Guns and Magnets

No experience here. I doubt it would cause any problems. Any magnetism imparted to the mag spring would likely be so slight as to be non noticeable as the tension of the spring would be far stronger. And of course the ammo is all non-ferrous unless you are using steel cases and/or milsurp ball ammo.

I don't think the magnet attaches to the gun, it simply sits between the gun and the safe and holds the gun in place. I doubt there is anything in a gun that would be affected by the magnet enough to cause a problem once the gun is away from the magnet. My concern with such a powerful magnet would be whether you could free up the gun if it was needed in a hurry or if it would have to be pried off. The idea probably came from those magnetic strips used to hold tools, but somehow, I don't think gun owners have been waiting breathlessly for it.

Jim

I use magnetized hooks (from Lowe's <$3 each) attached to the inside walls of my safe to store a few extra guns above the rifle barrels. They work well and have no effect on the guns other than slighly dampening any swinging when I return the gun to its hanging by the trigger guard position.

--wally.

Wally, do you have a picture of your setup?

There was a thread here not to long ago about a LEO that took his service weapon into an MRI theatre. The magnetism from the machine pulled the 1911 style pistol from his hand and the gun fired, apparently the mag pulled all the safeties and then the firing pin. The magnet held so hard that the slide didn't operate and eject the empty. Now I doubt that this has anything to do with the OPs question but it gives ya something to think about, don't it?

I don't think this particular magnet will cause any damage to the gun or its internals.

I don't believe I want to magnetise my gun barrel, which is what will happen from prolonged exposure to the magnet.

Click to expand...

It may demagnetize after a bit of firing due to the heat. I'm not sure if a magnetized barrrel would have any negative effects.

The magnets used to secure a hand gun such as under the counter holding device will not harm it in any manner or form. As far as being pried off to access it , no, it comes to hand quite readily, As far as comparing it to a MRI, that's silly.

As far as comparing it to a MRI, that's silly.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that I was comparing the two, more of an aside if you will.

Note to self no packing in the MRI. Not really an option but WOW! I would like to see this on Mythbusters. I think I will suggest it.

An external magnetic field cannot penetrate to the interior of a magnetically permeable object such as a carbon steel gun. Note, however, that internal parts may develop a light magnetism just as a result of working against each other. Did you ever notice how sometimes screwdrivers end up magnetized when they didn't start out that way?

The internal parts of a polymer-framed gun can be magnetized by an external magnet, but it would need to be a very powerful one before the functioning of the gun would be affected.

Regarding the MRI incident, you must recall that an MRI machine has a seriously powerful magnet. Think horizontally dropped gun. That gun hit hard on the wall of the MRI bore.

With respect to the story about the MRI what happened is that the magnetic field pulled the firing pin forward. This caused it to strike the primer which of course fired the gun. The gun was still cocked and locked which is why it did not operate.

I use five rare earth magnets with hooks on them in my gun cabinet to hold some of my pistols in place. I keep the pistols holstered and hook the holster to the magnet hook. I've never had any problems with them and am able to suspend four pistols to the inside of the door of my cabinet and hang one more from the ceiling of it, along with a rechargeable dehumidifier. It gives me a lot more usable space. They are great to have but I wouldn't place a pistol directly against one of the magnets out of concern for the finish (i.e. any dirt or sand that gets caught between the magnet and gun could really mar it up). I bought the pack of magnets off ebay for less than $20 before they went all anti-gun on me.

I call BS on the MRI story

Much more plausible that the cop tried to resist losing his weapon and pulled the trigger

Or it flew out of his hand and went bang when it slammed into the bore of the machine

By what magic did the magnetic field just happen to disengage the safeties

Think people

The story was published on one of the forums. the gun was a 1911 style gun. The manual safety was not disengaged. That is why the shell failed to extract. IIRC the gun hit so the firing pin went forward due to impact on the muzzle, kind of like a dropped weapon. The post even showed pictures from the investigation where the gun was still attached inside the MRI.

Sure, it could have been faked, but to what real purpose? It was published to let people know of the danger around MRI equipment. As I recall, the individual was not the patient, but an observer in the room.

Found article posted on DefensiveCarry.com
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092

By what magic did the magnetic field just happen to disengage the safeties

Click to expand...

Read the report.

hm... cool idea! with magnets i can store even more guns in my little 14 gun safe!

I call BS on the MRI story

Click to expand...

Not BS. Confirmed, documented and discussed in peer review literature. The reason that the incident occurred is that the Tech in charge of the MRI suite failed to adequately control access to the room and the officer who's gun discharged failed to disarm himself as instructed and entered the room prior to being cleared for metallic objects by the Tech. This incident can be attributed to the Tech not being as meticulous about screening procedures as necessary and an officer who failed to follow instructions.

The field strength of a 1.5Tesla magnet, one of the most common sizes currently in use is enormous. 1Tesla = 1000gauss. The magnetic field strenght of the earth at its surface is approximately 0.5 gauss. A huge difference. These magnets are capable of pulling a crescent wrench out of your hand and accelerating it through a piece of plywood than into the bore.
They are not toys and can be seriously dangerous if not understood and dealt with properly.

I've heard that a cross pen was plucked from a guys shirt pocket by a running MRI machine. Apparently the pen orbited a bit like a toilet flush picking up speed as it went. As it was told to me, it reached the center before jettisoning itself into a concrete wall.

My first thought was bull puckie. Then I did a yahoo search and found this:

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/09/15/mri.gun.mishap.ap/index.html

MRI 'disarms' Rochester police officer

September 15, 2000
Web posted at: 10:55 PM EDT (0255 GMT)

ROCHESTER, New York (AP) -- Technology fought the law -- and won.

An armed, off-duty police officer went this week to get a magnetic resonance imaging test. Clinic workers told it was all right to keep his handgun with him.

As soon as he entered the room, the device's heavy-duty magnet yanked the .45-caliber gun right out of his hand and the gun discharged. The bullet lodged in an exterior wall and no one was hurt.

It took three hours to power down the magnet and free the weapon.

An MRI is four times as powerful as magnets used to lift cars in junkyards, said Sgt. William Benwitz, who runs a firearms training unit.

The weapon is out of service. Benwitz said firing the weapon was too risky because its molecular structure might have been altered.

"Until we send this gun back to the factory, we're not even going to test-fire it," he said. "The metal is more brittle than it should be."

Check out the part that is in bold.

To bad these would not work with a GLOCK cause we all know they are made of ceramic

My wife runs a scanner...I have probably spent more time in an MRI scanner than anyone.

I was not disputing that a pistol disharged or that the scanner could pull it out of the deputies hand

I called BS on this statement

"apparently the mag pulled all the safeties and then the firing pin."

I completely believe that the pistol fired because of the impact

But not because the magnet pulled the firing pin forward

Benwitz said firing the weapon was too risky because its molecular structure might have been altered.

Click to expand...

Who told them this, or why did he even think this might have happened?

"The metal is more brittle than it should be."

Click to expand...

And how do they know that, unless they have manufacturer specs and a material test lab?