; later M14s, and finally M16s. Personally, I preferred the Garand.

[bowhnter]

Damn, I just got wicked goose bumps!!!
Thanks for the flashback... LOL
[

"Now that first relay...your first stage of fire will be the 200 meter slow fire..you'll fire a total of fifteen rounds: 5 rounds sitting, 5 rounds kneeling, 5 rounds standing in a time limit of 20 minuets.

We were also told "load & lock"
(presuming that the weapon is in the open bolt position)
Load the magazine and let the bolt go home
Lock the safety.

USMC rifle and pistol ranges both use this method.

Semper FI

[Mal H]

I'll muddy the waters a little bit. I think the term originated long before smokeless powder was a gleam in E. I. DuPont's eye. With flintlock guns, the command was given to the line to load the charge and ball and also load the lock and pull it back to firing position. Sort of a reminder to be sure and powder both areas.

"Lock and load" may have started out as "load and lock". No one can be absolutely sure. The term "Lock, stock and barrel" did start out as "stock, lock and barrel" since it was mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in one of his novels.

[C.R.Sam]

Mal, fret not, I had it already muddied with front stuffers.

Sam

[Mal H]

Ah so! You did indeed.

I just wanted to be sure the amoebas were still alive in that murky liquid.

[C.R.Sam]