Every pistol I've had, or ever will have must meet one of two requirements, a hammer, or a safety lock (thank you Zukiphile for using the original
correct term). And I prefer those with both.
The term "safety lock" used by Browning, Colt, the US Government and many others does not refer to a lock like the internal lock (ILS) system some guns have today. There is no key. "Lock" refers to the fact that the safety remains "locked" in position, the position you select, ON or OFF. It does NOT move until you move it. Most of the older designs also locked the action shut when the safety was applied, but not all of them did so.
Call it manual safety or just safety or even "active safety" I'm ok with that. It's still the "safety lock".
What Glock calls a "safety" is NOT a safety lock. What Glock calls a "safety" I call a "trigger activation switch".
I'm good with a hammer and no safety, I'm good with a safety and no hammer. I'm happiest when I have both. Without one of the other, I've got no interest in the gun. Am not saying those guns are not mechanically safe, but I consider them less "human safe", because of a more limited range of options.
I am somewhat amused by those who worry about forgetting to take the safety off, and those who decline a gun because it has a safety or choose a gun because it does not, so that its "one less thing to worry about".
Do you drive a car? Can you drive a standard?? ride a bike? walk and chew gum? Feed yourself without missing your mouth?
Do you worry about "forgetting" to use the brake when driving? There are a lot of things in life that require a person to be able to do multiple separate motor skill tasks in sequence or at the same time, and do each of them correctly. Most people are capable of learning to do them.
But make no mistake they are all learned skills. and most of them are skills that, once learned are performed below the level of conscious thought.
In other words, without thinking about them. And especially without needing to stop and think "what do I do?" or "do next?"
It is a long observed fact that most people, when the adrenaline is pumping and you are acting without carefully considering each separate step, will do what they "trained" to do, right, or wrong. And in this instance, "training" means what you have practiced doing, not formal instruction.
I've always wondered at the logic of those who claim having a safety is somehow dangerous. It seems to me that, if you are concerned with forgetting to take it off, the simple fix is to "forget" to put it ON.
You will do what you "train" to do, if you don't train properly/practice enough, that is not the gun's fault or any flaw in the design.
I had a couple of experiences long ago that taught me what I could, and would do without thinking about the details. One, when I was a teenager, shot at running game with a bolt action rifle. Missed. When I went to chamber another round, I found the gun cocked with the safety on. Fired case on the ground at my feet. I had bolted another round into the chamber and reset the safety without being aware that I had done it.
Second one, and a bit more impressive on me was some years later, shot at a pheasant going straight away, a clout shot. punched the safety off pulled the trigger, nothing...did it again, same..did it a third time, nada... (all in less time than it takes to read this) bird sailed away.
Reason for my failure? Borrowed shotgun. I was not using my model 12 which I had "trained on" for a decade, but a friends Browning Sweet 16. I was punching off the safety at the front of the triggerguard, where it is on my model 12, but the Browning's safety was at the back of the triggerguard.
Muscle memory, trained response, call it what ever, in THAT instance it was the wrong thing to do. when all the rest of the time it was the right thing to do.
This is why I think "rotating" different kinds of guns as carry/defense guns is a poor idea.
You get used to doing a certain thing a certain way and getting the expected result. When you change things, it takes time for your body to learn the new method needed without having to think about it.
Drove a standard for several years, went to visit my Dad and borrowing his truck to run to the store for them. Got a very sharp reminder at the end of the driveway, that the clutch pedal and the power brake pedal are very different things!
Yes, I stepped on the "clutch" the way I usually did, but there was no clutch, so it was a really hard stop! Drove to the store and back without trouble but was constantly THINKING about the brake and how to use it in that truck...
Point is, it doesn't matter what system you choose, in the words of one of my old DI's "LEARN IT! LIVE IT! LOVE IT!" and you'll do ok. Change things up, and for a while, you're back to square one and have to start over again.
