Barrel Block (BarrelBlok) Dry Fire Practice Safety Tool Review

The device is actually called a “BarrelBlok” and this is a full review of how it works and what you can use it for.

Watch the video about the Barrel Block here.

From the pamphlet that comes with the device:

“Nothing replaces the realism of training with your own firearm.  Without altering the weight, feel or balance of your firearm, BarrelBlok converts it into a completely safe training aid…”

I would agree; nothing replaces the actual feel, weight, and function of your actual firearm.  Most laser trainers and air guns mimic most of the actual gun but will always be missing your sights (unless you spend a lot of money and time to duplicate your sight set up) and the trigger.  No triggers are the same.  When you know your gun really well you can feel if the guns are different by the trigger.

This barrel block device lets you use your actual carry gun to practice and puts an extra safety measure in.  With the barrel block in place I don’t see how you could possibly load and fire a live round.  I also don’t see how you could leave a live round in the gun and place the device in.

The Barrel Block works by going down the barrel and plugging the chamber.  I tried to chamber a dummy round behind the BarrelBlok and couldn’t get it to go into the chamber or the gun to go into battery.  If fact, it created a double feed that I had to clear.  I don’t see a way you could mess this up, but nothing is idiot proof so always follow the firearms safety rules.  So far, this thing is grunt proof. So, it’s getting there. 

The kit comes from Amazon with the BarrelBlok and three Mag Bloks.  The BarrelBlok is the safety device and the MagBloks are just adjuncts to help you train.

To use the BarrelBlok:

• Unload and Show Clear
• Leave the Slide locked to the rear
• Shove the block from the inside (breach) side of the barrel towards the front of the gun
• Push it into the barrel until it fully seats into the chamber
• That’s it

Once the Barrel Blok is in it blocks the chamber from a live round going in and sticks out the front so you can see if the gun is safe or not.  PSA: Don’t ever trust any safety device, always follow the firearms safety rules.

Once the BarrelBlok is in place, go do your dry fire.  Once you are done, just remove the BarrelBlok and reload your gun with self defense ammo.  Another PSA, this is where lots of people have an accident.  They decide to do just one more trigger press after loading their gun.  Don’t be that person!

The MagBloks are just what they sound like.  They go into a magazine like a normal round that is hollowed out on top.

Once in there they don’t prevent other ammo from being loaded.  They are not the safety part of this set up.  They are there to help you train more effectively.  I could actual load live rounds on top of the MagBlok and then those rounds would feed into the gun (without the BarrelBlok in).  The BarrelBlok is the added safety device in the package.

The MagBloks can be used for a couple things to help you train.  They work by holding down the magazine follower so that it doesn’t engage the slide stop on your firearm. 

I found three uses for the MagBloks and will keep them for these purposes. 

First use I round was it worked great for practicing with a firearm that has a magazine disconnect safety.  When dry firing with a gun that has a magazine disconnect safety I had to make sure that I didn’t run the slide all the way or it would lock the slide to rear and mess with my flow of training.  Nothing earth shattering but it did annoy me.  Now with the MagBlok I can run the slide hard and fast like it is designed to be, and like I should be training myself to do without the slide locking to the rear. 

The second use I found and will definitely be keeping it for, is for a small gun with an extended magazine.  I carry a Smith & Wesson Shield as one of my smaller carry guns.  It is way too small for me to hold onto without an extended custom magazine plate on the gun.  (I use Magfix from Safety Solutions Academy)

Normally when I practice with my Shield I just work it without a magazine in.  Not perfect but much better than no practice.  Now I put a MagBlok in the magazine and have an extended magazine in the gun while practicing.  It’s so much nicer.  This is a much better way than trying to only half run the slide every time you pull the trigger to reset the firing mechanism. 

The third way you might use the MagBloks, and this is why I think it comes with three, is to do reloads.  If you use the sling shot method of chambering a round, this works great! I use the slide stop and still liked using these to practice reloads with my Shield.  The Shield has a notoriously hard slide stop to push down to let the gun go back into battery.  With an empty magazine in the gun and the slide locked back it takes an enormous amount of pressure to get the slide to go home on a Shield.  So this makes training with the Shield better all around.

If you use the sling shot method of chambering a round at the end of a slide lock reload the MagBlok will let the slide go home like there is a round in the magazine without having a round in the magazine. 

In the past I used this method of chambering a round I used dummy rounds stacked in my magazines to make it safe for dry practice. Before long I would always have to stop and pick up all the dummy rounds and then reload them into each magazine I was using.  The MagBlok is much better! They let you continue to train without the reloading pause.

The BarrelBlok and MagBloks work great with a couple small draw backs:

The BarrelBlok can be a pain to get into the chamber.  Sometimes it slides in and sometimes it doesn’t want to go in and I have to wiggle, beg, and brute force it in there.  So far, no problems with breaking it our wearing it out by brute forcing it into the chamber. 

The Barrel Blok sticks out the front of the gun a lot.  It still worked with all the holsters I have, but if you have a truly closed front holster the gun will not go into the holster with the BarrelBlok inserted correctly.

The instructions say, and I did, cut the Barrel Blok to the right length for your gun.  My trusty old Gerber made easy work of the extra.

But that created another problem.  When the Barrel Blok was smaller, it was still a pain to get in, but then became harder to get out of the gun.  I used my trusty tactical pen to push it out.  Nothing is perfect, and this block works great.

Lastly, the bend is just weird and seems wrong, but needs to be there so you can get the BarrelBlok in and out of your gun. 

The MagBlok has its own weirdness.

First, I don’t like that you can load a live round on top of the MagBlok and then feed that round into the gun.  I wish it had another layer of safety.  Not sure how that could be accomplished, but it would be nice to have.  I read all the warning tabs, and there was a lot of them, in the pamphlet that came with the BarrellBlok but the only one that mentions anything about the MagBlok says “Warning – DO NOT use MagBlok in a firearm without a BarrelBlok properly inserted!” So, it does tell you to use them together, which is how it becomes safe.

Second, getting the MagBlok in and out of the magazine is a problem.  Going in just takes considerably more effort than a normal round would but goes in the same way.

Getting the MagBlok out of the magazine takes work.  At first, I was using my trusted tactical pen to pry it out.  That resulted in the MagBlok shooting across the room and me having to find it on the floor somewhere. 

I figured out that if I push the Mag Blok down a hair and drag it forward I could get it to stick out the front of the magazine enough to grab it from the front and pull it out.  At least this keeps it from shooting across the room!

Conclusion

This is a great piece of safety gear for dry firing that is well worth the $20 with shipping that I paid for the set.  I will continue to use it during my dry fire sessions to add that extra layer of safety to my practice and will also continue to use the MagBloKs to work with my little guns and the guns that have a magazine disconnect safety. 

The Barrel Blok system comes in all the calibers you would think, 9mm, .40, .45, .380, and even .357.  I’m pretty sure that is .357 Sig as I don’t see how this would work on a revolver. 

I like this product so much that I’ll be ordering another one like it for my 5.56mm rifles made by Garret Machine. 

Anything that can help me from making a mistake is good in my eyes and I will be using this every time I dry fire from now on.

Stay Safe,

Ben