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BlueTrain · February 11, 2009, 12:18 PM

Well, here's some more thoughts on the subject. And by the way, when I mentioned that cocked and locked actually locked the slide in place and immovable when reholstering, I did mean with the safety on.

There are safeties and there are safeties. Some safeties I do not trust when applied to a cocked automatic. Not because they don't necessarily work so much as they don't seem especially positive. I include CZ automatics in this and as I recall, Luger's didn't have an especially positive safety either, not that I expect many people are relying on a 1909 design today. In any case, they seem too easy to push off safe.

Many automatics which otherwise have a very positive safety lever also have very small levers, mostly older ones. The Colt pocket autos have very small, flat ones, perhaps by design. Even the older 1911s had small ones (small sights, too). I know that oversized safeties are in vogue in some circles but there is a trade off in ease of manipulation and ease of unintentional manipulation. But I've mostly always been happy with the way things came from the factory if I wanted it to begin with.

But if something can be carried safely cocked and locked doesn't mean it has to be carried that way, even though I have carried one (LW Commander) that way and felt perfectly happy. Likewise, it doesn't follow that cocked and locked is necessarily that much faster. I suspect that reaction time is most of the time it takes anyway but I could be wrong. I often am. But I have found that Colt automatics (and similiar automatics) to be the easiest things to charge, manipulating the slide. CZs, on the other hand, are difficult (for me). Sometimes refinished slides can be real slick and that doesn't help. Glocks are easy to work, too.

At the moment I rely on a Walther that only has a decocker so I avoid the issue but not intentionally. I almost bought a Colt with only a decocker but that's another story. But speaking of Walthers, if you had an automatic with a Walther style safety (PPK, M39, M59 etc), would you carry it safety on or safety off?

February 11, 2009, 12:18 PM	#25
BlueTrain Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 6,141	Well, here's some more thoughts on the subject. And by the way, when I mentioned that cocked and locked actually locked the slide in place and immovable when reholstering, I did mean with the safety on. There are safeties and there are safeties. Some safeties I do not trust when applied to a cocked automatic. Not because they don't necessarily work so much as they don't seem especially positive. I include CZ automatics in this and as I recall, Luger's didn't have an especially positive safety either, not that I expect many people are relying on a 1909 design today. In any case, they seem too easy to push off safe. Many automatics which otherwise have a very positive safety lever also have very small levers, mostly older ones. The Colt pocket autos have very small, flat ones, perhaps by design. Even the older 1911s had small ones (small sights, too). I know that oversized safeties are in vogue in some circles but there is a trade off in ease of manipulation and ease of unintentional manipulation. But I've mostly always been happy with the way things came from the factory if I wanted it to begin with. But if something can be carried safely cocked and locked doesn't mean it has to be carried that way, even though I have carried one (LW Commander) that way and felt perfectly happy. Likewise, it doesn't follow that cocked and locked is necessarily that much faster. I suspect that reaction time is most of the time it takes anyway but I could be wrong. I often am. But I have found that Colt automatics (and similiar automatics) to be the easiest things to charge, manipulating the slide. CZs, on the other hand, are difficult (for me). Sometimes refinished slides can be real slick and that doesn't help. Glocks are easy to work, too. At the moment I rely on a Walther that only has a decocker so I avoid the issue but not intentionally. I almost bought a Colt with only a decocker but that's another story. But speaking of Walthers, if you had an automatic with a Walther style safety (PPK, M39, M59 etc), would you carry it safety on or safety off? __________________ Shoot low, sheriff. They're riding Shetlands! Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, and return us to our own beloved homes! Buy War Bonds.