LOCK 'N LOAD ??

vanity

[genefromjersey]

Saw a little squib on Fox News this afternoon: Two US Navy ships loading up with battle ammo at US Naval Ammunition Depot Earle ,NJ , prepatory to deployment in the Gulf Region.

Earle has served the Fleet for many, many years. Warships going in to port for extended periods offload their ammo there, and pick up re-supply on their way out.

Ships being fitted out for battle also come in and load up with fresh ammo of all kinds. ( Yes, they store them there too ! )

Now there's a clue as to what might have induced 19 illegals of Middle Eastern origin to cross the border from Canada last month !

[genefromjersey]

I'm familiar with Earle, and know the magazine areas are pretty safe, but certain other areas have exposures.

[Phantom Lord]

How exactly would one lock and then load? Shouldnt it be the other way around?

[firewalk]

bump...

[nhoward14]

The origin of the phrase "lock and load" is not entirely clear, as there are two similar, yet distinct, explanations for its origin. Regardless of its exact origin, the phrase has come to relate to any activity in which preparations have to be made for an immediate action.

One explanation of the phrase comes from the actions needed to prepare a flint lock rifle for firing. In order to safely load a rifle of this type it was necessary to position the firing mechanism in a locked position, after which the gun powder and ball could be safely loaded into the rifle barrel without any chance of the rifle misfiring.

The second explanation is that the phrase (as "load and lock") originated during World War II to describe the preparations required to fire an M1 Garand rifle. After an ammunition clip was loaded into the rifle the bolt was pushed forward in order to "lock" a round into the chamber.

[azhenfud]

My guess is you load a breech-loader from the muzzle, or something like that....

[Robert357]

I'll guess also. I thought it meant to put the safety on then to load the damn thing by cycling a round into the chamber.

[snippy_about_it]

Lock and Load
This imperative phrase originally referred to the operation of the M1 Garand Rifle, the standard U.S. Army rifle of WWII. Its meaning is more general now, referring to preparation for any imminent event.
The original phrase was actually reversed, "load and lock." The phrase refers to inserting a clip of ammunition into the rifle, "loading," and "locking" the bolt forward thereby forcing a round into the chamber. The phrase first appears in Gach's 1941-42 In the Army Now. It was immortalized by John Wayne (who else?) in 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima, where the Duke reversed the phrase to the current "lock and load."

The term "lock" in this phrase is a different use of the word than in references to the firing mechanism of a weapon, as in "flintlock."

---

Lock, Stock, and Barrel
This phrase, meaning completely or thoroughly, is another phrase referring to firearms. In this case, it refers to the three major parts of a musket, the firing mechanism or lock, the stock which rests against the shoulder, and the "barrel." Like lock and load, the phrase was originally reversed, first appearing in an 1817 work by Sir Walter Scott as stock, lock, and barrel. The current sequence dates to 1842.
This sense of lock first appears in 1547 in the combination form firelock. The term probably derives from the resemblance to a lock on a door. German has similar usage for the term, the word schloss referring to both a door lock and the firing mechanism of a gun.

The word stock has several senses referring to blocks of wood used for various purposes. In 1346 the word was used to refer to the wooden cross bar of a ship's anchor. In 1474 it was used to refer to the block of wood from which a bell is hung. And in 1541 it was first used in the firearm's sense.

This sense of barrel relates to the cylindrical nature of the part. The word was first used in 1648 to refer to the metal tube of a gun.

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorl.htm

[J. L. Chamberlain]

Lock and Load

This imperative phrase originally referred to the operation of the M1 Garand Rifle, the standard U.S. Army rifle of WWII. Its meaning is more general now, referring to preparation for any imminent event.

The original phrase was actually reversed, "load and lock." The phrase refers to inserting a clip of ammunition into the rifle, "loading," and "locking" the bolt forward thereby forcing a round into the chamber. The phrase first appears in Gach's 1941-42 In the Army Now. It was immortalized by John Wayne (who else?) in 1949's Sands of Iwo Jima, where the Duke reversed the phrase to the current "lock and load."

The term "lock" in this phrase is a different use of the word than in references to the firing mechanism of a weapon, as in "flintlock."

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorl.htm

J

[WVNan]

Now, I didn't know that. How many Arab terroists didn't know that either before now? They know it now.

[montag813]

Two US Navy ships loading up with battle ammo at US Naval Ammunition Depot Earle ,NJ , prepatory to deployment in the Gulf Region.

Hey, that's New Jersey, shouldn't all those Navy weapons have trigger locks and "smart" features? C'mon McGreevey get on it!

[RightWhale]

you load a breech-loader from the muzzle

The breach is the back end, the muzzle the front end.

[airborne]

With my AR-15, I LOCK the magazine in the magazine well, then pull the charging handle back and let it go, which LOADS the weapon. LOCK and LOAD.

[DrNo]

The original phrase was actually reversed, "load and lock."

I've always wondered about that. How could you load when your weapon is locked?!

While we're at it, how can we fail to mention "Garand thumb." The nasty result of failing to hold the bolt back when inserting a loaded clip!

[azhenfud]

I know. I pictured someone locking the breech and loading from the muzzle just to fit the term....

[helper]

My understanding to, started in VN and referred to locking the mag. and operating the charging handle.

[Charles Martel]

I've always wondered about that. How could you load when your weapon is locked?!

While we're at it, how can we fail to mention "Garand thumb." The nasty result of failing to hold the bolt back when inserting a loaded clip!

I've actually heard the earlier, correct command given at a Garand match. You load a clip, then lock the breech closed over a live round. I had no idea that it was John Wayne who reversed it. Another tidbit to add to the set of cards for Trivial Pursuit - Freeper Edition! ;-)

My dad carried an M-1 into Germany and often recounted the horrors of "Garand thumb". I owned an M-1 for years without incident and came to believe that "Garand thumb" only happened to men who were distracted under actual combat conditions. Then I got bit! Wow, what an impressive blood blister under the ol' thumbnail.

[johnb838]

That's a good point. One of the best things about FR is it serves as a good 'clearing house' of media information so that many things that happen that would otherwise get only a tiny blip on the radar screen, or pass undetected entirely, get picked up and posted here. It's awesome!

But if we're trying to maintain a 'loose lips sink ships' policy on the board doesn't that aspect of FR play into the hands of the enemy almost as much as if people were posting intelligence that they had picked up while out and about as opposed to in the media?

I'm not sure how this needs to work itself out. It could be not good for FR as a place to find out what's going on, but that may be the price of freedom at this time.

[dozer7]

"The second explanation is that the phrase (as "load and lock") originated during World War II to describe the preparations
required to fire an M1 Garand rifle. After an ammunition clip was loaded into the rifle the bolt was pushed forward in order to
"lock" a round into the chamber."

yes indeed. Lock it or get a .30 caliber thumb. Learned the hard way at 18.

regards

the dozer

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bang

[PoorMuttly]

I think about this a lot. We are educating our enemies. There are compensations, however.

Now they know that we are serious, able, willing and highly experienced in accomplishing what we have threatened them with...their destruction. They think they know us. They only know a fiction, taught to them by The Fantasy Industry, our professional doubt/fault-finding media and press, that of the world's, both of which the internet is effectively debunking and revealing, and the self-serving and sour-grapes "spin" their own, often totalitarian or otherwise thoroughly corrupt at its core governments are manipulating them with. Now they have been eavesdropping on our own, real conversations between ourselves, the real American People. Perhaps thereby, they will eventually see through the fraud they believe as true, and realize that Freedom brings out the best, also the not so good...but affords all the benefit of facing what we truly are, and if we want to, becoming better people. This beats being manipulated as unrespected slaves, and servants of any self-serving government class. This will become clearer to them with time...once they overcome their own lack of self-respect for being so powerless, and the manipulation their masters do to them in orchestrating their self-loathing into hate for others, in other countries, who have it better. Freedom heals...it healed US from the viewpoints and hostilities we brought with us from the Old World, to here. It will work for them too, now that their governments have not succeeded in blocking out global communications, primarily the internet. Give it time.