Need opinions on gun magnet.

[Irving]

So I've seen this a few times in the American Rifleman magazine.

http://www.quickdrawgunmagnets.com/

I can think of a few good uses for these, but the second I start watching the video they have on their website, the "GIMMICK!!!!" red flags start popping up left and right. They show a few different guns stuck to the roof of a car in ridiculous positions. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are just showing how the magnet will hold the gun, and not actually suggesting people drive around with the muzzle of a revolver stuck to their roof in the car.

My question is more along the lines of if this will hurt a gun or not. I know that if you stick a metal onto a magnet, it becomes magnetized itself. I don't really want a magnetic gun, but would this potentially affect the performance of the gun?

For the record, I'm thinking this might give me some more options to have my night stand gun more readily available to me, while at the same time, keeping it out of reach of my toddler daughter. Right now I have my night stand gun in my bedside gun safe, but that can be slow. I realize that I could just as easily put a high shelf on the wall, but the magnet seems like it'd be a little more versatile.

Also, I had thought about something for the car, but in the case of an accident, my loaded pistol is the last thing I need flying around my passenger compartment.

What do you guys think? Oh yeah, they also seem pretty damn pricey to me.

[Irving]

Bump for morning.

[MichiganMilitia]

I like the idea of it, but I'm not sure if it's practical or how well it works. Somebody needs to try it and give us a review!

[CHA-LEE]

All magnetic affected metals will take on a certain amount of magnetism when they are exposed to high power magnets. There is no way of getting around that. But the magnetism that they do take on is usually negligible. Its not like your gun is going to be transformed into a powerful magnet and start sticking to every metal thing it comes close to.

With that magnet mounting solution I would be more worried about it being able to keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. Since the magnet is only “holding” the gun in a single point it would be a lot easier for it to swivel on that axis if it was bumped. A standard holster does two things. It secures the gun in a single place and it also ensures that the gun is pointed in a specific place until its fully removed from the holster. Two very important things. With this magnet solution you lose the ability to securely keep it pointed in a specific place since it will be able to rotate in any direction on its single holding point.

Now if you got two of those magnets, and placed them so the front and back of the gun would both be secured is a specific place that would be safer. But then you would have to wrestle the gun off of the double magnets when you want to use it and if your booger picker isn’t off of the boom level while doing that you would be a lot more prone to having an accidental discharge.

Overall, I think it’s a bad idea to secure a gun due to its safety issues. It would be a better idea for securing extra magazines in odd locations though.

[Irving]

That's exactly how I feel about it, but for $30, I'm wary to try it. They say that the magnets can hold up to 10 pounds. So, even if I have a gun that weighs 2 pounds, it's still holding it at five times its weight, so that's pretty good, but I doubt good enough to withstand a car accident. There has to be a line between holding super tight, and actually being able to get the damn gun off the magnet without a hammer.

I thought about going to one of those rare earth magnet websites and just buying direct, but I don't think they rate those by how much weight they can hold, and then I'd have to deal with trying to make some kind of housing for them. Someday I'll get around to trying these. If they were only $10 a piece, I would already have one on the way.

[Irving]

A standard holster does two things.

Three things, don't forget about covering the trigger.

You bring up great points though, that make me lean toward getting two so I can hang a shotgun behind the door, instead of in the back of the closet.

About the magnetism, I was more worried about the barrel becoming magnetized and screwing up the accuracy, but like you said, I'm sure it would be negligible and I wouldn't expect to have round just stop half way down the barrel or something. Having a magnetized frame might be nice for when I try and take a gun apart and drop parts all over.

I did also have some off shoot ideas about sewing magnets into my clothes to help secure keys or get rid of loud Velcro though. Maybe put a magnet on the muzzle end of my Tuck This holster to give it a bit more retention for running or something.

[rondog]

Might be an ideal solution to placing handguns under a desktop, under a workbench, behind a dresser, behind an entertainment center, behind the fridge, etc., etc.. Probably a good idea if you want to have something handy everywhere in the house, and you don't have kids to find them.

[hobowh]

I have one it works great, mounted under the desk, I actually use it to hold my benchvise when I'm notusing it keeps it out of the way

[ryanek9freak]

I bought one awhile back and found if anything, it's TOO strong. You have kind of a hard time pulling the gun straight off the magnet. You almost have to pull it sideways and up to free it, and after awhile, it F's up your gun's finish from dragging it.

Then again, mine is only holding a .38 revolver, not a full frame Colt or anything.

[Irving]

Great info guys! I was hoping there would be a few guys on here who had them. The finish issue should be pretty simple to solve by putting even one layer of t-shirt over the magnet, especially if it is too strong. This is good to know.