Striker guns, technical question

[OhioGuy]

Why then did the US Army stipulate a manual thumb safety on their selected contract pistol? (Sig P320)

I have striker pistols w/o a thumb safety (XDs) and have put quite a few rounds through them, but I still favor a thumb safety.

The grip safety on the XD will prevent things like the above sweatshirt drawstring accident. I shoot 1911s a lot too, and I don't think the 1911 grip safety is a "far better" design than the XD gs. I have never had a failure to engage the gs on XDs but have had it happen with 1911s with a full grip on pistols with no beavertail hump. And I'm not the only one that this has happened to.

Also, I don't see how the gs on the XD can prevent the gun from firing when you want it to fire. This simply has never happened to me with an XD but it has with some 1911s.

I agree with the grip safety. I carry an XD Subcompact regularly and have had a failure to fire...once...when I first used it... because it was the first gun I shot and I wasn't gripping properly.

I actually like the grip safety a lot because it's automatically disengaged when you need it to be, but it protects against user error (at least, can) when holstering.

I have accidentally engaged the thumb safety on M&P models before, until I started resting my thumb across the safety.

If I had a thumb safety on a pistol, I probably would engaged when holstering but then carry disengaged.

 

[OhioGuy]

I blew a lunch hour and some cash this week at a range just trying out different striker guns. Tried the latest G19, S&W, CZ and Walther offerings. At my skill level, which wouldn't make for a very interesting YouTube channel, I can't say I really noticed a heckuva lot of difference among any of them. The Glock's trigger was the stiffest, the Walther's the shortest, the M&P's the "roundest" and otherwise I can't say I really shot better with any due to trigger differences. The Walther feels the best in my hand and I did the best with it. On a different day it could easily have been different. Oh, and I had my XD with me and did about the same with it, too.

Were I concerned about the risks of hitting the trigger while inserting into a holster, I think I'd just avoid strikers entirely except the XD because of the grip safety. Nothing about any of these guns made me think the Glock (etc.) would be any less likely to "go off" due to a misplaced finger or foreign object than the Walther (etc.). None of these triggers take much effort to press.

I also shot a PX4 DA/SA, because it was there, and I didn't want to go back to work yet. That one actually had a bit of character (maybe it's the "face only its mother could love" thing). Oddly enough, I did just as well with it despite hardly every having shot a DA trigger before.

Clearly I need to buy all of them.

 

[SA1911]

Buy a 1911-A1 or Sig "P" series.

 

[Amegatek]

Appendix Carry was mentioned

There's also some other stuff in the area of femoral arteries that is pretty important... hence my reason for no appendix carry!

 

[micromontenegro]

The only true, single-action striker (it has a safety) was a Walther (can’t remember the model), and it didn’t sell.

Millions of Lugers, Brownings, etc are rolling on their graves.

 

[Sharkbite]

Were I concerned about the risks of hitting the trigger while inserting into a holster, I think I'd just avoid strikers entirely except the XD because of the grip safety.

How does the grip safety help? You have a grip on the gun when holstering,
Or you should. So, the grip safety is depressed.

 

[OhioGuy]

How does the grip safety help? You have a grip on the gun when holstering,
Or you should. So, the grip safety is depressed.

I keep my thumb on the back of the slide when holstering, and the grip safety is not depressed. It's the same way I holster a hammer gun with my thumb on the hammer.

When drawing, yes, I have a firing grip and so the gun is as hot as any other.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

The only true, single-action striker (it has a safety) was a Walther (can’t remember the model), and it didn’t sell.

As others have noted, there are OTHER SA strikers. And the Walthers (and, I think, the similar SW99) were true DA/SA models, capable of cocked and locked, or full double action if decocked. (The Walters/SW99 had GREAT triggers, so if they didn't sell, it wasn't because they were striker-fired, their action type. Walther has NEVER sold a lot of guns in the U.S... They may have been TOO innovative at a time when striker-designs were just starting to get acceptance.)

Most of the more popular striker-fired guns are sometimes called "modified double action" guns, because pulling the trigger alone isn't sufficient -- the striker must be partially loaded (charged) by slide movement first. That's why many striker-fired guns aren't able to restrike if there's a bad primer hit: the slide must be moved before the trigger will function. Some of these guns are available with slide safeties, others are available with grip safeties, and some have trigger safeties. Calling these same guns "single action" isn't accurate either, as the striker or hammer spring must also be partially charged by trigger movement. (S&W did a some hammer-fired guns that worked this way in their 3rd Gen models -- although called DA/SA, there was no second-strike capability.)

As to the safety of any of these guns: whether they're striker-fired or hammer-fired, other aspects of their designs (rather than what makes the firing pin/striker move) are the key factors in determining whether the gun is safe or not...