Are Glocks unsafe ?

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mattro

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from another thread:
I also recommend some light reading or an armorers course to the "Glocks are unsafe" crowd.
"Sometimes I am amazed but usually just Disgusted"
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I don't own a Glock, nor have I shot one. All my experience is with revolvers, 1911's and XD's.

Question: IF Glocks are so incredibly safe, then why do so me people shoot themselves with Glocks? It seems a much higher percentage than with other handguns.

Obviously the poeple shooting themselves are handling their gun carelessly and it is certainly the operators fault, not the gun's. But, the fact that the design of the gun lets the gun go off when someone is mishandling the gun in a minor way, when most other guns would not go off when handled the same, means to me they are unsafe.

Accidently pulling back on the trigger when pulling out of pants pocket, or pulling from holster - BANG !

Other gun designs (like 1911 or XD) will not go bang under the same handling due to the grip safety and the double trigger safety.

I have alot of friends that live and breathe Glocks. I know Glocks are reliable and accurate. I know they won't go off when dropped. But I have also spoke with a couple leo friends that have been on the force a long time and they know several instances where leos have shot himself with Glocks. Pulling fom holster, pulling from pants pocket, etc. They feel other handgun designs would not have resulted in ND's.
 
I own a G19 and as far as I understand the 3 safeties eliminate discharge by impact or anything else other then your finger on the center of the trigger and a force applied to it. Basically if the trigger is not pulled, the guns not going to go off. Without an external safety you may put yourself at risk during a high stress situation, grabbing the weapon and pulling the trigger and putting a bullet through your thigh, or possibly your abdomen. I've seen a video of a LEO shooting himself in the foot w/ a G23 because he didn't check the chamber before he tried to "de-cock" the weapon.
 
I love Glocks but the more I think about it, there are only two things that make a Glock safe:

1) Keeping your finger off the trigger.

2) A good holster.

Glocks are very unforgiving of poor firearm safety practices.
And Glocks demand a good holster that prevents anything from getting in the trigger-guard.

I've carried a few different handguns in my pocket and some in my waistband (no holster), but NEVER a Glock!

So, to answer the question:

No, Glocks are not unsafe.
But they are very unforgiving of human error.
 
Are revolvers unsafe?

Should you place a loaded revolver in your pants pocket and accidently pull back on the trigger when pulling it out of your pants pocket or pulling it from your holster - BANG!

Which coooould happen and probably has.

Perhaps a more legitimate fear is reholstering either a Glock or a revolver back into a holster that has a retention strap and the darned strap finds it's way inside the trigger guard applying rearward pressure... (and your mind is somewhere else for the moment but your finger is properly positioned outside of trigger guard) More than likely between those two choices the Glock might be more prone to discharge due to a somewhat lighter trigger weight.

The key is having your mind aware, your muscles trained and proper gear protecting the trigger.

Guns are dangerous. Stupid momentary lapses of reason can cause self inflicted pain. Safeties can fail. Fingers can slip.

So yes. Glock's ARE dangerous. Loaded guns are like that. Violate the first three rules of gun safety often enough and someone will get hurt sooner or later... I've been lucky so far.
 
While it would clearly be easier to accidentally pull the trigger on a Glock then on a DA gun if you practicing proper gun handling with either (finger out of the trigger guard) you'll be fine.
 
...mishandling the gun in a minor way...
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:eek:

This is why Glocks are unsafe--their operators are unsafe. There are no minor gun mishandlings. If you keep a constant state of vigilance, a Glock is perfectly safe. If you take the attitude that you "are the only one professional enough" or fail to treat it with respect, it is going to bite you.

I think of that video with the DEA agent in the classroom every time I handle my Glock and it reminds me that it, like all firearms, needs to be respected.

One could say Glocks are unforgiving. But I question whether this is a bad thing. Maybe a bullet to the foot will remind you to be more careful in the future.

A mechanical safety may be reassuring to some, but it is a poor excuse for lax behavior and unsafe gun handling practices. I don't rely on the safety of any of my firearms. A mechanical safety is not a crutch for me, so I don't have a problem with Glocks.
 
A mechanical safety may be reassuring to some, but it is a poor excuse for lax behavior and unsafe gun handling practices.
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I agree.

One could say Glocks are unforgiving. But I question whether this is a bad thing. Maybe a bullet to the foot will remind you to be more careful in the future.
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I disagree.

It is definitely a bad thing.
There's no getting around it....humans are fallible and they make mistakes.
A gun that is especially unforgiving of those mistakes might not be the best choice.
 
I have had a G17 for about a year now. 2000+ rounds later I am looking to sell my SA 1911. Safety is in the eye (or more appropriately, the finger) of the beholder. If you are drawing or holstering your pistol with your finger on the trigger, you need some serious re-training.

Are Glocks dangerous by design? No more so than any other hand held thing that goes "bang". People used to make heated arguments against the 1911, and some still think that single action triggers are too dangerous. To each his own. I choose the Glock over the 1911 because of the lack of a manual safety. Come to think of it, my GP100 doesn't have a safety either. Of course it's trigger breaks at about 10lbs, and the Glock at about 4.5lbs.

Safety is all about proper training, and proper execution of that training in real life. Is one pistol "safer" than another? Not in my opinion, but as I said earlier, to each his own. If you don't think glocks are safe, don't get one.
 
I'm not the biggest fan of Glocks, but there is nothing about them that is any more unsafe than alot of revolvers or DAO pistols. In the hands of a safe shooter, there's nothing inherently dangerous about them. I don't think they make the wisest choice for first time shooters though.

Jason
 
Glocks are no less safe than any other gun....

Where the safety is part of the TRIGGER!

The things that always put me off from the Glock was never the plastic frame thing (although I do like to make fun of it), but the fact that the pistol had neither a safety lock (like the 1911), nor an exposed hammer. A decocker "safety" would have been ok, even a grip safety would make me feel better about it. No safety and an exposed hammer I can live with as well, although it is far from the best system for an autoloader.

I got an opportunity to spend some time on the range with a friend's Glock in .45 acp, and now I have a slightly different opinion.

I don't like the Glock trigger pull. Interestingly I had no trouble with the safety on the trigger, I hardly even noticed it. But the pull has horrendous. While not tremendously heavy (I was later told it was 8lbs), I found I had to pull, and pull, and pull some more before it fired. I didn't care for that. Other than the fact that the gun was bigger, it felt like the pull of a cheap Jennings .22.

I suppose if you know nothing about pistols and shooting, and are thoroughly trained on a Glock, you will find it ok, and likely do well with it. BUT, I have nearly 40 years of recreational shooting of DA/SA revolvers, DA & SA Autoloaders, and single shot handguns of many different types, and I found the Glock to be below my personal standards. If anything, I am disappointed. Everyone says they have good accuracy and fabulous functioning (and the gun I fired worked just fine, and was reasonably accurate for a service type pistol), so it seems that the only reason their designs has such a crappy trigger pull is that they chose to make it that way. How disappointing.
 
I own an XD and ofcourse at first, I was a bit concerned about the saftey. As some may not know, the XD has the grip saftey, and trigger saftey. And something in the manual said a drop saftey (if you drop the gun, it will not fire..?) ..anywho, I was a bit surprised when the XD didnt have a manual saftey. But overall, the main saftey of any gun, is the person holding it.
 
Thank you Mattro for starting this thread on my behalf! I have found some common ground with EasyG as a result of this thread and I like that! Easy, I apologize if my postings to some of the other threads seemed Personal. We seem to see some things differently but I certainly agree with you on the Nature of safety in regards to Glock pistols! I like the way you put it as well. Difficult to argue with fact, while opinion can cause a hell of a stir. :o
 
Glocks are unsafe! As a previous poster mentioned, humans are fallible and make mistakes while a mistake with most items are easily rectified a mistake with a deadly weapon has serious consequences. Knowing this, why would Gaston put only one external safety on the pistol? then make the trigger pull 5.5lbs? then require that the trigger is pulled too allow take down of the pistol?

Revolvers, which the G17 replaced have a DA pull of around 12lbs and were much less susceptible to AD's. In addition Glock seems to have a reputation of denying there are any problems with their pistols even if it means that people are at risk as a result.
 
Glocks are unsafe! As a previous poster mentioned, humans are fallible and make mistakes while a mistake with most items are easily rectified a mistake with a deadly weapon has serious consequences.
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For the love of Pete!

This is just like the Carry the 1911 unlocked thread.

The Glock is essentially like a 1911 in Condition 0.

A round chambered and the safety off.

It will not fire unless you press the trigger.

humans are fallible and make mistakes
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The problem is not unsafe pistols it is unsafe operators.

Keep you finger off the trigger until ready to fire!
 
^^^^^+1^^^^^^

Just because Glock expects the consumer to not pull the trigger when they shouldn't doesn't make Glock anymore unsafe than any other firearm. I carried a series 70 1911 for close to 20 years before switching to Glocks. Many claim the series 70 to be unsafe, that's hogwash as well. Colt expects you to not drop it. IMHO neither expectation from Colt or Glock are unreasonable. YMMV
 
I am not a Glock fan, but I do not believe that Glocks are any more unsafe that any other striker-fired semi-automatic pistol. The big secret to safety is in one of the BIG rules: Keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to fire!
 
"glocks are unsafe because people are fallible" Hmmm let me finish this one...
Pencils misspell words, Cars make people drive drunk, and Spoons made Rosie O'donnel FAT! Very interesting point of view indeed.....
 
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The Glock is essentially like a 1911 in Condition 0.
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Not really.

First of all, a Glock with a chambered round does not have enough stored energy to fire the round until the trigger is pulled, a 1911 in Condition 0 has enough energy stored in the main spring to fire the round.

Secondly, there are two objects preventing the Glock's firing pin from moving forward until the trigger is pulled (the firing pin safety and the sear--and the sear is locked in position by two items as well--the trigger safety and the safety ramp) , there is nothing restraining a typical 1911's firing pin from moving forward and in Condition 0 only the sear is preventing the hammer from falling.

A more analogous comparison would be comparing a Glock with a chambered round to a 1911 in Condition 1. Then you have the sear blocked and the hammer blocked. Even then the 1911 still has nothing restraining the firing pin and also has enough stored energy to fire the round while the Glock still has two items blocking the firing pin and does not have enough stored energy to fire the round.
 
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