To "safety" or not?

[Robinson]

I don't have the military experience that you guys have, but when I owned an AR I treated the safety the same as on a 1911. Always on except when firing.

[Mike C]

Do you think there should be? I tend to gravitate towards yes.

Not LES, but I would go with a yes. I would liken it to dropping a gun. DQ in my book.

[Jeep]

I leave it to others on what works in competition but in the real world put the safety on when you are moving. This is going to be even more important if you don't have a military 8 pound (or whatever) trigger.

[Mr Pink]

I see that well trained shooters seem to think alike This is contrary to some of the "interesting' comments on the youtube channel. Any helpful comments on there would greatly be appreciated!

[Clobbersaurus]

In courses I always safety (and decock my TDA guns) when moving or not firing.

In competition I only decock my Beretta when I’m told to unload and show clear.

[ImNobody]

We had an officer a shoot a dog with a rifle at a dope house when a thug inside decided to release the hounds. He never put the rifle on safe, about 45 minutes later the officers slung rifle's trigger and duty belt interfaced, and fired a round into the ground. There was a lack of training time and enforcement of safe practice issues that contributed to that.

If it's not a subconscious habit to always the put the rifle on safe, at some point it's not going to happen when it really needs to happen in a stressful situation. Always putting the rifle on safe helps prevent those situations where we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

It's situations like this that make it so important to use the safety on a rifle. We aren't talking about a handgun that is safely stored in a holster with the trigger covered. Rifles are going to have their triggers exposed and will inevitably be tossed or slung around with little regard to the trigger.

This is also why I absolutely despise the scene in Blackhawk down when Hoot says "this is my safety" and holds up his finger. Um, no. Your trigger is exposed and your gun flopping about your chest. That isn't safe in anyone's world...... Just my opinion obviously.... I'm sure many will disagree as that quote is often repeated by people who think they don't need to use a safety.

[BJXDS]

I always teach students to "safety" during movement. Something that was taught to me early in Special Forces. As I started getting more into competition, my desire to engage the safety became less desirable so that I could become faster. Later, I discovered that it didn't add more time. Here's an example:


Any thoughts or feedback on engaging the safety?

I am not SF BUT I like what you teach. The Safety is the first thing people should learn to operate.

Do you think there should be? I tend to gravitate towards yes.

YES

[gtae07]

Timely thread I have my first 3 gun competition tomorrow and using the safety on the rifle whenever I'm not on target is something I've been trying to work on. It's taking some mental effort; I don't really ever shoot pistols with safeties and the vast majority of my shooting lately (and all shooting on the move) has beeen handguns.

We'll see how it goes...

[El Cid]

I'll admit I didn't always safe the rifle during reloads until several years ago in a Pat Mac class. Now I know better. No sight picture? Rifle on safe.

[Redhat]

We had an officer a shoot a dog with a rifle at a dope house when a thug inside decided to release the hounds. He never put the rifle on safe, about 45 minutes later the officers slung rifle's trigger and duty belt interfaced, and fired a round into the ground. There was a lack of training time and enforcement of safe practice issues that contributed to that.

If it's not a subconscious habit to always the put the rifle on safe, at some point it's not going to happen when it really needs to happen in a stressful situation. Always putting the rifle on safe helps prevent those situations where we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

It doesn't help when guys let the rifle "hang" with the safety rubbing up against them or their gear either as it can get wiped off.