|
Forum Rules | Firearms Safety | Firearms Photos | Links | Library | Lost Password | Email Changes |
Register | FAQ | Calendar | Search | Today's Posts | Mark Forums Read |
View Poll Results: What is the "safe direction" ? | |||
UP | 7 | 14.58% | |
DOWN | 41 | 85.42% | |
Voters: 48. You may not vote on this poll |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
March 3, 2006, 02:24 AM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 4, 2005
Location: Oregon.
Posts: 709
|
safe direction
What is the "safe direction" ?
(Other than downrange.)
__________________
"HEDP: High Explosive Donkey Punch" |
March 3, 2006, 03:53 AM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: November 10, 2004
Location: Keystone Heights, Florida
Posts: 115
|
More often then not I'd say down. Down will be safest MOST of the time but it will also depend on your environment. Bear in mind that some surfaces will cause a ricochet if a discharge was to occur, although firing into the air will ALWAYS lead to a bad situation as the round is going to have to land somewhere and when it does the bullet will be just as capable of killing someone as when it was originally fired.
__________________
He is greatest, who is trained in the severest school. -General Thucydides, 424 BC |
March 3, 2006, 03:59 AM | #3 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 17, 2006
Posts: 379
|
Quote:
|
|
March 3, 2006, 05:45 AM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: March 11, 2005
Posts: 3,840
|
I voted down too despite the chance of ricochet. I guess you could say that carrying the pistol upwards would be safer for yourself (as long as it is not pointed at you head ) but it would be dangerous for someone else. I imagine trying to catch the bullet you fired up into the air would be pretty darn difficult, even if you intended to do so. Chances are unless you fired it exactly at the proper angle to compensate for wind, there is almost no way you would get hit.
By the way, a falling bullet does not have the same ability to kill someone as a bullet fired from a gun. Terminal velocity from gravity is dictated by wind resistance, which is slower than most pistol rounds. Don't get me wrong, falling rounds can still kill people. Just keep your finger off the stinking trigger and you will have much lower chances of accidental discharges, both upwards and downwards!
__________________
The ATF should be a convenience store instead of a government agency! |
March 3, 2006, 06:59 AM | #5 |
Member
Join Date: November 19, 2005
Posts: 84
|
+1 for down.
We were taught this is our CCW class. The instuctor teaches firearms training to state and federal LEOs. The ground can absorb the bullet much better than the air, what goes up must come down. Watch the nightly news. Marines with their rifles, or SWAT breaking down a door always have the muzzle pointed at the ground until the target is engaged. |
March 3, 2006, 07:03 AM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Howell, MI
Posts: 323
|
Tricky situation with me. I live in the upper apartment in the unit so if I am home the safe direction is up or towards the exterior wall of the building. In the woods or at the range the safe direction is down or down range.
__________________
" An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper. |
March 3, 2006, 08:44 AM | #7 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 8, 2001
Location: Forestburg, Montague Cnty, TX
Posts: 12,716
|
Quote:
__________________
"If you look through your scope and see your shoe, aim higher." -- said to me by my 11 year old daughter before going out for hogs 8/13/2011 My Hunting Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange |
|
March 3, 2006, 10:35 AM | #8 |
Junior member
Join Date: January 18, 2005
Posts: 3,298
|
I was generally taught down by both basic "dad" training and gunrange rules so that's generally what I practice. like Erick said, it is situationally dependent.
In fact a friend of mine and I were talking about this very subject the other day with some kind of tactical trainer at the indoor gun range we now frequently attended. The gentleman recalled an incident in North or South Carolinia where a policeman was cleaning his gun in his upstairs apartment and the gun went off. The shot went through the floor and hit a woman in the head. She was dead. He said the first thing that came out of the policeman's mouth instinctively was "I had my weapon pointed down." So it's really kinda relative. What is safe? If your're downstairs, pointing down is better, if you are up stairs up is better (but what if someone is above you on the third floor.) Or if I am on concrete or some other hard surface...up is better. |
March 3, 2006, 11:00 AM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 27, 2006
Location: Indiana
Posts: 224
|
I carry a pistol facing down, shotguns and rifles I carry vertical and parallel to my body with the muzzle pointed up(I only shoot outside).
|
March 3, 2006, 11:02 AM | #10 |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 4, 2006
Posts: 338
|
out huhnting it's always been down. the range says up. however down at the range would be into a concrete slab so up makes more sense. like so many others have said it depends. since most of the time down would be into concrete where it could riccochet and hit someone I said up. the chances of it dropping and hitting someone would be a lot smaller. unless you're in manhatten.
|
March 3, 2006, 11:08 AM | #11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 16, 2000
Location: In a state of flux
Posts: 7,520
|
A safe direction is a direction in which, if the gun fires, no humans would be endangered and, at worst, only minor property damage would result.
It isn't "up" or "down" or "toward the berm." Any of those may be a safe direction, sometimes. Any of those will be a very unsafe direction at other times. As much as we all might prefer otherwise, there is no substitute for actual thought when handling guns. pax |
March 3, 2006, 05:36 PM | #12 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: September 11, 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,152
|
Quote:
__________________
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Ben Franklin Spc. Jeremy M. Campbell Died 9/1/2005 and the best DS ever MSG Matthew Ritz Died 11.23.2005 matthewritz.com For those who have had to fight for it, Life holds a special meaning that the protected will never know. (\__/) (='.'=) Someone set us up the bunny! (")_(") |
|
March 4, 2006, 04:16 PM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: November 10, 2004
Location: Keystone Heights, Florida
Posts: 115
|
" safe direction is a direction in which, if the gun fires, no humans would be endangered and, at worst, only minor property damage would result.
It isn't "up" or "down" or "toward the berm." Any of those may be a safe direction, sometimes. Any of those will be a very unsafe direction at other times. As much as we all might prefer otherwise, there is no substitute for actual thought when handling guns. pax" Well said.
__________________
He is greatest, who is trained in the severest school. -General Thucydides, 424 BC |
March 4, 2006, 05:35 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: January 19, 2006
Posts: 430
|
"As much as we all might prefer otherwise, there is no substitute for actual thought when handling guns."
+100 |
March 4, 2006, 05:58 PM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: October 26, 2005
Location: Houston area
Posts: 1,823
|
that depends....
...on where you are. We have a one-storey house, which means our floors are carpet over concrete slab. So if I am carrying my firearm through the house, it is pointed UP.
However, if I were outside, safe would be DOWN, because everybody knows (I hope) that up is extremely dangerous in that situation. So I didn't vote, because there is not one answer. Springmom
__________________
I will not be a victim home on the web: www.panagia-icons.net (my webpage) www.nousfromspring.blogspot.com (Orthodoxy) "I couldn't hear you. Stop firing the gun while you're talking!" Frank Drebin, The Naked Gun |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|