TV as a backstop

[UKTN]

I have read a number of times that people point their guns at the TV when unloading in case of an accidental discharge, Why? I wouldn't think the TV would stop the bullet and the tube would implode sending shards of glass all over the place did I miss something?

 

[pdowg881]

Maybe they are just "dry firing" at a person on the tv.

 

[20nickels]

A TV would do very little to stop a bullet.

 

[MrPeter]

I thought that if you hit the magnet in back it may stop some handgun bullets?

I do it every now and then because if I'm going to break my ______, I think the TV is begging to be replaced anyway, and it would make the coolest reaction, especially if it's on.

 

[made2cut]

I was always taught to never point a gun at anything you don't want to destroy and I kind of like my T.V.

I usually just point it at the floor.

 

[CWL]

If you have either one, a wall oven or brick fireplace would probably work better.

 

[CSA 357]

well i can tell you a t v will not stop a 44 magnum, i tryed it! i wish it had been turned on , but it was out in the woods in a junk pile, csa

 

[motorheadjohn]

Maybe they wanna pull an Elvis....

 

[Sunray]

"...people point their guns at the TV..." Silly thing to do. A .22 will go right through a TV.
"...if you hit the magnet..." Said magnet isn't very big and it won't stop spit.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Magnet?

I thought that if you hit the magnet in back it may stop some handgun bullets?

1. If the magnet is a huge lump of metal or a huge coil of wire, then the MASS might stop a bullet. Most people don't have a T.V. that large.
2. If you're thinking "magnetism" forget it. You'd need a cyclotron-class magnet, and the bullet would need to be ferromagnetic, i.e. iron-based, like steel. Most T.V. sets don't contain a cyclotron (see point #1).

Of course, there IS Wile E. Coyote's ACME SUPER MAGNET. You could use that.

 

[ArmedBear]

We don't feel we can justify replacing the once-grand, now comical NTSC S-video Color Monitor with a fine new LCD HDTV, until the old one dies.

There would be a reason.

 

[g56]

I thought that if you hit the magnet in back it may stop some handgun bullets?

The magnets in a TV are very small, small enough that you would have trouble hitting one if you could see it, much less if you can't, they are also fragile enough I doubt that they would even stop a 22 rimfire. I grew up in a TV shop, the really old TV's had some sheet metal in them that might stop a 22 if you hit it, but the TV's these days hardly have anything inside the cabinet, just a small circuit board that wouldn't stop much of anything.

 

[Malone LaVeigh]

If I owned a TV, I would consider it more of a target than a backstop...

 

[RNB65]

I have read a number of times that people point their guns at the TV when unloading in case of an accidental discharge, Why?

Because not everyone who owns a gun is terribly smart.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I haven't heard of anyone pointing their gun at their TV in case of a ND/AD.

I have been guilty of pointing a gun at TVs while dry firing (after making sure it's unloaded about 37 times) because they feature human shaped targets that move.

 

[Geronimo45]

Don't know about TVs - but a Macintosh monitor won't stop a 7.62x54R. Very thick glass for its screen... are TVs the same way?
I think the pointing at the TV is a sort of punishment for idiocy. If you're dumb enough to pull the trigger on a loaded gun, no TV for you!
Also a way to boost your IQ.

 

[JLStorm]

P-A-T-C-H-O-U-L-I does not spell "bath."

BAHAHAHAHA lmfao I love it!

Ok, now returning to your regularly scheduled thread.....

 

[Biker]

I shot a Curtis Mathis with a Winchester 225gr Silvertip from a Colt Commander once. Very little mess on the carpet and the bullet stayed in the tee-vee.
I mounted the tee-vee in the garge where it stays to this day.

Biker

 

[Soybomb]

It'd be cheaper to fill a 5 gallon bucket with sand than to replace a tv

 

[redneckdan]

when I dry firing I always point the gun at the corner of the room where the horizontal and vertical wall studs com together, I figure thats has bout the best chance of slowing a ND down.

 

[GlowinPontiac]

when a tv tube implodes it sucks in on itself and actually almost no glass will leave the enclousure.

when i was a kid i loved taking stuff apart and finally found that imploding the unwanted tubes made them fit in the trash can much better.

now some tv's have almost an inch thick piece of glass for the front of the screen which may slow down a small caliber handgun but the back of the tube is paper thin and has nothing more than a coil of copper wire which would not stop a bullet.

i shot a tv once with a .22 from a slight side angle and the bullet simply chipped the screen and ricochet off into the side of a hill.
a 20ga slug went clean through it and dug a nice hole in the ground behind it!

 

[Jubjub]

I can see one case where a TV might be of some use. A big flat screen tube of 32-36" is quite a hunk of glass. The front of a 36" flat tube is over two inches thick. It would certainly be the stoutest object in an average living room. On the other hand, an average sized tube TV with a curved front or a flat screen plasma or LCD isn't much of a backstop.

 

[SevenMaryThree]

A 32" inch CRT Television will stop a .38 Special +P Silvertip when fired directly into the middle of the screen from across the living room.

 

[oldgold]

Zeneith 25" won't stop a .44 mag. But the GTX in the garage did.
Father-in -law beat Marshal Dillon to the draw!

 

[230RN]

It'd be cheaper to fill a 5 gallon bucket with sand than to replace a tv

Thanks, Soybomb. I was going to throw that in until I read your post on it.

By the way, I heard somewhere that in general dry sand will stop a bullet better than wet sand. Anyone know for sure?