Does the phrase "Lock and load" really have anything to do with guns?

Originated in American English, supposedly as an instructional command to prepare an M1 Garand, the main rifle used during World War II, for battle.[1] the expression was popularized 1949 by John Wayne in the movie The Sands of Iwo Jima. Various similar phrases predate it, including in transposed form as “load and lock”. It is disputed whether the command "lock and load" was ever used by the US military. The term, "lock and load" was used in the US Army as late as 1969 and was also used in Vietnam. Tap of the magazine against the helmet and slip the magazine into the M14/16 release the charging handle.

Anyone who has qualified in marksmanship in the US Marines should be familiar with the term. During rapid fire, the Range Master says, "Ready on the left, ready on the right, aaaall ready on the firing line. With 10 rounds, lock and load. Daaawg targets!"

Most of the research I've done indicates it predates the M1 by about a century. The action of a muzzle loader rifle was, at the time referred to as the lock, the other main components were the stock and the barrel. This is where the term "lock, stock and barrel" came from, meaning you got everything.

Part of the muzzle loader activity was to move the lock to half-cawked, then load the charge (powder, patch, wad, shot/ball). After that you would shoulder the rifle and fully cawk it. Thus, when preparing for a battle in the civil war era, when there were firing lines to exchange volleys rather than tactical positions and geurilla warfare, the commander would yell "lock and load" to tell his troops to prepare to fire.

The key problem at the time was that if you bumped it wrong, your gun could go off "half-cawked"...yet another phrase in use today still.

Bob has the most correct and thorough answer.

It started with the M1 Garand, a semi-automatic CLIP FED (using "clip" correctly: an 8-round en bloc metal clip) rifle, which had to be loaded with the action locked open. So the term "Lock and Load" referred to preparing the US primary battle rifle for action.

Magazine-fed rifles generally don't need to be locked open before loading, since they load usually from the bottom. However, they CAN be locked open, a magazine seated, and the bolt then released, charging the weapon and making it ready to fire. Any semi-auto with a bolt hold-open may be loaded this way.

In later years, "load and lock" meant to load the firearm, charge it, and engage the safety, also known as the "safety lock". This was protocol for safety when handling loaded firearms except when firing or in combat. To the best of my knowledge, this is still protocol, though the term "load and make safe" or "load and safe" are terms used in the 90's. I don't know what terminology is in use today.

But yeah, Lock and Load was pretty much specific to the M1 Garand -- which saw us through two major conflicts (WWII and Korea), so the phrase, which became synonymous with getting ready to do battle, became part of the military vocabulary, and has stuck around far beyond the service life of the "Finest battle implement ever invented."

The phrase "lock and load" appears to have meant different things to different people at different times. The American Rifleman has published articles over several months on just this topic. Mark Keefe's blog sums it up really well: http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/getting-to-t...

The WWII interpretation -- apply the safety on your M1 (lock) before inserting the 8-round clip (load) -- is the one I grew up with, which is certainly because my early highpower instruction was by WWII vets on the M1 rifle.

Anyway, read Keefe's blog, which should explain everything really well.

BTW "load and lock" makes no sense for rifles such as the M1 and M14 that can be loaded with the safety engaged. Load with the safety off, then engage the safety? Uh, no! For rifles that must be loaded with the safety off, perhaps it makes sense, but not for the M1 and M14.

It stems from bolt action rifles I think. You flip the bolt up and push it foward. On some older bolt actions when the bolt went back it would lock the hammer back. When you push it foward you load the round into the chamber. Many guns today don't even have hammers so my theory sounds reasonable to me but I honestly don't know

My recollection of "lock and load," in the context of an M14, was lock a magazine in the receiver and load a round into the chamber.

I believe that it originally was a gun shooting term, coming from when you "lock" back the action, then load the round/magazine into the gun. It is now used for a variety of things, including things like the fertilizer commercial you mentioned.

Lock And Load Firearms

Bob nailed it, but I will add that the term lock, stock, and barrel is also a gun term.

Yes..it does.