How do you create a "safe direction" in your house?

[ocbruin]

Probably, but it's certainly easy to find out. HD plastic buckets are cheap.

Heh. Maybe for you. But I don't really have practical access to an outdoor shooting area where I can use my own targets. And I doubt my local indoor range will let me set up a test.

[dilligaffrn]

Sand

[johnny_22]

Safe and rubber backstop

Started with the Champion Rimfire Bullet Trap. I was so worried about a ND with my little Marlin .22 rifle.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=744831

Now, I use my gun safe for the back drop and safe direction (Reeds Sports Shop did it that way for my handgun orientation tests, and it seems like a good idea).

Also, for dryfire target practice, I have this on the wall in front of the safe area:

http://www.letargets.com/estylez_item.aspx?item=RDP+STOCK

"Each panel weighs 37 lbs. The manufacturing process of
combining high pressure and a polymer binder allows for an
extremely dense product with a very consistent shape, size
and texture."

Not sure I need it, but, I don't worry about ricochets with it up.

No TV dryfire for me, thank you.

[leitung]

I point mine down at my hamper full of clothes, if it goes through all of that, then it will go through the floor into the ground.

[ojisan]

Water bed...don't screw it up...

[postal]

Pointing to the concrete floor towards a wall should be fine.

Yes it will ricochet off a concrete floor, but most of the energy will be lost in the process- then the tumbling/deformed/slowed bullet impacts a wall and it's vel is decreased yet again.

Pretty safe practice- I wouldnt bother with more than that. I understand you being new to guns and erring on the safe side- but there is "overkill"..

If you have a house and not an apt, backyard- point it to the dirt.

[Waingro]

a sand bag.

[tenpercentfirearms]

After some carelessness at age 21 and launching an M1 Carbine 110 grain FMJ through the glass in my font door, across the street, through the neighbors wall, into a dry aquarium, and stopping against a petrified rock six inches past their inner wall, I always point it down. Having the bullet hit the floor about 5 feet in front of you and bouncing into your own wall is much better than traveling 50 yards across the street and into the neighbors house.

Of course I also double check that the chamber is empty about 4 times anymore before I dry fire at home too.

[M. Sage]

Sand, all it takes is a few inches: http://theboxotruth.com/docs/bot7.htm

And I use snap caps. IMO, it's easier to know the gun is unloaded when you put a snap cap in the chamber.

[ohsmily]

Check your chamber physically and visually. And then point it at the floor to dryfire it. In some ways, guns are very simple devices. It is easy to check if they are loaded. Without a live round in the chamber, it is just a hunk of metal. You seem to be ascribing some sort of mysticism to your gun as though it will magically load itself after you have compulsively and carefully checked to make sure the chamber was empty. If you believe that you are so careless that you need to discharge the gun into a specific "safe spot" like a bucket of sand or something, then you are NOT checking the gun well enough to ensure it is empty. Don't pull the trigger until you have 100% ensured (no ifs ands or buts) that it is empty; make yourself so sure that it is empty that you would virtually bet your life on it (or everything you own). After doing that, point it at the floor and dryfire it. If you can't competently clear a gun to your satisfaction, then enroll in a gun safety class or have someone show you how to ensure a gun has been cleared.

To take your scenario to its logical end, you might as well put on eye and ear protection every time you dry fire your gun just in case it goes off. You seem to think that a ND is inevitable. It is not. Do due diligence by checking, double checking, triple checking, as many times as you need to be sure, that your gun is empty and then dry fire in a safe direction with the floor more than sufficing.

The fact that that you want a sand bucket makes me suspicious that you aren't checking your gun carefully enough before pulling that trigger.

[ocbruin]

Check your chamber physically and visually. And then point it at the floor to dryfire it. In some ways, guns are very simple devices. It is easy to check if they are loaded. Without a live round in the chamber, it is just a hunk of metal. You seem to be ascribing some sort of mysticism to your gun as though it will magically load itself after you have compulsively and carefully checked to make sure the chamber was empty. If you believe that you are so careless that you need to discharge the gun into a specific "safe spot" like a bucket of sand or something, then you are NOT checking the gun well enough to ensure it is empty. Don't pull the trigger until you have 100% ensured (no ifs ands or buts) that it is empty; make yourself so sure that it is empty that you would virtually bet your life on it (or everything you own). After doing that, point it at the floor and dryfire it. If you can't competently clear a gun to your satisfaction, then enroll in a gun safety class or have someone show you how to ensure a gun has been cleared.

To take your scenario to its logical end, you might as well put on eye and ear protection every time you dry fire your gun just in case it goes off. You seem to think that a ND is inevitable. It is not. Do due diligence by checking, double checking, triple checking, as many times as you need to be sure, that your gun is empty and then dry fire in a safe direction with the floor more than sufficing.

The fact that that you want a sand bucket makes me suspicious that you aren't checking your gun carefully enough before pulling that trigger.

I do not ascribe any mystical nature to guns. I also do not subscribe to the infallability of the human, no matter how carefully we have "assured" ourselves of something. The fact is that in repetition, the chance for error exists. If you believe yourself to be 100% about your clearing, why suggest pointing at the floor as a safe direction? Because, in your opinion that is what is best practice, whether that is based on either what you have been taught or some shred of a doubt that the gun is cleared doesn't matter. The fact is you yourself suggest an additional step for safety after "assuring" yourself 100% that it was clear.

Is a sand bucket or something like that overkill? Perhaps, but it's not that far from your "pointing at the floor". That's why I started this thread. To learn from those who have gone before me. Is checking the chamber two times enough? Some people say three. Are the three checkers overkill? Are the one time checkers negligent?

Obviously enough people take the topic seriously enough that it was not 100% "just shoot the floor" responses and some believe that a safe target is appropriate.

[GuyW]

I was going to humorously point out that my "safe" direction is toward the house of a neighbor I don't particularly get along with, but thought better of it...

OP, an accidental discharge will not harm that concrete slab - at most a small surface divot...

[Matt C]

+1 on a bucket of sand...

[ocbruin]

OP, an accidental discharge will not harm that concrete slab - at most a small surface divot...

I respect that, and under normal circumstances, I would agree. The only thing is that there a large letters molded into the slab in the garage that say something like:
Post-tension slab, do not cut or core.

Since I am not fully aware of the tolerances for this kind of slab for damage, I would prefer not to damage it in any way.

[GuyW]

Is checking the chamber two times enough? Some people say three. Are the three checkers overkill? Are the one time checkers negligent?

No - they're just not obsessive-compulsive...