How To Properly “Clear” A Handgun And Make It “Safe” Step-By-Step
- Thread starter Dr. Evil
- Start date
Greywolf224
6.5 Creedmoor
Doc...When can I re-load it back up?
Phazer
.450/400 Nitro Ex
If you watch Hickok45 videos, you'll see him clear pistols that are on his table as a matter of habit. Whenever he is talking but not shooting, he instinctively clears the pistols every time he picks one up.
Phazer
.450/400 Nitro Ex
mosquito
.40 S&W
Yes, this is something I do also......it's a great habit to get into. I am constantly doing press checks and rechecking the guns!
Magnus
6.5 Creedmoor
It's a great habit to get into! One time I was going to decock the AR but habit took over and told me to clear it once more and out came this round flying like a bat out of hell.
mosquito
.40 S&W
This is probably one of the best posts ever made!
Marine Cpl
.577 Tyrannosaur.
I don't clear my guns because they are always loaded.
Greywolf224
6.5 Creedmoor
nice article Doc.... this woman knows how well to clear her gun (safely?) 
My handguns are always loaded. My long guns are always empty unless being used.
From time to time I will clear them for various reasons (cleaning, function checks, let someone else handle them, work reasons, etc), but I have never found this process to be some mystical adventure.
Simply remove the source of ammunition, point in a safe direction, work the action a few times, visually inspect the chamber. That's all there is to it. The only other thing to remember is that this should be done whenever handling a weapon which has been "put down" or otherwise been out of your immediate control.
From time to time I will clear them for various reasons (cleaning, function checks, let someone else handle them, work reasons, etc), but I have never found this process to be some mystical adventure.
Simply remove the source of ammunition, point in a safe direction, work the action a few times, visually inspect the chamber. That's all there is to it. The only other thing to remember is that this should be done whenever handling a weapon which has been "put down" or otherwise been out of your immediate control.
I always thought the way you check and clear a handgun was to point it in the air and pull the trigger, doesn't mater where.. indoors , outdoors, whatever.. and if it fires you yell your loudest "YEEEE -HAAW"
I guess that's what I get for getting all my training at YST (Yosemite Sam Tactical)
--
This post is a joke, but gun safety most certainly is not a joke. No matter how experienced a gun owner thinks they are , complacency is always the killer. Too many times I've seen a gun owner get too confident and start breaking the basic rules of safely.
There are of course the obvious ramifications of an ND , but beyond the obvious dangers there's also hurting the firearm community as a whole.
One thing I've always tried hard to get across to firearm owners is that every single thing you do related to firearms, whether it be something done with a gun in your hand, or just talking about guns on the internet, every single thing reflects on the community of firearms and the future of gun rights in America. We can't ever forget that, or we'll lose it all.
I guess that's what I get for getting all my training at YST (Yosemite Sam Tactical)
--
This post is a joke, but gun safety most certainly is not a joke. No matter how experienced a gun owner thinks they are , complacency is always the killer. Too many times I've seen a gun owner get too confident and start breaking the basic rules of safely.
There are of course the obvious ramifications of an ND , but beyond the obvious dangers there's also hurting the firearm community as a whole.
One thing I've always tried hard to get across to firearm owners is that every single thing you do related to firearms, whether it be something done with a gun in your hand, or just talking about guns on the internet, every single thing reflects on the community of firearms and the future of gun rights in America. We can't ever forget that, or we'll lose it all.
Just when you think it can't happen to you it does. I get positively neurotic about clearing sometime-racka, racka, racka, dont see a round, don't feel a round, click....... pres check, nope still nothing in there........ racka, racka, racka......racka, see nothing feel nothing, click....... press check, nope definitely nothing in there.........
Keeping the muzzle in an absolutely safe direction while clearing is VERY important.
Why do I say that?
Because years ago I had occasion to clear a Ballester Molina .45 ACP (Argentine version of 1911 - has many little differences from a Colt model however) in the kitchen - the reason is another story - but I removed the mag, all fingers around the grip frame, and pointed it down towards the kitchen at a pile of school and notebooks; I was in grad school at the time.
To shorten the story, the sear had broken off when I loaded it before the incident; if there was a perceptible difference in hammer height I didn't notice it. The microsecond I started to rack the slide, the hammer dropped and the gun fired.
It was broken at the engagement edge, at the top, jaggedly across what became 2 sharp tines -
The FMJ went through about 1+ foot of books, the 1/2" table pad and blew a big hole in the bottom of the 2" thick cherry kitchen table, and then into the floor. My ex was 2 feet away and couldn't hear well for 2 days. It was an apartment in an old house and some kids lived downstairs. I shit myself thinking that they might have been hurt, or worse.
As I was running downstairs, they were coming up - they thought I shot my big toe off, or something else, because I got my draft induction notice that day.
So, the safe direction to point the muzzle may actually be up. I've been very cautious about muzzle direction ever since.
Why do I say that?
Because years ago I had occasion to clear a Ballester Molina .45 ACP (Argentine version of 1911 - has many little differences from a Colt model however) in the kitchen - the reason is another story - but I removed the mag, all fingers around the grip frame, and pointed it down towards the kitchen at a pile of school and notebooks; I was in grad school at the time.
To shorten the story, the sear had broken off when I loaded it before the incident; if there was a perceptible difference in hammer height I didn't notice it. The microsecond I started to rack the slide, the hammer dropped and the gun fired.
It was broken at the engagement edge, at the top, jaggedly across what became 2 sharp tines -
The FMJ went through about 1+ foot of books, the 1/2" table pad and blew a big hole in the bottom of the 2" thick cherry kitchen table, and then into the floor. My ex was 2 feet away and couldn't hear well for 2 days. It was an apartment in an old house and some kids lived downstairs. I shit myself thinking that they might have been hurt, or worse.
As I was running downstairs, they were coming up - they thought I shot my big toe off, or something else, because I got my draft induction notice that day.
So, the safe direction to point the muzzle may actually be up. I've been very cautious about muzzle direction ever since.