How many folks actually have a "clearing bucket"?

Redlg155 · Mar 17, 2003

For those of us who routinely carry concealed, and in some cases openly, we are constantly loading and unloading our weapons.
Now where I work we have a clearing barrel filled with sand to deal with any negligent or accidental (read -mechanical) discharge that may happen while loading and unloading.

Obviously stepping outdoors to load or unload our weapons is not an option for most of us. So I'm curious, how many folks have a "clearing bucket" or something of that nature in their home?

I have an old Second Chance bullet proof vest in the corner of my closet that I point my weapon at for unloading and loading.

Good SHooting
RED

sm · Mar 17, 2003

I do

White 5 gallon bucket of sand here in my apt.
Even though mags/speedloaders/ammo in another room, I dry fire at it also.

Bonker · Mar 17, 2003

Hmmm....I never thought about an old vest.

I've had only one AD in my house or anywhere else in my life. It was about 7 years ago. I bought an AK from a dealer NIB and it came with an (unexpected!) LIVE round in the chamber.
When I went to disassemble and clean off the cosmoline, I touched the trigger and BAM!
I thought my ears would bleed for a year! OMG it hurt sooo bad!

Only my ego was injured seriously but it cost me $500 to repair my air conditioner coil which had given it's life in the line of duty.

I'm pretty sure that was my only AD ever. One is still too many.

A vest won't help much for rifles though. I usually point at a chest filled with clothes with a piece of 3/4" plywood behind it and a brick wall outside. The chest doubles as my cover in case of home invasion. Of course, I just keep my finger off the trigger now

Really, I think the only chance of an AD in clearing would come from only a few of my less safe guns such as an old SKS and a few antiques.

firestar · Mar 17, 2003

I have a clearing bucket, well more of a large ceramic bowl. I use it to clear out old food that I have eaten and digested. It is nice casue I just pull down on this little handel and it clears it.

Seriously, I have a hill running along one side of my house and I point my guns at the wall facing this hill when I am doing semi-dangerous things with guns.

SquirrelNuts · Mar 17, 2003

I do not personally, but a local police department has one.

One female officer named "Betsy" was cleaning her weapon and fired it inside the station. The hole is still in the desk. They put a clearing barrel outside and call it the "Betsy Barrel."

-SquirrelNuts

Jim March · Mar 17, 2003

I'm a revolver kinda guy, don't need one.

jsalcedo · Mar 17, 2003

I've never thought of a clearing bucket but its a great idea.

My best friend had an AD with his Taurus 66 .357 .

He was loading it and unloading it while sitting on his bed.

I guess he had a brainfart and decided to dry fire it...

110 grain JHP went into his wifes wardrobe through about
2 denim outfits and 4 shirts through the back of the wood
into the apartment back wall (thankfully) and lodged in a
2x4 stud in the exterior wall.

He took off and didn't go home for a day or so just in case
someone reported the gunshot.

It was a humbling experience and finally taught him respect for the rules of safe handling.

cratz2 · Mar 17, 2003

Nope... I just aim down at the concrete slab in such a direction that if it deflected, it would go to an exterior cinderblock wall. As long as you are properly trained and always do what you're supposed to do, there shouldn't be a problem.

I've thankfully never had a AD or ND or whatever we're calling them these days but two buddies of mine have. One is ex-marine, fine shooter, usually very careful. Preparing to clean a Glock 23. Though he had checked the chamber but there was a bullet in it when he pulled the trigger. Bang! Up into the apartment above him. No one was home but he checked. He went up later and it had gone up into the bed of the people that had just moved here from France. They moved out shortly after.

Other buddy of mine had a quasi UD (unintended discharge) with one of my guns. He was showing his girlfriend how the bullet went up from the magazine into the barrel. He handed it to her and she pulled the trigger big as day. He tells me a 115 CorBon +P 9mm round makes a lot of noise inside a small room.

Thankfully, the bullet went into a closet floor.

Guns are dangerous things. They are meant to put holes in hard things and kill soft things. We must always be careful of where our fingers are and where the muzzle is pointed.

Kevlarman · Mar 17, 2003

I too use an old Kevlar panel to point at when dry firing. It gives a little more piece of mind than pointing at my TV!

Kahr carrier · Mar 17, 2003

Nope Just walk into the back yard and point it at the dirt.

JohnBT · Mar 17, 2003

I just aim on an angle at an exterior wall - they're solid brick 14 inches thick with 2 or 3 inches of plaster on the inside. Same in the basement except for the plaster. Actually, in the basement there's this tiny 'maid's room' in one corner that I aim at. It's tongue and groove on the outside and plaster on the inside.

John

buzz_knox · Mar 17, 2003

I just use my couch. I don't like that couch. I want a new one.

P12 · Mar 17, 2003

Nope Just walk into the back yard and point it at the dirt.

That's what I do. Since I only unload my firearms to clean them I unload on the way to my hobby shop in the back yard with muzzle pointed at the dirt.

(But, I have a loaded one on my hip also)

Wakal · Mar 17, 2003

That mean Firestar guy made me spit coffee on my monitor...

Clearing barrels are for people too dense to check the chamber. I've seen a lot of AD's over the years, but they were all due to unprofessional gun handling. Military types, of course, who are ALMOST as bad as cops.

Alex

TechBrute · Mar 17, 2003

I'm a revolver kinda guy, don't need one.

Just hope your primers are fully seated. :what:

Anyway, I have a small snail trap installed in my garage from Savage Arms. http://www.snailtraps.com/checkit_mini.htm

I had a slam fire on my .22 with a broken firing pin spring one time. It was at a range, but that was all it took.

Kinsman · Mar 17, 2003

I live in a log home, just point it in a direction away from people.
But, anytime I pick up a firearm, I check mag and chamber or cylinder.

Used to live in San Diego, where a firearm discharge probably meant a visit from the PD. Now a firearm discharge means one of the neighbors is sitting on his couch thinking....."was that a .44 or a .300 win?"

Ol' Badger · Mar 17, 2003

I use my Cat for that purpose!!!

Redlg155 · Mar 17, 2003

I had a slam fire on my .22 with a broken firing pin spring one time. It was at a range, but that was all it took.

A similar incident led me to use some sort of clearing area. I had a buddy that brought over a little Jennings .22 Auto that he was having problems chambering a round. I did a coursory inspection and attemted to chamber a round. The weapon fired when the slide slammed home. If I would have inspected it a bit closer I would have seen a burr around the chamber mouth. It acted like a firing pin when the slide slammed home.

I had it pointed in a safe direction, but a bullet richocheting off a concrete floor is no fun at all!

Negligent discharges don't concern me as much as a potential mechanical failure while chambering a round.

Good Shooting
RED

Zundfolge · Mar 17, 2003

LOL, Ol' Badger beat me to it :neener:

redneck · Mar 17, 2003

I love cats....

They're always there when you need em whether its blockin a tire, clearin a weapon, or even eatin dependin on where yer from and what other roadkill is available

I don't have a clearing bucket or anything. Too easy to step outside and point it at the ground.

Topgun · Mar 17, 2003

Why do you constantly load and unload? I used to carry Glock 30 but now just carry J frame revos.

But I never unloaded/loaded on a regular basis. Just put it away at night just as I carried it. Every week or more, I would pull the slide back a ways just to see the one in the chamber.

Are you SUPPOSED to take it in and out regularly?

sm · Mar 17, 2003

quote: "Why do you constantly load and unload?"

I check carry guns once a week.
I dry fire my carry guns
Climate, exposure to elements,nelphs...
I change Carry loads from time to time, rotate mags.
Rounds that have been inserted and removed are kept aside and not carried, saved for the range.
Been know to clean a students gun.

Safety, don't point at anything I don't wish to destroy, I want to know is beyond target also.

4 rules apply always, intergral part of me and I'm too hard headed to change.

CWL · Mar 17, 2003

Homes with real brick fireplaces will work in a pinch -especially if stoked with logs. It'll still damage the masonwork, but you wont have a loose round downrange.

TechBrute · Mar 17, 2003

Clearing barrels are for people too dense to check the chamber.

Yeah, when you're unloading, but what about when you are loading up? You don't thing you'll ever have a slam-fire?

QuarterBoreGunner · Mar 17, 2003

Here's my take-

It's my understanding that the majority of accidental discharges occur during loading and un-loading of firearms (kinda like how most airliners go down during take-off and landing).

So I decided awhile back that during normal circumstances, the guns on my CCW NEVER get un-loaded. I come home; they go in the safe (the shotgun near the bed is another story)- when I go out, they come out of the safe, I do a press check or open the cylinder, to confirm that gremlins didn't empty the chamber, and in the holster it goes.

Once a month or so I go to the range and shoot what I've been carrying, clean the piece and load it up again.

I figure this way I reduce my chances of having an AD, and I've also heard that it's not a good idea to keep chambering the same round in a semi-auto, over and over again. I seem to recall my gunsmith once telling me of incidents where the actual bullet started seating deeper and deeper in the case from repeatedly hitting the feedramp and eventually compressing to a dangerous level.

Anyway, the carry guns stay loaded.

How many folks actually have a "clearing bucket"?

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