Do you use a safety or no safety on your firearm?

[gaseousclay]

I ask because my S&W m&p 2.0 is the no safety variant, but as it applies to self defense, I wouldn't want to forget to disengage the safety when fear and adrenaline are pumping and seconds count. I think this boils down to proper training and muscle memory if i'm not mistaken.

My biggest concern though is the firearm discharging when conceal carrying. I'm not sure how often this happens but the last thing i'd want is the gun going off by accident.

So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?

[Catchabullet]

I use both but I normally use a safety as I carry a 1911 typically. I have other carry guns but have been carrying the 1911 for 12 years. It's a training trait

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[TXAZ]

Primary Sig 229 has a decocker but no safety.
LC9s has a safety judiciously used.

[GarandTd]

I've always been a manual safety kind of guy, but ironically, the two guns I carry have no manual safety. I have not worried about accidental(neg) discharge. A good holster and proper gun handling should negate those concerns. If a person trains with a safety, I don't see it as a liability. I do use the safeties on the guns that have them.

[lee n. field]

Originally Posted by gaseousclay

I ask because my S&W m&p 2.0 is the no safety variant, but as it applies to self defense, I wouldn't want to forget to disengage the safety when fear and adrenaline are pumping and seconds count. I think this boils down to proper training and muscle memory if i'm not mistaken.

My biggest concern though is the firearm discharging when conceal carrying. I'm not sure how often this happens but the last thing i'd want is the gun going off by accident.

So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?

Those times when I carry a semiauto, it's usually an XDS, so no manual safety.

That said, one of the reasons I usually will carry a snubby is that it's less liable to an unintentional, "brain fart" type discharge.

[ghbucky]

My EDC is an XDS as well. No safety.

Practice, practice practice practice drawing and trigger discipline. That beats any safety configuration out there.

[RetiredMajor]

EDC is a Kahr PM9......I'm the safety!

[burrhead]

Draw quickly, reholster slowly.

[jmr40]

My thoughts. If a handgun is carried in a proper holster that covers the trigger I have no issue at all with no safety. This pretty much covers all LE and explains why Glocks and similar guns with no safety are perfectly fine. I have no issues with me carrying in a holster with no safety.

But as a non-LE citizen I often keep a gun in a night stand or console of a vehicle. In that role it is near impossible to access the gun without using both hands to get it out of a holster. I find it quicker to leave the chamber empty on a Glock and chamber a round when needed. OR... use a gun with a manual safety, DA/SA, or DOA action.

I've been a Glock guy for a long time, but there are several options now for modern striker fired pistols with a safety. I've never cared for DA/SA, or true DAO pistols.

I'm moving in that direction. I have a couple of 1st gen M&P's with safeties that I had an APEX trigger installed. The triggers come very near matching my 1911's and are very accurate. With a trigger pull that light and short I'd not carry them without a safety.

I'm also quite fond of my Sig M17 that has a safety as well as the 365 with a safety.

I've also shot a 1911 for years so the concept of flipping the safety off is natural for me. I can see where many younger guys who have only used Glock style triggers with no safety might be concerned about forgetting the safety. It might be best to stick with one type or the other, at least for a while.

[mk70ss]

No safety on my carry guns. SA Hellcat and Sig229.

[GarandTd]

I have avoided certain guns because their safety operates differently than the rest of my safeties. (Ruger SR22)

[4V50 Gary]

On a Sig P220, it is decocked w/round in chamber.
On a 1911, cocked and locked w/round in chamber.
On a CZ-75 (early model w/out decocking safety), hammer on half cock (safety notch) and round in chamber.

As is, if I were to carry anything, it's ready to go.

[zukiphile]

Originally Posted by gaseousclay

So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?

Disclaimer: Although I speak with people who train others and people who are very interested in hand-to-hand martial arts, and I respect the experiences that lead those people to those opinions, theirs is not my interest or experience.

The question above seems to arise out of Glock use. Before that when I talked to pistol shooters there were revolver guys and 1911 guys. Revolver guys didn't have a safety lock, but a long pull 12 pound double action trigger seemed to provide sufficient mechanical safety. A 1911 had a great safety lock, and 1911 guys all used them, because they were easy to use and the trigger was light enough that holstering or carrying a cocked 1911 safety off sounds like a recipe for injury.

I was OK with both in concept, though I've never really warmed to revolvers.

Then about 30 years ago, someone hands me a Glock. I have never been so profoundly uncomfortable with a pistol in my hand. A five to seven pound trigger with short travel and no safety lock struck me as a broken 1911.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and I have people telling me how foolish it is to have a thumb safety because "that's going to get you killed in a fight" and how I should appendix carry so if I'm on the ground grappling, I can get to it more readily. Whether it's age or a life not geared toward physical resolution of difficulties, I can't make the jump to an unlocked firearm pointed at parts I don't want to destroy.

In my opinion, a pistol with a nice trigger deserves a mechanically nice safety lock, easy to use in both directions. If the priority were on pistol use during a wrestling match, DAO or DA/DS might be an option.

Whichever option I chose for defense, I would want that to be the only format I used. Just as I wouldn't hop into a right hand drive car on Mondays and Thursdays and drive on the left hand side of the road, then use a left hand drive car and drive on the right side of the road the other days, I wouldn't tamper with the automaticity that accompanies proficiency with a single format.

I love the range of choice and value the modern market offers. At some point, one has to be comfortable enough with his own choice to give it his focus and develop it.

[pete2]

I carry a revolver as a rule, if I carry a Semi unless it's a D/A-S/A it will have the safety on. I have a G19, it has a 4-1/2# pull. This is too light for me to carry without a safety, prolly gonna sell and get an M&P With a safety.

[RickB]

I have guns without safeties, but never use them for defensive purposes.
I shot USPSA and IDPA matches every weekend for fifteen years, so forgetting to disengage the safety worries me as much as forgetting to pull the trigger.

There's also the matter of the gun possibly being in the hands of someone else, who doesn't immediately understand how the safety works, which is an extra element of safety for me; point-and-shoot is a two-way street.

If the carry method protects the trigger, there should be zero chance of the gun "going off"; when that phrase is used, it almost always means there's no certainty about who pulled the trigger, but someone did pull it. The chances of a gun firing itself, if you aren't messing with it, are about the same as spontaneous starting of a car without using the key.

[dshack]

My original EDC was a XDS also, and I truly enjoy shooting that handgun. I always felt confident and comfortable that the XDS was basically safe from accidental discharge for concealed carry.

My issue with shooting SA striker fired handguns at the range was that when I rushed to get shots off at target as quickly as possible, simulating a real life situation, I found that once in a while, due to the reduced trigger pull of the single action, my adrenaline would cause me to fire prematurely before I was 100% back on target.

I have slowly switched my semi-auto handguns over to the stainless steel/alloy Smith & Wesson 3rd gen models, which have a decocker and safety. While I am not a fan of carrying with a manual safety on, I do believe in carrying a semi-auto with one in the chamber and having the gun decocked gives me additional piece of mind, knowing that the first shot will be a deliberate double action pull with the less likelihood of being a negligent discharge before target acquisition.

To that end, my predominate EDC now is a 9mm DAO S&W 6946, 12+1, but I also occasionally carry a S&W 4516-2, decocked.

I guess being an old fart, and growing up learning to shoot with revolvers, I feel more comfortable with a hammer fired, double action trigger pull.

[FITASC]

No safeties for me; my finger and brain are the two most important.

[Aguila Blanca]

Safety.

I carry a 1911, with the safety engaged. When I was actively shooting in competition, I also shot a 1911. My thumb is conditioned to deactivate the safety as the gun rises from the draw. Muscle memory -- I don't have to think about it.

[ballardw]

Originally Posted by GarandTd

I have avoided certain guns because their safety operates differently than the rest of my safeties. (Ruger SR22)

Same here.

In my case replacing a Bersa with a Colt.
I use the safety but I don't have any interest in trying to remember which movement to make when stress might be involved.

[Pahoo]

So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?

The prescience of a physical safety or not, does not really concern me. I do my home-work and learn to work with what I have, at hand. I have other priorities in the selection of a firearm. ........

All forearms have safety features and procedures that should be used. Wish I could say the same for some folks .....

During our safety classes, we do not teach safety features. What we do teach, is to follow the four safe handling rules and if you have physical safeties present;
"Use them but "never" trust them". ....

Be Safe !!!

[gaseousclay]

All forearms have safety features and procedures that should be used. Wish I could say the same for some folks .....

During our safety classes, we do not teach safety features. What we do teach, is to follow the four safe handling rules and if you have physical safeties present;
"Use them but "never" trust them"

Agree on the safety rules being a prerequisite for any use of a firearm. One of the reasons that I chose a pistol w/o a safety is because of a video I watched from John Lovell, aka Warrior Poet Society. His argument against a safety may only apply to those that conceal carry, but I think it would also apply to any scenario where self defense is necessary, like in the home against an attacker. Of course, there is where proper training comes into play and exercising the 4 safety rules.

In my case, when I store my firearm in the safe I do not put a magazine in the firearm, but I do keep the magazine fully loaded. If somebody forced their way into my apartment all I would have to do is access my firearm, pop the magazine into the magwell, rack the slide and i'm good to go. The chance of a home invasion happening to me is incredibly low but if stress and fear are a factor, I don't want to have to think about whether or not my safety is engaged or not engaged. The other thing I think about is instances of conceal carry. I don't have a CCW but I do have an irrational fear of shooting myself, even though my Vedder Holster covers the trigger/trigger guard.

[Nathan]

Safety - XD, 1911, M&P, Shield

No safety - CW380.....might change to SA 911

Generally, I see the value in a thumb safety. I don’t see how no safety is a good thing.

[Pumpkin]

My carry is a 642 Smith
I have a 5" 2.0 Smith that has a safety and I use it.
I have both a 92 and a 96 Beretta that get carried hammer down, safety off, one in the chamber.

[totaldla]

Originally Posted by gaseousclay

I ask because my S&W m&p 2.0 is the no safety variant, but as it applies to self defense, I wouldn't want to forget to disengage the safety when fear and adrenaline are pumping and seconds count. I think this boils down to proper training and muscle memory if i'm not mistaken.

My biggest concern though is the firearm discharging when conceal carrying. I'm not sure how often this happens but the last thing i'd want is the gun going off by accident.

So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?

I use the "safety" between my ears. I carry the M&P40c 2.0 and I have no trouble keeping my boogerpicker off the trigger. But I can remember a little trepidation back in 1994 with my first Glock 19 - you'll get over it.

Btw, I really like the TEGE paddle holster.

[ammo.crafter]

CCW is a SIG SP2022 that has a decocker and no safety.

When carrying my Hi-Power, I use the slide lock like a 1911.