These devices simply provides you with a safe direction.

“The Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR), which is shown in the last column of the table below, is the distance at which the bullet falls 3 inches below the line of sight. Thus between the muzzle and the distance given as the MPBR, the bullet never strays more than 3 inches above or below the line of sight (1.5 inches for varmint loads).” Courtesy of http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_trajectory_table.htm

That would make point blank range anything inside of the MPBR. It’s used as a misnomer most of the time.

Yes you are just clearing the chamber. People make mistakes. The point of a clearing barrel is that those mistakes are vented safely. The person making the mistake still ends up seriously embarassed and written up for negligent discharge. It’s the military, they love paperwork.

Oh, wait, I forgot, the MP5 has scary-looking features, so naturally, it’s WAY more powerful than the John Forbes Kerry-compliant shotgun.

You know, a friend of mine had a basement with a dirt floor. Before he finished pouring the floor, he took a post hole digger and went down about seven feet. Then he inserted a ten foot piece of steel pipe and added in some sand. This comes in real handy to function test firearms without having to drive to the range. For clearing weapons, however, we just generally took the radical measure of training ourselves to removed any magazine and visually check the chamber. There’s nothing wrong with being extra safe, but I would worry if they had to ship these back to the manufacture for warranty work any more than once a decade or so. This thingy is not a substitute for proper training. (And let’s hope the once a decade guy never lives that mistake down.)

$550 a pop. Ouch. Does it use depleted uranium or something?