With rifles and shotguns, open and lock back the bolt (or open the breach) and look at the shadows. And always, ALWAYS keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction.
Avoid any "Ring of Fire" firearms at all costs
It works the same way with all the bolt action rifles I've seen so far and is pretty handy. Also makes cleaning the gun pretty easy.QuoteWith rifles and shotguns, open and lock back the bolt (or open the breach) and look at the shadows. And always, ALWAYS keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction.
This is why I like rifles like the Mosin-Nagant: you can remove the bolt in less than a second (hold the trigger and pull it out), which lets you look straight down the barrel from the rear without anything obstructing your view, as well as making the rifle 100% safe.
It works the same way with all the bolt action rifles I've seen so far and is pretty handy. Also makes cleaning the gun pretty easy.
11: Always remember, Double-Barrel Biden IS WRONG! A load of buckshot WILL go through the wall and into the next room. So will .223, 9mm, .45 ACP, .357 Mag, .38 spl and many, many others. A projectile shot from a firearm is a heavy piece of metal flying through the air at high velocity and, as many of us know, Force = Mass x Acceleration. Always know your surroundings when discharging a firearm and this goes doubly if you're in your home. If you are using your firearm for home defense, purchase rounds designed for home defense. They are expensive, yes, but many are designed to reduce the risk of over penetration. And if it has less ability to go through a wall then get it.
I have to admit, I'm surprised (and learning all sorts of nifty stuff from this thread, for the record) that a 9mm round will go through a wall. I was under the impression that 9mm rounds were so cheap because they had next to no real stopping power compared to .22 rounds and up.9mm is cheap because it is so popular. It is used by most militaries and police forces and therefore it is made in such huge quantities that it is cheap. In fact people often buy a 9mm for action shooting or self defense purely because it is so cheap. (Which, again, helps keep the price down.)
I have to admit, I'm surprised (and learning all sorts of nifty stuff from this thread, for the record) that a 9mm round will go through a wall. I was under the impression that 9mm rounds were so cheap because they had next to no real stopping power compared to .22 rounds and up.
9) Do not copy something you see on tv. Do not try to fire your gun underwater to see if it will fire. Unless you are in a safe area and aren't just screwing around (such as doing an experiment).
Chi: Yeah, .22 LR rounds are what I'm thinking of. My dad owned a great .22 bolt-action rifle growing up, and I had the assumption that it had actual stopping power (since he used it for hunting).
Which is why I'm looking at paired .32's. One as a secondary, one as a backup. My main? I like to keep my distance. Rifle for me. Bolt action, preferably.
If you get a gun for self defense you must be able to handle the gun and be proficient in its use. This means practise. A lot of practise, both live ammo and dry use. (On the other hand if the gun is for target shooting or collectors item or other use then this is not that vital. Go ahead and buy a gun you want to have, as long as you are not a threat to others, but for self defense choice get something you can use, a lot.) Certainly if the recoil is too much for you in your .44 magnum and you don't want to use it much it is not the optimal self defense gun for you but this also happens if the ammo is too expensive. .40, 10mm, .357SIG etc. some cartridges are quite expensive compared to the extremely popular 9mm, .38SPC and some other calibers. Even if you can handle the .50 desert eagle or .454Casull (which is rare) but can't buy enough ammo to regularly practise with it then you are placing yourself and others in danger if you use a gun you are not familiar with in a self defense situation.
What is stopping you from using cheap 9mm ammo for practise and carrying the expensive but better ammo for the real deal? Unless there is a huge difference in the power it should not matter what brand of ammo you use while practising.
You said it, Damen. The gun is, above all, a tool, one that requires care in its use. No more good or evil than the hand that uses it. Nothing would please me more than this helping to save even just one life by responsible gun ownership.
Think anyone can sticky this thread to keep it easy to find?
What is stopping you from using cheap 9mm ammo for practise and carrying the expensive but better ammo for the real deal? Unless there is a huge difference in the power it should not matter what brand of ammo you use while practising.
A 4-year-old girl accidentally shot her 4-year-old cousin to death with a loaded rifle that she found under a bed at their grandfather's Detroit home, police said Friday.
I was trying to think of where best to put this and this thread struck me as being as good as any...
Here's why to get a gun safe.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/girl-4-fatally-shoots-cousin-4-in-detroit-home-1.2501957QuoteA 4-year-old girl accidentally shot her 4-year-old cousin to death with a loaded rifle that she found under a bed at their grandfather's Detroit home, police said Friday.
A 10-year-old U.S. boy was suspended from school for three days for pretending his finger was a gun and pointing it at another student's head, the principal said.
I don't think this is deserving of its own thread, but merits a bit of discussion. Since it relates to guns (sort of), I'm putting it here.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ohio-student-who-pointed-finger-as-gun-suspended-for-3-days-1.2559249QuoteA 10-year-old U.S. boy was suspended from school for three days for pretending his finger was a gun and pointing it at another student's head, the principal said.
Yes, zero-tolerance strikes again!
But that aside, should such behaviour be punished in some way? Doing that with a real gun is unsafe--as noted by others in this thread, never point a gun at someone you're not willing to kill.
I don't think this is deserving of its own thread, but merits a bit of discussion. Since it relates to guns (sort of), I'm putting it here.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ohio-student-who-pointed-finger-as-gun-suspended-for-3-days-1.2559249QuoteA 10-year-old U.S. boy was suspended from school for three days for pretending his finger was a gun and pointing it at another student's head, the principal said.
Yes, zero-tolerance strikes again!
But that aside, should such behaviour be punished in some way? Doing that with a real gun is unsafe--as noted by others in this thread, never point a gun at someone you're not willing to kill.
A crude but true piece of wisdom, straight from my dad-
"A gun is like a cock. Don't pull it out in public unless you have a damned good reason, and never start waving it around at people if you do." (If this is too distasteful, let me know so I can edit it, please.)
If you pulled back the bolt (twist then pull and it goes back exposing the chamber and the top of the internal magazine) and there was no cartridge in there then it was safe. It is more likely that something is stuck inside the barrel which IS a risk and means that you should not fire the gun. (It could blow up in your face if you load the gun and fire it.)
It is possible that the gun has been "deactivated" by plugging the barrel which is done to firearms that are used as wallhangers, shown off in a museum or as theatre props (because you don't want to use a real gun in case someone steals it) but in that case the bolt has also been broken so that the gun will not fire. Another possibility is that there is just something stuck inside for whatever reason and it must be checked and removed.
Hey, Stormwarden or Damen, I had a weird gun experience the other day. I work in a military surplus with a friend who collects old rifles for shows. We found an old-bolt action (probably an Enfield from WW1) but we had no way of seeing if the gun was hot, although it was seemingly unloaded. The lighting was bad, so what we did was use a flashlight aimed at the barrel (the light was on a counter, directly behind was a concrete support wall) and used a pocket mirror to check the breech. When we did not see any light, we closed the breech, threw the safety, locked it up with a post-it on the gun to ask if it was jammed or hot (the gun belongs to the boss), and put a warning note on the safe. Was this a good safety protocol? We were safe the entire time around, but I'm asking for a more experienced point of view.
Although my friend knows how to operate bolt-actions, I don't (I'm more used to shotguns, be they semi-auto or breakers), so I followed my gut who said:"I don't want a fist-sized homemade piercing, let's play it safe." All this despite my friend falling for the trap of the experienced:"don't worry, I got this." He still thanked me for my paranoia, because apparently, on the range, you have to be paranoid to avoid mistakes.
Great thread to the both of you, and many thanks.
Father of a friend of mine once got some snow into his shotgun's barrel... The barrel blew up.
He hadn't even noticed that the barrel had accidentally touched the snow as he was walking and then he saw a rabbit and tried to shoot it: BOOM!
No injuries luckily since the barrel split open at the mouth rather than the rear end.
Also, condoms can be used to prevent STDs which is good even if there is no SHTF situation, but much more important then because medicine and medical help may be harder to find.
Also, condoms can be used to prevent STDs which is good even if there is no SHTF situation, but much more important then because medicine and medical help may be harder to find.
I've heard they're also good at preventing pregnancy.
^
"You don't leave your tools out for any grabby kid or adult to get their hands on. Guns are tools, ergo, you wouldn't leave them out either."
...You loan your gun to your drinking buddy and he goes postal with it? You leave your firearm unsupervised...
The following are rules that stem from this golden rule:
1a) Always assume the weapon is loaded unless you yourself unloaded it, and check again to be sure. Better to be overcautious, than having an accidental discharge.
1b) Store weapons and ammo separately, especially if you have kids. These should be locked away in a gunsafe when not in use. If you must use a pistol at your bedside, at least use a trigger guard unless it's just you or an adult
1d) Never, EVER, leave the weapon unsupervised without rendering it safe first, under ANY circumstance.
3) ...get a gun safe...
Just wondering, are those things not covered by law in the US (or does it vary from state to state)?
I think I'm right in saying that in the UK it's illegal to let someone borrow your gun (although I'm sure it happens) but I could be wrong about that
but I am fairly certain that you MUST keep you gun unloaded and dissembled in a gun safe, which must comply with certain specifications, when it's not in use.
Also, if you are going to be away from home for longer than a certain amount of time (like say if you're going on holiday) the gun must be handed in to the police for the duration of that period.
Plus if you apply for a gun license the police will send someone round to your house to make sure your gun safe complies with the law
and also to check to see if you are an obvious nutter who shouldn't be let near a soft cushion never mind a firearm (obviously nutters do still get licenses, they aren't sending psychiatrists to your house, but maybe they should).
Are none of those things also law and part of the application process in the US?
If so that seems like MASSIVE oversight that should be addressed...none of those things imo would go against the right to bear arms, at least not in any unreasonable way.
I mean there's already some restrictions on that right in the US - for example it's pretty damn difficult to get hold of stuff like miniguns legally,
and civilians aren't allowed to own nuclear bombs.
So clearly people are ok with some level of control.
... does anyone else think maybe all gun laws should be federal and not up to each individual state? Having them be different from state to state seems like there'd be some obvious ways round your own state's laws.
Yep, you answered those pretty damn well. Regarding miniguns/gattling guns I was under the impression (and I think that impression came from an American "factual" TV show) that they required special licenses that were hard for individuals to get. Apparently a TV show was wrong, who'd have thought it huh.
As for hyperbole, yeah it's hyperbole to illustrate a point in as clear and obvious a fashion as possible so that people don't miss that point...you know, like a lot of satire and parody does. Remember the original Robocop? Or Starship Troopers? Or think of old newspaper political cartoons. Just because something is hyperbole does not mean it's automatically wrong and can just be dismissed which is what you did by not actually addressing the point of it - the fact that restrictions do exist on what kind of weapons civilians are allowed to own and where/how is the line drawn with certain people, or the government as a whole (and we all know the government certainly is a hole, thank you I'll be here all week...or at least until I finish typing this).
If you want a less exaggerated example, aren't full auto guns banned or at least more heavily restricted in a handful of states?
I'm 99% sure suppressors are banned in some states (yes they're not a weapon in of themselves but still),
and I think some ammo types are illegal/restricted too aren't they?
Strictly speaking one could even argue that background checks (speaking of which, I'm sure the UK does background checks too but it was just that I know for certain that the fuzz do have a face-to-face meeting with you) and denying certain people a license is an infringement on the right to bear arms according to how the amendment is worded; I don't think it has any exemptions listed.
Obviously none of that means it should be an all or nothing situation, that's just the old false dichotomy fallacy, but all I'm saying is certain people bang on about the 2nd amendment anytime the gun debate crops up, like it's the word of God himself or something, and infringing on that right/amendment etc etc. But it's already been infringed to varying degrees in some shape or form for years and most people seem to accept it (I'm sure some don't mind you) and are ok with it as they understand it can't be a free for all where anything goes.
I just don't understand where the cut-off point is in their mind when they start so feverishly ranting about the constitution.
But anyway this post is more than long enough already. Cheers for your explanations
and just a final thought: does anyone else think maybe all gun laws should be federal and not up to each individual state? Having them be different from state to state seems like there'd be some obvious ways round your own state's laws.
b) They knew about this for decades?! They could have just gone "Let's fix this in the future guns and market it as an improvement" and that would have saved a lot of lives.
Never rely on the safety, and always keep your guns unloaded when in storage or in transit. Especially true of longarms (pistols, of course, are used in Concealed-Carry, but safety rules still apply).
I have a 'friend', who derides the practice of not keeping a bullet in the chamber.