External Safety on Striker Fired Pistol

Somebody adds safeties to Glocks.
Anyone know who?
Click to expand...

Cominolli is the brand. If I spelled it correctly it was dumb luck.

There are lots of brands with thumb safeties and lots without, and they are all still on the market because enough people choose each. The practice issue that has been brought up is key. Safeties don't enhance safety if the user doesn't apply them, and they are a detriment to safety if the user forgets to disengage them in an emergency. A mechanical safety is never a good substitute for safe gun handling habits, and safe gun handling habits in very many situations negate the need for a mechanical safety.

But again, some folks want them and some don't, and some of us own pistols both with and without them. Make your choice and practice both the mechanics of your pistol, whatever they are, and good safe handling as well.
 
I shoot left handed as well. Although I do hate safeties on carry guns I probably couldn't use half of them anyway. One that I think is a good one to look at would be the FNS compact model. Has ambi safety and it is kinda recessed and small so it would be hard to accidentally turn on or off. I choose not to use a safety because the only true way the gun can go off is if you pull the trigger.
 
First off, let me say I'm not a fan of striker fired guns. But............ for what they are designed to do, which is be an effective COMBAT pistol (meaning be able to consistently hit a man sized target at 25 yards), they fill their role very well. I just don't shoot them as well as other guns, including DA revolvers. In my world, a 70% shooter under time in training becomes a 20% shooter in a real gunfight, so I want EVERY advantage to raise my percentages that I can get. That's why I don't carry a striker fired gun.

IME, the safeties on striker fired guns are more of a hindrance than a help to me. The examples that I have personally messed with I found to have small operating surfaces, making the likelihood of missing the disengage when it's really needed a REAL problem. I've typically found the trigger pull on a striker fired gun to be long enough and heavy enough to not "need" an external safety. And with that statement, I'm sure someone will come along and try to roast me alive about the word "need".

As a 20+ year police officer, I work for agency that allows us to carry what we want, within policy guidelines. I carry a 4" lightweight 1911 on, and off duty for years. Of course, it has an external safety, and I've argued against manual safeties on some guns, but I see the purpose on others. As others have said, if you TRAIN to keep your booger hook off the bang switch, there "should" be no need for a safety. As a decade long firearms instructor, I own and shoot the 2 makes of guns that I see the most of in the striker fired category (Glock and Springfield XD). I have never once even recalled thinking, "boy this thing sure needs a safety".

Folks in my profession have done it for a hundred years with DA/SA revolvers without a notable number of mishaps, as long as one didn't wander around with the gun cocked. There's a huge difference between a LONG 5-6 lb pull and a short 3.5 to 4.

Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying that IMHO, striker fired pistols don't "need" a manual safety, as long as the "end user" is training as they should. If they aren't, a safety likely won't help anyway.
 
You can't be a true glocker and want a safety....what kind of "operator" are you? Poser gunner wannabe, don't you know your, safety is between your ears?


Anyway....I've carried everything, I find it comforting not to even look down and just slam my shield or G2 into it's holster.

I guarantee you 98% of these silly "accidental" shootings you read about every day can be traced back to some noobie being sold a bill of goods at the gun counter "glock is the only gun, a safety gets you killed. Here's a IWB holster, stuff that thing down your pants and come again!"

Of course you could buy the best of both worlds, a SA/DA with decocker.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I know the striker fired guns are technically considered DA
Click to expand...

I'd like to point out for all those making generalizations about "striker fired" pistols, when you are talking about Glocks and similar designs, that there are many OTHER striker fired pistols that DO NOT fit in that category or have the same mechanical features.

A Luger is a striker fired pistol, with a safety. To date, I have heard no one say a Luger would be a better carry gun without a safety.....

There are many, many designs of striker fired pistols in the pocket pistol and sport pistol classes and virtually every one of these has a safety.

If you want to only focus on duty class guns, like the Glock and similar designs, simply say so. And expect me to poke holes in your blanket statements, unless you do.
;)
 
I too am one of the few that prefer a safety on a striker fired postol that will be carried. Just make sure you train to swipe off the safety when you draw. We all have different views on the subject, what ever works for you. 1911 carriers train the same way.
 
57866_1.jpg


You just don't see a lot of M&P pistols with thumb safeties. I guess S&W learned a lesson from all the slide mounted safeties they put on all the 1st thru 3rd Gen guns. The thumb safety on this M&P 9c is on the frame where it belongs. But it's an ambi safety which I really don't like much.

I think if I had this gun, I'd carry it with the safety on until I was comfortable with carrying it with the safety off.
 
Last edited:
. . . The thumb safety on this M&P 9c is on the frame where it belongs. But it's an ambi safety which I really don't like much. . . .
Click to expand...

As a lefty, I very much appreciate the fact that S&W recognizes that not all shooters are right handed. The version of the M&P 9 or 9c with a safety is fairly high on my list for that reason.

I hear a lot of right handed shooters advising lefties on how to "easily" deal with right handed slide stop levers, safeties and mag releases. I suspect those same shooters would feel differently if most guns only had slide stop levers and safeties suitable for lefties.

I've grown accustomed to manipulating the slide stop either with my trigger finger or by slingshotting. And I'm comfortable using my trigger finger to release the mags while using my right had to grab a new magazine. But having a safety only on the left side of the gun is a no-deal for me.
 
Practice deactivating it as you draw and you will be fine.
Click to expand...
This can't be over-emphasized. Some people buy a gun with a manual safety planning to ignore it all or most of the time. If you have a self-defense gun with a manual safety then you need to practice deactivating it every single time you ready the gun to fire until it becomes second nature. Even if you don't engage it on purpose it may become engaged accidentally some day.
 
Carrying a safetiless striker-fired pistol with a short, light trigger pull is functionally equivalent to carrying a firing pin block-equipped 1911 cocked and unlocked.

When DEA agent Lee Paige shot himself with his striker-fired pistol that had no manual safety he had to make only one mistake -- he put his finger on the trigger when it should not have been placed there. When Tex Grebner shot himself with his 1911, he had to make two mistakes -- he deactivated the safety lock too soon, and he placed his finger on the trigger when it should not have been placed there.

One, of course, never relies on an external safety; ie, you never use the assumption that the safety is on to justify touching the trigger at the wrong time. It is merely an insurance policy against brainfarts and for safer reholstering. Striker-fired pistols without manual safeties, for example, have been known to go off on their own upon reholstering when a jacket drawstring finds its way inside the trigger guard during reholstering, or when a worn holster pinches the trigger. Such NDs cannot occur if an external safety lock is engaged prior to reholstering.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I consider the safety to be one of the controls of the gun. Much like the brake is one of the controls of my car. All those folks saying it is a matter of training are correct, it simply is.

Experienced drivers very, very rarely "forget" to use the brake, or the gas. Mistakes do sometimes happen but they are quite rare, overall. Because the amount of driving we do is constant training. After you get some experience, it becomes training below the conscious level, but its still training.

When it comes to guns, most people never get much beyond the "learner's permit" stage. They learn how to operate the machinery, and the rules of the road, but its not an automatic unthinking response the way it is with someone who has years of experience.

For those who say that safeties are "too small" easily missed, or your thumb could slip off, etc., your issues should be with the engineers who designed the lever, not the concept of a mechanical safety.
 
The issue is not if its striker-fired or not. Its about if you prefer or train on using a pistol with or without an external safety. There are also many hammer-fired pistols with ext safety.

Its totally up to you and whatever you are comfortable with. Many new shooters choose to have safeties for obvious reasons and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are a lefty, then an ambi safety lever is a must if you want to have the ext safety.
 
Striker-fired pistols are not exactly new - unless you consider 1895 as new. What is meant is what might be called long pull strikers, like the Glock, which have the same long pull associated with double action and hence are quite safe without a manual safety, the same as a DA revolver.

But other striker fired pistols, like the Luger, the Colt M1908 Vest Pocket and the Browning 1910 are what might be called single action striker-fired and really need a manual safety the same as a single action hammer fired pistol like the 1911.

Jim
 
If you want a striker-fired pistol without a safety that might be somewhat safer to carry you might consider the Walther P99, which has a DA/SA trigger action and a decocker.
 
I suspect those same shooters would feel differently if most guns only had slide stop levers and safeties suitable for lefties.
Click to expand...

Well said. My Father was left handed while I'm right handed. Watching him I thus shot a bow left handed. I also use a pool que left handed. I shot a handgun right handed but a rifle & shotgun left handed & did till after I came home from the military.
 
Oh golly yes, I do like the P99. Just got another in fact, the Compact. It seems to me to be just about the perfect small 9 for me.

On all other striker fired pistols I would prefer to have a thumb safety, although I admit the one on the FNS is a bit small. But I could work it when I tried.

It is the holstering that makes me nervous, especially into a holster which is a little behind my hip and harder to observe, at least by this old gunner. That is why I like and carry the XD(s) guns (2 sizes :D).

I am able to remove pressure from the grip safety during the act of holstering and use my thumb to push the gun into the holster. If something is entangled in the trigger guard, no bangs will ensue.

Yeah, if I were perfectly trained and perfectly acting, then I would not have any problem. But perfection is not attained in any human activity. You listening, Gaston?

Bart Noir
 
I personally don't buy strikers with safeties. I feel they are safe to carry without one by design, (well the modern ones that are designed that way) so I don't feel the need for one.

Some people feel differently, and some makers after them the option of a safety.


I do feel that the partial tensioned strikers (Glock, FNS) are the safest striker trigger to carry without a safety, but a well designed pistol like the M&P with a fully tensioned striker is safe as well, just maybe a bit less margin of error.


It's more about how much you trust yourself, I feel... As I trust the gun and its passive safeties to do its job at not firing without someone pulling the trigger.



If you want a striker with a safety, in addition to the M&P, look at the FNSc, they have an option for a safety. I picked up a full size version sans safety, and really enjoy it. It shoots well, with a good trigger for a partial tensioned striker... Better out of the box than a stock Glock in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top