Handguns with Active Safeties: Like or Dislike?

[IanS]

They would be the 1911's, BHP's, CZ-75B/97B's, Beretta 92FS's, S&W autos, and the like. I'm not talking about the merits of each of these designs. I respect all of them and believe they will remain some of the finest defense handguns of all time. I've owned a few of them as well.

But I've turned away from them not because of the guns themselves but the fact I just don't trust myself to flick off the safety in a defense/crisis situation. Am I gonna be so focused on the threat I'll forget to flick off the safety and just draw and try to shoot? I think many of us, myself included, just don't get the opportunity to draw from a holster and shoot at the range as often as we'd like. And for some of us. Never. And doing it in a relaxed setting like a range or even competition just isn't the same as a real defense situation IMO.

For those of you who disagree do you think its much ado about nothing?

 

[fyrestarter]

I shoot both Glocks and 1911's in IPSC competition, and my unholster/ready-to-fire times are the same with both. But, I carry a Glock precisely for that reason you stated above. Am I fast enough to disengage the safety on a 1911? Sure. Do I trust that the safety will work under pressure? Of course. However, the simpler the design is, the less that can suffer at Murphy's evil hands. In a firefight, the fewer levers, switches, gizmos and gadgets a gun has, the more you can rely on it firing when you squeeze the trigger.

 

[9x19]

As range guns, the 1911s et al, are fine... in fact best for some games people play.

For me, for serious work, I prefer the simpler design/operation of the Glock line.

 

[Handy]

While I'm against safeties required for carry (cocked and locked), I don't think a gun with a safety is a bad thing as long as it is habitually carried with the safety off - like the Beretta or CZ hammer down.

But really, the 92G or Ruger Decock only versions are a better choice for a defense gun so there is no question.

For a combination gun (DA/SA with a safety), I'd prefer a safety that can't be actuated without the hammer being cocked, preventing confusion. But I don't think anyone makes one like that.

 

[fyrestarter]

Berettas and CZ's have a firing pin block, I'm assuming, Handy? Never owned either. Seen plenty of Berettas malfunction, though

 

[Majic]

Even as a range gun if you keep the safety on and have to disengage it every time to shoot then it will be ingrained as a habit like the rest of the aspect of shooting. You don't have to draw from a holster, but you can hold at the low ready with the safety on and start your practice from that point.
Where some people make their mistakes comes from using several different models. In the period of stress and you grab the handgun does it have a frame, slide, or no safety lever at all? Not the ideal time to have to figure that out.

 

[Marko Kloos]

Even though I am completely comfortable with carrying a cocked & locked 1911 or BHP, I find myself preferring the "draw and shoot" designs without external safeties to worry about: SIGs, Glocks, and DA revolvers.

 

[OBIWAN]

I own Glocks and 1911's...

I may buy another Sig once the K-trigger becomes available locally

I prefer having NO levers to manipulate and I am not a fan of DA/SA triggers

( I actually believe DA/SA triggers are on the way out)

I also believe that if you have a safety on your weapon, you are obliged to use it.

As stated before disengaging the safety needs to be part of your weapon presentation .......every time you are on target and ready to shoot.

Otherwise you run the risk of fumbling with it when you need it most.

Don't want to use the safety....buy a weapon that does not have one.

 

[OF]

I can take or leave manual safeties. I've never had a problem disengaging a safety, and with Glocks I actually 'swipe' at the air where a safety would be out of habit.

I do, however, strongly believe in manual safeties for open carry and police duty guns. Plenty of cops get shot with their own guns, and often a manual safety can provide that split-second of confusion in the perp while they try to figure it out. For concealed carry, I don't think it's an issue. Whatever makes you more comfortable.

- Gabe

 

[Raider]

I habitually carry my Colt Officers Model cocked and locked.Training (muscle memory) overcomes any potential problems. Its the only way I've carried since I got my CHL.

RIKA

 

[Handy]

Fyre,

Berettas and CZ's have a firing pin block, I'm assuming, Handy? Never owned either. Seen plenty of Berettas malfunction, though

I assume from this that you have a little misunderstanding what firing pin blocks do. While most guns have them, not all guns do, because they are usually an "added safety feature" and not really necessary. Firing pin blocks guard against high muzzle down drops, and total failure of the sear (on cocked pistols.) The position of the hammer up or down has nothing to do with the muzzle drops.

The real drop safety system which virtually every hammer fired gun has is an inertial firing pin. That is why they are safe to carry hammer down and why you can still buy many pistols from major companies that don't have a pin block.

 

[oldjad01]

Not

 

[fyrestarter]

So Handy, this is why you cannot carry a hammer down on a Colt Model 70, but can on a Beretta 92F, yes?

 

[alduro1]

Why not just leave the safety disengaged....like on a DA/SA Beretta?

 

[juliet charley]

First off, it's not necesarily a good idea or good practice to leave the safety disengaged on a DA/SA like a Beretta. Secondly, most DA/SA pistols cannot discharge if dropped on the muzzle (like Series 70 and earlier 1911). Thirdly, you do not have to manually cock a DA/SA in order fire them.

 

[Tamara]

Every semiauto handgun I own has a down-to-fire manual safety under my thumb, except the Radom. Since that's where I park my thumb when shooting, failure to disengage it seems unlikely.

 

[Handy]

Got rid of even the P7, eh?

 

[Tamara]

Handy,

Got rid of even the P7, eh?

Yup. It and the 96D were the last to go. The P7 was just too nice a piece to be consigned to gathering dust in the safe, and I wanted it to go somewhere where it'd be actually carried and shot. The 96D had been my dedicated 'bed gun' for several years, and was replaced with a Model 64 after it got turned into cash to fund a 1911 project.

 

[Boats]

Every time I transition from my manual clutch Jeep to the wife's automatic Mazda MPV and stab the floorboard with my left foot looking for my missing clutch pedal, I have no worries about forgetting my manual safeties on any of my pistols so equipped.

I have even "thumbed off" my revolver more than once presenting from the holster.

 

[cookhj]

if it has an external/manual safety, i won't carry it. too many things to go wrong. i carry either my glock or sig. i would carry a P-01 if they made it in .40 cal.