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A LONG time ago when the Witness line was fairly new, they came out with their first .45 version. Jan Libourel wrote one up for Gun World and noted that the safety would fly up and engage from recoil/slide reciprocation. He voiced the opinion that he might have been hitting the safety with his thumb and causing it to engage. Shortly thereafter, a friend bought one of the Witness .45s. We had read the Libourel article and took pains to avoid any contact of thumb with the underside or any portion of the safety lever. The safety regularly self engaged from enertia. Somebody figured out that the probable problem was that the spring used on the safety was the same as had been successful on the 9mm Witness and was not strong enough for the 45 recoil.
When my friend broached the subject with the head gunsmith at EAA he was informed that he was an idiot and that he was handling the pistol wrong and allowing his thumb to ride the bottom of the safety. Apparently the individual had read the Libourel article and adopted the obiter of Mr Libourel as a article of settled orthodoxy. It was certainly more convenient than addressing the actual problem.
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