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To CompVest,

I must respectfully disagree. No doubt the M&P trigger safety is more comfortable and ergonomic that either the Glock or XD (in my opinion), but I believe the latter ones to be superior, safety wise, in this regard. In order to move the trigger back on the Glock or XD a foreign object would have to hit the exact center line of the trigger or cross through it, were as on the M&P it only has to catch any part of the lower half. Has anyone accidently been shot because of this, I really doubt it, but I do think the design presents a slightly greater possibility for an AD. However, I would feel perfectly safe carrying an M&P if it were in a proper holster. On the XD, the trigger face safety is redundant if the grip safety is functioning properly - making the point is moot.

TEX

I can understand a concern about having to put a magazine in the gun during cleaning to get the hammer released, but I have never had to do this with several guns I have owned that had magazine safeties. I have always been able to push in the required lever or button with a tool to drop the hammer if I wanted to, but the hammer does not always have to be down on all models to dissemble them.

De-cocking levers on many guns, like Sigs, are not incorporated into the manual safety. Some like S&Ws are incorporated on some models. If I remember right the safety mounted on the slide was on safe when it was all the way up, in fire when it was in mid position or parallel with the barrel, and functioned as a spring loaded de-cocker when pushed all the way down. I think some Beretta and Taurus autos work this way also. They fell out favor I believe when it became common knowledge that double action to single action pistols could be carried safely without the manual safety engaged. In my opinion a gun that starts as double action really doesn’t need a manual safety. If this were true, then why aren’t they on revolvers?

As mentioned by someone else, the de-cocker doesn’t just let the hammer fall, but also limits the fall or puts a block in front of the hammer so it can’t actually touch the firing pin. I never have felt completely comfortable with de-cockers and always hold the hammer between by finger and thumb to let it down slowly when de-cocking. Probably completely unnecessary, but I did it that way anyway if the piece is still loaded. The difference between a safety and a decocker is that a manual safety prevents the hammer from falling at all, whereas the decocker forces the hammer to fall, but does so without letting the hammer contact the firing pin. I have only seen de-cockers on DA-2-SA autos.

There are also half cock notches that act somewhat like a safety as it keeps the hammer just off the firing pin so that a blow to the hammer will not transmit that force to the firing pin and possibly cause an AD. Modern drop safeties have pretty much eliminate the need for these, although 1911 do still have one that is designed to catch the hammer if in a very, very rare occasion the cocked hammer should be jarred off the notch.

Generally I am not in favor of slide mounted safeties because they are hard to reach and can be inadvertently placed on safe when manually cycling the slide either while loading or clearing a malfunction.

I like grip safeties, manual thumb safeties and drop safeties. Magazine safeties I can take or leave, but I can see where in some situations, they might be very desirable. I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but most drop safeties only disengage after the trigger has been moved a certain distance rearward, except for the Kimber in which I believe the drop safety is deactivated with the grip safety.

Overall, there are two types of safeties; mechanical and non-mechanical. There are a number of different types of mechanical safeties, but only one non-mechanical safety. The non-mechanical one is the one between your ears, and as you already know it is critically important. This non-mechanical safety is just a lump of neurons until you assemble it and you assemble it with proper training and attitude.

With mechanical safeties there are also two different types; manual and automatic. With both there is one steadfast rule about them and that is “don’t trust them”. They work 99.9% of the time, but they are still man made mechanical devices and can fail to work properly. Would you chamber a round on your pistol, engage the safety, and then point the gun at someone you love and press the trigger, depending on the mechanical safety to keep the pistol from firing? If you said “yes”, then you need to stay away from firearms altogether.

Automatic safeties are ones that come into play or disengage during the normal sequence leading up to actually firing the weapon without you having to do anything extra. Examples would be grip safeties (1911s and XDs), trigger face safeties (Glock, XDs and Smith and Wesson M&P), magazine safeties (Hi-Power and many Smith and Wesson autos), and drop safeties (almost all pistols now).

Grip Safety – this is a device that requires you to grip the pistol properly before the pistol will fire. Some block a component from moving and others disengage a component so that it will not function normally. In my humble opinion grips safeties are wonderful. If the gun is dropped it should still be safe even if the trigger snags something on the way to the ground. It is also safer for reholstering, as it allows you make the gun safe by moving your thumb to the back of the slide when reholstering thus allowing the grip safety to do what it was designed to do. If I could change one thing about a Glock, I would add an XD type grip safety.

Trigger Face Safety – this is a device that prevent the trigger from moving back unless the bar or hinge on the face of the trigger has been depressed. If a pistol with such a safety were dropped, something would have to hit just the right spot on the trigger to make the gun discharge. I don’t think they work all that well. The ones on a Glock or XD are pretty good, but the one on the Smith and Wesson M&P and Sigma are a joke. On these, if anything caught the lower half of the trigger the piece will fire. I feel most pistols don’t need them, but as long as they don’t affect the trigger pull, I suppose they are a benefit.

Magazine Safety – this is a device that prevents the pistol from firing if a magazine is not in place. Standard Browning Hi-Powers and many Smith and Wesson automatics have them. The idea behind this device is that we fallible human beings, in one of our dimmer moments may assume the pistol is unloaded if the magazine is removed. We all know, or should know, that there could still be one in the chamber. There is some merit in such a safety and I feel confident that it has prevented some injuries or deaths. The down sides are only two. One is that it affects the trigger pull (not true in all models) and that during a tactical reload, it leaves you with a gun that will not shoot until you get the fresh magazine inserted. If you know how to properly perform a tactical reload, this time period would be less than a second so I don’t see that as a big issue. The benefit of a magazine safety is that the pistol remains non-functioning until a magazine is inserted. This allows you, in a struggle, to pop the magazine out so that your weapon cannot be used against you. This also allows you to store the pistol in one place and the magazine in another, but still in close enough to make the pistol fully operational in a matter of seconds. For instance the pistol could be on a closet shelf, but the magazine in a certain coat pocket. You would be betting that the magazine safety does work, and that no one will find where you stashed the magazine. I know one person, who when he has to leave his pistol in his vehicle, takes out the magazine and puts it in his pocket so that if they vehicle was stolen, the crook would not immediately have a functioning firearm.

Drop Safeties – in general this refers to firing pin blocks that keep the firing pin from going forward and hitting the primer even of dropped. Almost every sidearm you can think of now has one, except 70 series 1911s. The theory is that if a gun is dropped and happens to hit the ground muzzle end first, the firing pin could keep traveling forward with enough force to cause the round to fire, or that it could jar the hammer lose which in turn would cause the pistol to fire. This can happen, but most tests have shown you would need a tremendous amount of force to make it happen. Some drop safeties work off the trigger and others, like Kimber, work off of the grip safety. The ones that work off the trigger usually do not unblock the firing pin until the trigger is at least 2/3rds of the way back. I think they are generally a good idea if hey don't affect trigger pull, but on some pistols they are superfluous.

As you can see, all of these automatics safeties automatically come into play, or are disengaged, as you draw and fire the pistol. They do not require you to manipulate anything else.

Manual Mechanical Safeties are ones that require you to move a lever to an active or “off” position before the pistol will fire. A model 1911 is a prime example of this type safety. Browning Hi-Powers and BDMs also have such levers. These are often referred to as thumb safeties because you use your thumb to disengage them. These thumb safeties can be mounted on either the frame or the slide, but in my humble opinion, create a big problem if they are mounted on the slide. If it is on the slide, you can accidently place it in the safe or non-firing position while hand cycling the slide or clearing a malfunction. On some double action to single action pistols, this safety may also function as the decocking lever which allows you to return the hammer to a double action position. On models with true thumb safeties like the 1911, it is suggested that you keep you strong hand thumb on top of the safety in order to prevent it being accidently moved into the “safe” position while shooting.

That about covers it I believe. I am sure there are some other exotic pistol safeties I am not aware of. When you move from pistols to carbines or rifles, you get into a whole different set of safeties, most of which are manual mechanical safeties that require you to move a lever to the "off" position in order to fire the weapon.

As far as pro and cons, each has its merit I suppose, but I would stay away from slide mounted manual safeties unless they are actually spring loaded de-cocking levers. Grip safeties are great as are drop safeties that do not affect the trigger pull. Magazine safeties probably have their place and manual safeties are a must on single action pistols like the 1911 and Browning Hi-Power. I am a Glock fan and it already has a number of automatic safeties, but as I stated earlier, if I were Gaston Glock, I would add a grip safety to the pistol.

Almost all accidental shooting are the result of the non-mechanical safety (that’s you) not doing their part by following the four foundational safety rules at all times. If everyone followed these safety rules religiously, accidental shootings would become very rare if not nonexistent.

1. All guns are always loaded – even when they are unloaded.

2. Don’t point your muzzle at anything you don’t plan to destroy

3. Keep you finger out of the trigger guards until you have made the decision to shoot and are on target.

4. Always be aware of your backstop and surroundings.