maybe a newbie question, but...

J

JayMac

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Where is it legal/safe/acceptable to load ammo into your mags?
More specifically, when my LTC comes (hopefully soon), and I go to pick up my gun in a FTF transfer, can I bring ammo with me and say, load the mag(s) in my car in a parking lot before heading home? This is a hypothetical location, as I don't know where the transfer will take place yet.
Or if I go to a gun store after, same question. I can't imagine it being acceptable behavior to stand at the counter of a gun store and load up your mags with JHP's. What about the parking lot of a gun store?
I'm just asking because I don't know. Educate me!
Thanks,
Jeremy
 
You can load up anywhere you want. If you decide you want to load up at the store... i'd ask the clerk if they're cool with it first. Personally, I'd just load up in the car. Or if you're doing a FTF at a club... load up at the club.
 
I never thought it was polite or considered to be good manners to load a gun and chamber a round in a public place, even a gun store.

Even when your loading a gun in a car move it to some place where some one looking out a window or walking by won't see you.

As for gun clubs they even have areas where you're not suppose to have a gun out. Ask first, each club is different.
 
Why are you looking to load up right away? Are you planning to immediately start carrying a gun you've never shot?
 
Dench said:
I'm convinced the reason they made machine guns illegal 2 years after that movie came out is becuase democrats were afraid that Terminators would be able to get machine guns to easily if they ever time traveled to a post 86' world.
Click to expand...

This is the first good argument for gun control I've ever heard![smile]
 
A friend was working in a gun store alone one time and a guy walks in the he didnt know. He then asks to see a specific gun that was in the case. The clerk passes the gun over with the slide open. The guy then reaches into his back pocket and removes a full mag puts it in the gun and drops the slide. Now he is there with the stores gun now loaded. The clerk was thinking I'm dead. Turned out the customer said he just wanted to make sure the mag was for that gun. Some how he ended up with some mags and wanted to make sure they worked. He was asked to leave.
I agree with Bugs100 loading a new gun in a store is not a good idea. Get it someplace safe to shoot first. Even pointed at the concrete floor if it goes off lots of bad things can happen.
 
jar said:
Why are you looking to load up right away? Are you planning to immediately start carrying a gun you've never shot?
Click to expand...

Actually, I've already put a box of ammo through it at the range before I agreed on the sale (I'm buying it used), and I've been training with the FS version at Bob's shooting range.
So, I'm not a stranger to the gun. I don't need to load it right away, but wanted to at least get opinions on the logistics of it if I choose to do so.
 
Once you're licensed, you can legally load anywhere.

Where you actually do it should be driven by common sense. The more unusual the location (say, in the food court at the mall), the more likely you'll draw attention, and create an 'incident' that will attract the police.

Your LTC can be taken if you're determined to be 'unsuitable'. Your local chief decides if you're unsuitable.

.
 
JayMac said:
Where is it legal/safe/acceptable to load ammo into your mags?
More specifically, when my LTC comes (hopefully soon), and I go to pick up my gun in a FTF transfer, can I bring ammo with me and say, load the mag(s) in my car in a parking lot before heading home? This is a hypothetical location, as I don't know where the transfer will take place yet.
Or if I go to a gun store after, same question. I can't imagine it being acceptable behavior to stand at the counter of a gun store and load up your mags with JHP's. What about the parking lot of a gun store?
I'm just asking because I don't know. Educate me!
Thanks,
Jeremy
Click to expand...

It's not great practice to load up at a gun store. You can but they'll probably wonder why you'd need to. If you're buying a new gun you typically want to run some rounds through it before carrying it on you.

It's also not great practice to pull out a gun from concealment while in a gun store without first notifying employee that you're going to do so. It's gun friendly in there, but remember that people can rob gun stores. Don't let them confuse you for a suspect.

Other than that, load up anywhere you want. It's just manners, not law.
 
JayMac said:
I figured just as much. I'd never whip out a gun in the middle of a store and start stuffin' hollow points in it. Seems sketchy to me.
Click to expand...

What's sketchy is that you're up at 5AM.
And so am I.

What's even sketchier is when you join a range and up there at 5AM and someone else is already there...wondering why you're up at 5AM as well.
 
I won't be getting the gun from or at Bob's. I was just saying that I've been shooting there a couple times to train with the FS version of the M&P 9c that I'm getting. I've also shot the actual gun I'm buying at an outdoor range.
I'm not sure where the FTF pick-up will occur. Might be a store or range, might not. We'll see.
 
when i was purchasing the gun that would be my carry gun along with a holster i asked if they (i was at blue northern) minded if i loaded up and just carried it out, the response i got from the owner was: "by all means go ahead! an unloaded gun is useless!" [smile]

love that shop.
 
You could do an admin reload without raising too many eyebrows. A loaded gun is a happy gun. :)
 
JayMac said:
Pardon my ignorance - what's that?
Click to expand...

Basically an "in the holster" reload. Once you're holstered up, just leave the gun in the holster and insert the mag. You won't be able to chamber one, but it's better than nothing.
 
http://www.officer.com/print/Law-Enforcement-Technology/Mastering-the-magazine/1$38706

Administrative reload
The administrative reload also is used to ensure there is a full magazine in the well, although it is a more subtle form. It is executed while the gun is still in the holster. Press the release, strip the one in the well and retain it. Insert the new one.

The administrative reload is a "press check" that checks the magazine, not the chamber. It can be used in the locker room without raising an eyebrow. It also is appropriate before shooting stages when practicing on the range.
Click to expand...
 
Loading mags in public

Great question. I've often snickered to myself as I was loading JHPs in my car wondering "what would John Q. Mass do if they knew what I was doing right now?".

I would be discreet when handling your firearm within the potential view of the public. Remember what you would have thought BEFORE you were a gun toter - most folks would assume the worst and at best be very alert of your behavior. Two things you don't want.

All that can be avoided by being discreet, and if you are in a store ASK FIRST.

ALSO you may want to consider discretion if you are carrying and headed over to a buddies or relatives house...or doctors office for that matter. Places where you may have to "get comfortable" in a way that could reveal you are carrying. It's a good idea to keep some type of safe storage means in your vehicle at all times.
 
Also, BEWARE of cameras in parking lots, etc.

IIRC, there was a story some time ago about someone being spotted loading up on a parking lot camera . . . that brought some unwanted attention by the local PD!
 

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