"Safety Cartridge"......

B

Bob Wright

New member
Can't remember the trade name now, but saw a "Safety Cartridge" for sale at my local range. This cartridge is available in most popular calibers. The intent is to provide a safe method of leaving a handgun at home where a youngster might get a hold of it, presumably after defeating locking cases or safes.

The principal is a cartridge with a projection that protrudes into barrel/bore of a handgun if an attempt is made to fire the gun. It is loaded into a revolver cylinder indexed to fire the next chamber, or into an auto pistol loaded into the chamber. When an attempt is made to fire the gun, the primer actuated projectile is moved into the bore of the gun. In revolvers, this prevents rotation and subsequent opening of the cylinder. In autoloaders, the "fired" safety round cannot be ejected by racking the slide back.

Once the round has been activated, the gun cannot be cleared or loaded until a rod is inserted through the muzzle to reset the projecting rod. Once reset, the round is ejected like a normal live or dummy round.

Supposedly, if the gun so loaded is needed by the owner, he can manually eject the round, time permitting.

Bob Wright
 
That seems crazy, and very redundant. I think a safe or trigger lock is more practical and probably more reliable.

Last year I think it was, I saw a "safety firing pin" for an AR. You literally replace the firing pin (maybe because dry firing with a regular one can damage it, or just removing the firing pin and dry firing can damage the gun). This pin could be dry fired, but if it hit anything (like a live primer), it would break. It just seemed like really round about way to achieve a goal.
 
So if the owner forgets and "fires" the gun at an intruder, he disables the gun while he finds a rod to get the gadget out. Last I heard, criminals do not obey the NFL "time out" signal, which is what would be needed here.

If safety is that important, why not just store the gun in your safe deposit box at the local bank? There are compromises between "instantly ready" and "reasonably safe" when it comes to HD guns; this is not one of them.

Jim
 
I remember seeing those a long time ago. I don't think it was a bad ideal for a non defense gun. But like many new or radical ideals it didn't fly.
 
Either the letter writing guys in magazines... or a "loose cannon" gun writer detailed a very similar idea in a gun magazine many years back. I want to say it was in the 1980s, but there's a chance it was in the late 1970s.

The idea was a load that was cooked up with a wadcutter that did precisely what Bob Wright has described. This "special" load was indexed in a double action revolver so that if the revolver were picked up and cocked/fired or simply pulled through a double-action trigger pull, the "special" round would tie the cylinder up like a bank vault.

It was the gun owner's "responsibility" to manually advance the cylinder one round to get to his five GOOD shots before ejecting the "special" round before tying his own revolver up.

It definitely seemed like an interesting idea the first time I had heard of it, but yes -- certainly ill-conceived. :p
 
I SEEM to remember this too from quite a while ago and it didn't impress many people at the time then either.

Still it's an interesting item in gun lore. Lots of new members here that I'm sure have never heard of it and I sure don't mind being reminded of an oddity like that either.

Thanks for posting it Bob Wright and I really do understand that mentioning something does not mean you endorse or approve of it. It's just interesting.
 
Safety Bullet LLC seems to be the name of the company. Heard of it a little while back, didn't like the idea. It's no big deal for me to lock up my gun in the safe, or put it on when the nieces and/or nephew comes over.
 
Sounds like a pet rock kind of idea to me. Stupid, but somebody will make a few bucks on it.

Lets see, we're supposed to lock up the gun, lock up the ammo (separately), and now, store it loaded with a dummy cartridge that, if fired, will disable the gun (temporarily).

What world do these people live in? (and more importantly, how do I make sure I don't go there?)

Without ammo, guns are, at best, clumsy clubs. If you secure one, the other is essentially useless for anything other than looking at.
 
They ought to make a law in CA which makes it illegal to have a mass shooting without having this device in your gun!
 
Safety Bullet LLC seems to be the name of the company.
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The video on their website says to put two safety bullets in your semi auto pistol. That way if someone either just pulls the trigger or if they rack the slide first then it will disable the gun when the trigger is pulled. Why not just load the entire magazine/cylinder with safety bullets. Wouldn't that be the best way to ensure that no bullets are fired out of that dangerous evil weapon? :rolleyes:

Bob, I saw those at the same range you did I suppose and just couldn't figure out the advantage for me.
 
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For as completely non-sensical as this idea seems to be to a forum full of hardcore, life-long, rabid, active and energetic gun enthusiasts, I tell you what:
Why not just load the entire magazine/cylinder with safety bullets. Wouldn't that be the best way to ensure that no bullets are fired out of that dangerous evil weapon? :rolleyes:
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This would - so - work. Really.

As long as you never had any hopes or attempts or designs on using that particular gun yourself, this would be a one heckuva red herring for a bad guy in your home. It would be like a decoy, because no bad guy that I can imagine is going to bust in to your joint in the middle of the night carrying on him ONLY a loaded magazine to stuff in to YOUR handgun that he finds. :p

Of course the idea is ridiculous.
Even still, that would work! :eek::D
 
Actually, I thought I work for a life time with my reloading to ensure that doesn't happen.

SQUIB! And they are promoting them and selling them that way!

Unbelievable.

Some idiot will undoubtedly buy them.
 
A while back, on the Florida Shooter's Network there was a very long thread about the Safety Bullet and the jerk that owns the company. One of the forum members owns a large gunshop and called out the guy for his false advertisements and snakeoil sales. He made all kinds of threats about suing for defamation, etc but he knew he had no case.

Basically, his company exits to sell only to those who don't know better.
 
I'd never use one . . . on my Rugers, I always use the lock they provide . . . Oh! Wait a minute! I can't . . . I'm using it to keep my bicycle locked up so it doesn't get stolen! :D
 
A while back, on the Florida Shooter's Network there was a very long thread about the Safety Bullet and the jerk that owns the company. One of the forum members owns a large gunshop and called out the guy for his false advertisements and snakeoil sales. He made all kinds of threats about suing for defamation, etc but he knew he had no case.

Basically, his company exits to sell only to those who don't know better.
Click to expand...

Funny. I remember that. The owner of Safety Bullet got belligerent with the owner of that particular gunshop. The shop has been there for decades, and is run by the original owner's daughter, after dad passed away. The shop has a very established, very loyal following. There was a backlash.

The ensuing drama and legal threats were entertaining to say the least.

It;s not exactly a squib, the bullet stays attached to the case, so the gun will be locked up. In any case, we all know the real solution is to lock up the gun around small children. Don't count on a gimmick to lock up your gun- quite possibly when you need it the most.
 
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