Very weird email from Brownell's....some kind of new magazine lock

[ECVMatt]

Earlier today I got an email from Brownell's asking me to help evaluate a new safety product for handguns. After a few questions, they presented a video of what appears to be a 10 round magazine fitted for Glock pistols with a lock on the bottom. When a key is inserted, the magazine is locked into the gun and the gun won't fire. They did not state whether the rounds were captured in the magazine or the internals of the gun were disabled. The survey seemed to want to know what other types of semi-auto's people owned, so I would assume that the rounds were captured in the magazine and thus making this a more universal design. The gun is then deemed safe for storage around children, in a car, or on a person. When the gun is needed, the key is inserted and the magazine unlocked. This allows the gun to function and the magazine to be removed.

They pitched this as an alternative to the home pistol safe with the advantage being that you don't have to open the safe to access the handgun. I am confused about this for several reasons. You still have to insert a key into the bottom of a magazine to have a functioning weapon. A biometric safe seems like a much faster solution than trying to insert a key into a small opening possible under stress and/or in the dark. A safe that is mounted in your home also slows down thieves and prevents them from just throwing a locked pistol in the pillow case and leaving. But, OK...they had even more uses.....

They also proposed that someone could carry the gun locked and on their person. When the gun was needed a person could unlock the gun and then use it for self-defense. If the gun was somehow stolen from your person, it would be harder for the thief to use. I can't imagine needing a gun for a legitimate threat, unholstering, finding the key, unlocking the gun, and then being able to use it successfully. I guess I could see some use in a riot type situation to prevent the gun from being used immediately if a person was overtaken be a mob. Maybe kind of???

None of these scenarios make sense to me. The magazine in the video did appear to be 3d printed (perhaps just a prototype) but the quality of the video was very good. Someone is sinking a good bit a cash into this idea. The lowest price range they suggested was 50 dollars and they asked if I thought it would be worth up to 200 dollars. Am I missing something big here? I am usually the last person to participate in a fad, change my taste in music or switch from Scotch to hard seltzers, so I would not be surprised if those more in the know see something I don't.

Did anyone else get this email and see the proposed product? Does anyone see a use for something like this?

[JCN]

Sounds about as well conceived as the Smith and Wesson revolver lock.

That being said, Glock the company spent money developing something like that for Europe.



And a now defunct company called SafTLock tried selling something like that years ago.

[ST911]

That being said, Glock the company spent money developing something like that for Europe.

And a now defunct company called SafTLock tried selling something like that years ago.

Haven't seen those in many years. I may still have an old SafTLock here somewhere...

[CleverNickname]

OP, can you link the video so everyone else can see it?

[ECVMatt]

I am not sure if this will work, but here is a go...

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/64291...mer-Research-5

EDIT: It looks like they want you to restart the survey but if you answer a few a questions, you can view the video.

[GyroF-16]

Something something football bat…

[CleverNickname]

Maybe I missed something in the video, but it appears that their "magazine" doesn't actually hold any ammo, it just locks in the magazine well preventing an actual magazine from being inserted. I didn't see anything that would prevent single-loading a round directly into the chamber, but that seems like a pretty obvious workaround so I'd hope they'd at least try to prevent that. That said, even if it does work perfectly, it does nothing from preventing the gun from being stolen or merely accessed by unauthorized people. A Stack-on or similar gun cabinet for ~$200 that would work with any gun, and multiple guns at once, and seems like a much better solution for the price.

Also, there was a similar product awhile back, except it used a combo lock instead of a key lock. They appear to have gone out of business.

Something something football bat…

Yeah, pretty much.

[JCN]

I looked at it and it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in a while.

If there was a market for it, Glock would have had it on their US as well as EU guns.

As it is, you’re going to piss off some LEO trying to explain your gun is “secure” when it doesn’t look like it.

It’s like the worst of both worlds.

As an aside, I have a few identilocks that work fine for this kind of application.



It’s fast and looks like a lock.

[Flamingo]

Haven't seen those in many years. I may still have an old SafTLock here somewhere...

Saf-T-Hammer Corporation bought S&W for pennies in the 1990s.

[Archer1440]

Well, I left my email address for them to contact:

Thisisaterribleidea@terrible.com