Okay, we all know we're supposed to always be sure of the target and what's beyond it.
But it's easy to get complacent about dryfire practice -- after all, before dryfiring, you unload the gun and then check it. You know the gun is unloaded, so you don't have to worry about a bulletproof backstop, right?
Uh, wrong.
No matter how carefully you check, there's always the possibility that the gun "loaded itself" when you weren't paying conscious attention to it. So you need a safe backstop even if the gun isn't loaded.
In classes I've been in, I've heard the following suggestions for safe backstops:
1) a fireplace or the brick surrounding your fireplace.
2) a completely full bookshelf; don't aim at the books, but step to one end and aim at the end of the shelf.
3) a basement wall.
There are others, but you get the basic idea.
Problem is, I looked around my house and found no suitable places to aim for dryfire. I'm not going to risk dinging up my fireplace (and I worry about ricochet anyhow). My bookshelves are all full, but all of them are stuck in corners or go from one wall to the other, so I can't get at the ends. The floor is safe, but it's not exactly satisfactory for practice.
So, I built a dryfire backstop. This is dead simple, guys.
First, I found a clean, empty five-gallon bucket and filled it up with sand.
Then I went down to the store and found a decorative basket that was just slightly larger than the bucket (if your wife's the one in charge of decor around your house, send her on this mission).
I also picked up a fake house plant and some decorative moss.
Then I plunked the plant into the sand-filled bucket, dropped the whole thing into the decorative basket, and put the moss on top of the sand (hiding the rim of the bucket).
Looking at it, it just looks like a houseplant in a decorative basket -- but it'll stop a bullet.
I put the whole thing on an end table in an empty corner of the living room and now I have a place for dryfire.
pax
But it's easy to get complacent about dryfire practice -- after all, before dryfiring, you unload the gun and then check it. You know the gun is unloaded, so you don't have to worry about a bulletproof backstop, right?
Uh, wrong.
No matter how carefully you check, there's always the possibility that the gun "loaded itself" when you weren't paying conscious attention to it. So you need a safe backstop even if the gun isn't loaded.
In classes I've been in, I've heard the following suggestions for safe backstops:
1) a fireplace or the brick surrounding your fireplace.
2) a completely full bookshelf; don't aim at the books, but step to one end and aim at the end of the shelf.
3) a basement wall.
There are others, but you get the basic idea.
Problem is, I looked around my house and found no suitable places to aim for dryfire. I'm not going to risk dinging up my fireplace (and I worry about ricochet anyhow). My bookshelves are all full, but all of them are stuck in corners or go from one wall to the other, so I can't get at the ends. The floor is safe, but it's not exactly satisfactory for practice.
So, I built a dryfire backstop. This is dead simple, guys.
First, I found a clean, empty five-gallon bucket and filled it up with sand.
Then I went down to the store and found a decorative basket that was just slightly larger than the bucket (if your wife's the one in charge of decor around your house, send her on this mission).
I also picked up a fake house plant and some decorative moss.
Then I plunked the plant into the sand-filled bucket, dropped the whole thing into the decorative basket, and put the moss on top of the sand (hiding the rim of the bucket).
Looking at it, it just looks like a houseplant in a decorative basket -- but it'll stop a bullet.
I put the whole thing on an end table in an empty corner of the living room and now I have a place for dryfire.
pax
