Striker Manual Safety: when to use?

[HCM]

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....i-Glock-Safety

I wish that was a more common modification, or that Glock would make a useable safety. That combined with an SCD would be 1911/Hi-Power style. Engage the safety and then ride the hammer/SCD.


The M&P is the best safety on a striker I’ve found, but it’s still not great in my opinion.

Love to try one.....

I can only imagine the shock and discust on people's faces seeing a manual safety on a Glock.

I had a guy shame me for an SCD.....

I'm not opposed to the IDEA of a manual safety on a Glock but having actually shot a gun so equipped, the D&L/Cominolli Glock Safety is a mushy, useless ball of suck.

Glock has made at least two versions of a thumb safety model for foreign LE contracts and they made one with a cross bolt/AUG type safety (same type as on the L85 Rifle) for the UK pistol trials that wound up being won by the standard G17 Gen 4.

[Yute]

They made one with a cross bolt/AUG type safety (same type as on the L85 Rifle)

Oof. Part of my soul died reading that.

[TheNewbie]

I'm not opposed to the IDEA of a manual safety on a Glock but having actually shot a gun so equipped, the D&L/Cominolli Glock Safety is a mushy, useless ball of suck.

Glock has made at least two versions of a thumb safety model for foreign LE contracts and they made one with a cross bolt/AUG type safety (same type as on the L85 Rifle) for the UK pistol trials that wound up being won by the standard G17 Gen 4.

Right. My wish is for a quality thumb safety.


Why companies cannot execute this is somewhat of a mystery.


You shot the D&L version that DocGKR posted about? Not the original version?

[98z28]

Caveat: I have limited experience and training compared to many here, including those who have already commented. I spent seven years on the street as a LEO, attended three instructor-level courses (FBI Police Firearms Instructor, NRA LE Tactical Shooting Instructor, and Givens Instructor Development Course), and worked as a firearms instructor the last five years I was in LE (many here know exactly what that is worth...not much). None of the courses I attended specifically addressed manual safety use on a handgun. The policy I have adopted comes from reading people such as ToddG, PatMac, DocGKR, Mas, Bolke, Dobbs, etc., comparing notes with other manual safety users, spending time thinking about it, and from trial and error on the street (which happens quite a bit, unfortunately). That puts me on the bottom rung of training and experience around here, so take what I offer with a significant grain of salt.

I am a fan of ergonomic manual safeties on handguns. I could choose to carry just about any duty handgun I wanted the last five years I was in LE, and I chose to use an M&P - mostly for the manual safety. I even used a manual safety-equipped P30L with light LEM for a while, but I had trouble sourcing (and affording!!!) a second for training, so I switched to the M&P before long.

I fall squarely in the camp of On Target/Off Safe, Off Target/Off Safe. If I am drawing to shoot, the safety comes off as the gun rotates towards the target. The draw count depends on who's draw you adopt, but it is generally at the pectoral index where you could shoot from retention. If drawing to ready, the safety stays on. If extending from ready (to shoot), the safety comes off at the beginning of that motion. When the sights come off target, the safety goes back on - including for reloads. I know many people chose to not re-safe a handgun when reloading or moving in the middle of a stage. My thoughts on this have already been stated in this thread: I want to actively manage the safety rather than expect it to be off when I need to shoot. I also want the extra layer of security if I end up having to move or communicate in the middle of a task, such as reloading. Training to swipe the safety off every time the sight are returning to target ingrains that motion and (I hope) reduces the probability of mistakenly leaving the gun on safe when it's time to shoot.

On the P320 specifically, the safety is stiffer and shorter than the M&P and most 1911s. To click it on, it helps to make sure you are contacting the safety as far out on the lever as you can (the portion earnest the muzzle). That gives you as much mechanical leverage as possible to click in up. I struggled with it for about the first ten minutes. When I started making sure I was lifting up at the far end of the lever, it became easier and the motion quickly became automatic.

[revchuck38]

@98z28 - Regarding applying the safety during a reload, do you do it with a slidelock reload as well as with a slide-forward reload?

[98z28]

As a matter of habit, yes.

At slide lock, the safety goes on as the sights come off target and while I reach for a mag. I press the magazine release, load a new mag, and release the slide. If the sights are going back on target, the safety comes back off. If I'm going to a ready position, the safety stays on.

It's worth noting that I don't think this would work well with limited practice. It's a choreographed dance that takes regular practice to maintain.

[Erick Gelhaus]

And, to ad to 98z28's thoughts - I can apply the thumb safety with an M&P but not with a 1911.

[HCM]

Right. My wish is for a quality thumb safety.


Why companies cannot execute this is somewhat of a mystery.


You shot the D&L version that DocGKR posted about? Not the original version?

I shot the original.

[Wendell]

...20 years ago people would have shit themselves if someone holstered a 92 still cocked. I don't see the difference between that and a modern fully tensioned SF pistol. (Yes I know a cocked gun has internal safeties that are disabled but I'm making a point)

I remember Jeff Cooper writing about the 92F (or M9); if I recall correctly, he wasn't a fan of DA (or DA/SA) and he suggested that if someone really needed to carry one, carry in 'condition zero' was probably the best way to do it.

[Bucky]

I remember Jeff Cooper writing about the 92F (or M9); if I recall correctly, he wasn't a fan of DA (or DA/SA) and he suggested that if someone really needed to carry one, carry in 'condition zero' was probably the best way to do it.

Honestly, would carrying a 92 in that condition be any less safe that a P320?