Safety Bullet

[GM1967]

Just saw this today. Anyone know anything about a product called the Safety Bullet?

It's apparently a firearms safety device, an alternative to a lock. If someone tries to fire the gun, it will lock up the action

http://www.safetybullet.com/

You can put one in the chamber of your autoloading pistol, with a magazine full of normal live rounds. If you want to fire it, you simply work the slide once to eject the Safety Bullet, and then you can fire the live rounds. If someone tries to fire it without first ejecting the Safety Bullet, the Safety Bullet will lock up the action, preventing them from racking the slide. To make the gun operational again, you take a plastic rod, insert it down the barrel, and tap it against a hard surface, which resets the Safety Bullet.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Anyone use them?

What do you think of using these on your home defense gun?

 

[gunmoney]

Sounds like two things: an answer in search of a problem and an accident waiting to happen.

 

[GM1967]

Problem: How to safely store your home defense handgun in a state that can be put into action quickly

Accident waiting to happen? Could say that about an awful lot of things

 

[TRaGiK]

Can anyone explain a realistic situation in which this would be helpful?

 

[GM1967]

Kid picks up your gun and pulls the trigger

 

[SPUSCG]

Which if chamber was empty or safety on wouldnt matter, dont need this device with potential to lock up gun right when you may really need it.

 

[egor20]

TRaGiK

"Can anyone explain a realistic situation in which this would be helpful?"

Next time my wife's irritated

 

[mrgoodwrench76]

I'd hate to be the guy that forgot he had his safety bullets in place at 3am when somebody breaks in. I guess its something you could train yourself for but I dont see a reason for it.

Kid picks up your gun and pulls the trigger

Why was the gun left unattended in the first place? There is no substitute for firearm safety. I'm also not very fond of having to rack my slide before its ready to use.

 

[Jim Watson]

Intention:
Thief or child pulls trigger and gun locks up, useless to crook, safe to kid.
Owner ejects lock bringing up a loaded round when needed.

Risk:
Owner forgets gimmick under stress of home invasion and locks up his own gun.

 

[GM1967]

Why was the gun left unattended in the first place?

Because most people don't attend every one of their guns 24/7. If you do, great for you.

I'm also not very fond of having to rack my slide before its ready to use.

Neither am I, but that's what I have to do now, since my gun is unloaded. Or it would have to be locked up somehow. I'm also not fond of trying to unlock something under pressure -- and at night, in the dark, too.

None of these are perfect solutions. Best solution is to have no kids in your home, I suppose.

I was skeptical about these when I saw them linked on a local gun store's website, but thought they could possibly be useful. Wanted to know what people thought, and if anyone actually had any experience with them. So far, no one with experience has responded.

 

[Glenn Dee]

Yes I have heard of it... Where I live it's called a spent cartrige, or used casing. But thats not imortant right now.

I have to jump on the "stupid idea" bandwagon. No practical purpose, but could cause catastrophic results if relied upon.

Bad Idea... loosen up... buy a proper lock.

 

[GM1967]

Spent cartridge won't do what this does.

And having a lock on your self-defense gun can also cause catastrophic results. Not for me.

I'll stick with the system I'm using now, and maybe get a GunVault in the future, assuming I can open it in the dark without a key

 

[mrgoodwrench76]

What system do you use now? The thumbprint safes are pretty cool but I worry about relying on batteries in the heat of the moment.

I do have a child in the house, therefore, all of my firearms but 1 are locked in the safe at all times. The 1 I carry and use a bedside holster for at night. My daughter would literally have to crawl over my head to get to it so I dont worry. Am I to understand that you dont keep one loaded?

 

[GM1967]

My home situation has been changing lately. Up to now, it has been highly unlikely one of the kids could get to my nightstand and find my pistol, since the kids were never home alone, and we lived in a small apartment. And no, I did not keep it loaded -- I had an unloaded magazine in the gun, with a loaded magazine accessible. The child, with no knowledge of how to operate a handgun, would have had to eject the magazine, find and insert the loaded magazine (almost certainly noticing it was loaded), and then rack the slide to chamber a round, which would have been very difficult for a smaller child.

Things have changed now. We recently moved to a larger house, and the kids are older now. We are starting to leave them home alone. I now have an office downstairs in the basement, so I'm not in the bedroom as much, nor is my wife. In addition, I will soon be teaching the girls to shoot. I've already been teaching them basic gun safety.

These changes mean I have to change my system somewhat. First, I now have my Model 19 revolver in my office, loaded, locked in metal lockbox with a speed loader. The box could easily be broken into with a hammer, and possibly with just a screwdriver if someone was really determined, but the kids won't be doing that, especially since they don't know there's anything more interesting in there besides papers. The lockbox is acceptable to me since my location in the basement will give me sufficient time to access the gun in the event of an intruder.

For the 4516 I keep in the bedroom, it's a different story. I want to be able to access that gun quickly, in the dark, and put it into action quickly, since any intruder would be seconds away from the bedroom after breaking in a door. I know I can eject the empty mag, load the full mag and chamber a round quickly in the dark. The same lockbox I use for the Model 19 won't work here, I'd never be able to work that combination fast enough, especially in the dark. A trigger lock might work for when we're not home, to keep it safe from the kids, but then I'd need to take it off every night, put it on every morning, and there's still the chance the kids would get a hold of the key.

If the GunVault Biometric pistol safes really work by fingerprint recognition, and can be opened that way quickly without using a key, that is an option. They are pricey, so it might be a while before I get one, and I want to know that it works first. And as someone said, then you have to rely on a battery, or the key for when the battery fails.

 

[shooter_john]

My father in law called me (very excitedly I might add) after seeing an add for the safetybullet. He explained it to me, and sent me a link.

I think it is ridiculous. In my opinion, the cons far outweigh the pros on this device. As far as child safety is concerned, I'll teach my kids gun safety (even at 3 and 4 years old respectively, they've already got a good grasp of gun safety).
Secondly, I consider myself a pretty seasoned and experienced shooter but I would not trust myself for a second to remember that I had one of those things in the chamber if a situation arose where I might need that gun. I certainly would not trust a novice to remember (Particularly my father in law).

 

[armoredman]

Great idea - leave it in a sidearm set out on the table at night, so the bad guy grabs IT instead of using the weapon he came in with...otherwise I can't see the need for it, and the same range of "bad things" that could come of it.

 

[mrgoodwrench76]

GM1967, I just wanted to point something out. You may have already considered this and by all means, to each their own, but the sound of a magazine hitting home and the racking of a slide could possibly give up your position to an intruder. That was my biggest reason for keeping one in the chamber. Each option has pro's and cons, just something to consider.

I would also wonder about the above mentioned product causing any damage to the firearm. What is the locking mechanism that pushes against the barrel made of? Now you've got me hoping somebody here has some experience with these.

 

[youngunz4life]

GM

if it works for you, I don't see a problem with it. Listen to all the advice definately, but make your own decision. I am sure you can trust yourself to remember its loaded this way(if not than definately scratch this solution in my opinion). It will save you more time then a regular lock, and it will make you feel more comfortable. A second less time to defend yourself- I think you can handle that to feel more secure and to protect your family(the point of the gun in the first place). Let's be frank too - a child can release a safety and do a lot of other things to fire the gun, so it seems it will serve a good purpose. If you don't forget(which should be an automatic and a must), its pretty much the same as the TFL member or gun owner that doesn't like to carry one in the chamber. I carry revolvers, so that issue doesn't concern me but I am trying to make my shotgun more available while staying safe(at the moment it isn't possible to make this fullproof so its locked up unloaded//I can still reach it quick, but that's a pipedream unless circumsatnces are closer than perfect). Shotguns were my first love. good luck. I respect how safety is an issue for your guns w/regards to others handling them.

 

[youngunz4life]

ps- we have nightstand revolvers, but we do the safe thing for them sometimes. we use the elctronic ones, so someone as stealthy as me as a child can't find the spare key. the batteries thing really isn't that much of an issue. it will say when they are low(has never ran out yet), and there are emergency keys which I have locked up. I'm not a fan of the fingerprint ones, but that might just be because I was looking at the cheap ones. I got a real good deal on the safe I bought

 

[GM1967]

@ mrgoodwrench76 - I don't mind if the sound of racking the slide alerts the bad guy to my position, as long as I have an operational gun in my hand. What I really would mind is if the sound of me fumbling with a lock and key or safe gave away my position, before I got the operational gun into my hand. Pros and cons and compromises all around -- I'd much rather just keep a fully loaded gun handy, but not an option with the kids.

And I don't know exactly what the Safety Bullet's extension is made of, they talk about the plastic rod used to reset it not damaging the gun, so I would assume that the part that locks up the gun won't damage it, but you know how that goes.

@youngunz4life - I'm considering it as an option, but I'm not sure I'd use it. Not sure it would be safe enough to make it worth it, since a child could rack the slide first, ejecting the Safety Bullet, and then have a loaded gun in their hand (with the hammer cocked yet). Could do two safety bullets, but then I'd be giving up another round of capacity, and having to rack the slide twice. Having to rack the slide once doesn't bother me, my learning curve on this wouldn't be as steep, since I'm used to having to rack the slide to put a gun into action -- when I carried on duty, I was required to have an empty chamber, and as I outlined above, my normal drill to put my home defense handgun into action would involve loading and working the slide.

I'm also going to look into the quick access gun safes. They may be the best long term solution