Sarah Palin aside. Wiktionary has several suggestions, but I always understood that the term came from the old flintlock rifles, which required the hammer to be in the half-cock or “lock” position prior to priming the pan. Can anybody confirm this?
Originally it was “load and lock.”
I’ve heard the flintlock origin theory before, but I don’t believe it. The phrase was common by World War II, but it was reversed from the way we’re used to hearing it, i.e. “load and lock”, which makes sense given the rifles of that time like the M1 Garand.
You don’t “load and lock” or “lock and load” a flintlock. You “half-cock, prime, charge, load, ram, and full-cock” a flintlock. Different militaries broke the steps down in different ways and called them slightly different things, but it was always a multi-step thing that was drilled over and over into the men. I’ve never heard it broken down as a two step process.
I’ve also never come across the phrase in any writings from the 1800s, not that I’ve really looked that hard though. It certainly wasn’t common, if it was even used at all (which I doubt). I personally think it came from the M1 Garand.
ETA: The previous thread in samclem’s link suggests that “load and lock” got switched to “lock and load” by John Wayne. I believe that too.
I should have known there would already be a thread on this. Thanks.
IANAGE (gun expert) but I know a tiny bit.
I’m not buying the John Wayne for the following reasons:
To load the M-1 (assuming a closed bolt as would be the case of drawing an unloaded weapon from the armory) you first must pull the bolt back until it locks in the open position. Then you insert the stripper clip of ammo pushing down with your thumb. You then remove your thumb very quickly because as soon as the thumb pressure is removed from the clip the bolt slams forward at Mach 2 as many a former private can tell you. The slow guys got an M-1 thumb. Where the moving bolt caught their thumb and smashed it.
So saying the lock came after load makes no sense for an M-1.
I can see a DI instructing new recruits on loading an M-1
Lock (pull the bolt back till it locks)
Load (insert the clip, pull your thumb out of the way)
Weapon is ready to fire.
I’ve always been under the impression that “lock” referred to engaging the safety.
I would have started at least 20 times more threads on this board if I hadn’t learned how to do a Google advanced search on a particular domain. Ninety-five percent of the time, the thread I was thinking of starting already existed.
The M1 doesn’t use a stripper clip. Rounds are loaded into the internal magazine by way of an “en bloc” clip, which stays inside the receiver. That is, until it gets ejected out after the last round is fired.
But the effect is the same. Lock the action open, load a clip, get your thumb out of the way. Not really that hard to do, and you only need the bolt slamming onto your thumb once to get pretty quick at it.
I love my Garand.
My bad. I was working from memory at lunch and didn’t double check my terminology.
The point still stands that you lock the action open and then load the clip. Lock and load.
The term still works just like it is, but mostly for the rifle range. With the M16A2 you lock the bolt to the rear, then** load **a magazine, then press the bolt release to send the bolt forward and load a round into the chamber. This order is mostly so the range officials can quickly see the bolt is open and you don’t have one in the chamber until they tell you to.
In the field you normally either have a magazine in and quickly pull the charging handle to the rear and release to put one in the chamber, or you already have one in the chamber. Depends on the local rules where you are. Either way it only really makes sense on the range, but I’ve heard people say it many times in the field. The guys in my unit (Air Force Combat Comm) yell “Weapons Red” to mean the same thing.
I usually do a search first, but laziness took over in this case.