Backstop ideas

[glocksmith]

I don't understand the need, when has a modern pistol discharged by racking a round in? A bucket of sand seems simplest if you feel the need.

Agreed. An even simpler and cheaper solution would be to take it into the backyard after dark, point it at the ground and rack the slide.

Yeah I've got 3-1/2 acres of safe direction two steps out side my front or back door! I wouldn't need to wait for it to be dark either.....

I live in a township where firing a gun is legal...yet only 30 feet away is the corporation line of Cincinnati where it is illegal to discharge - plus they are soon going to install a gunfire detection system. Needless to say I am going to have fun testing their system...and I'll be acting legally

[Cruiser]

I don't understand the need, when has a modern pistol discharged by racking a round in? A bucket of sand seems simplest if you feel the need.

Agreed. An even simpler and cheaper solution would be to take it into the backyard after dark, point it at the ground and rack the slide.

Yeah I've got 3-1/2 acres of safe direction two steps out side my front or back door! I wouldn't need to wait for it to be dark either.....

At least 1/2 mile and fifty acres open fall plowed fields in all four directions !

[TSiWRX]

I've never even given it a thought that the gun might go off by racking a round into it, how would that even be possible? Hammer falling past the safety catch on a series 70 1911 maybe?.... I guess I can see the example of a defective gun causing a ND/AD like the XDS did at one point so I will say yeah point it at something that will absorb the shot and you won't be devastated if it's destroyed...

Neither had I until the recall, to be honest. But since I had an XDs and was now aware that simply chambering a round could result in a discharge, it got me to thinking, and I decided that my concept of "safe direction" needed to be reevaluated.

I don't disagree with your line of thinking, at all, Imcrazy.

However, there's always that - however remote - chance of *something* going awry.

A firearm under recall is definitely such a possibility, but we all should remember what initiated the recall in the first place: that there were instances of mechanical fault that were then unknown.

Additionally, the possibility - again however remote - of parts failure that causes such a problem just cannot be erased.

I know that this is taking things to the extremes, and I am by no way suggesting that this is reasonable, but to-wit, if we are so certain of the condition of our weapon, then can we not discard Rules 2 and 3 (and 4, too, but that's almost inconsequential as a result of the 2/3 violation), at-will?

I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that there is value-added to having that backstop - or, at the very least, being conscious of where that bullet might go and the damage that it can potentially do, should that happen.

[Brian D.]

Safest direction possible for all handling. Inside my house that's a wood box lined with some Kevlar vest scrap (that wasn't easy to mooch!) and a heavy duty plastic bag full of sand. "Bullet Motel: Bullets go in, they don't come out."

[techmike]

I want to thank everyone that posted - the bucket of sand is what I will start with and perhaps mod that idea with an angled pipe into the sand with a padded upper rim. Just to elaborate a bit, I have a 1911 discharge when the slide release was pressed (at a range in California). I had just watched the owner fire several full mags with no problems at all. Yet when I loaded a mag and hit the slide release it went into battery and fired a round. This backstop is also for my wife a two daughters that are relatively new to gun ownership, so I want them to learn the safe way and not to depend on any mechanical safety, de-cocker or anything else that can get wear, crack or get out of spec. I don't like patching holes.