Safety On or Off?

[Scutter01]

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Always carry with the safety on, in moments of panic and the lose of concentration a firearm without a safety can become your worst enemy especially with a bobble and drop with a grasp to regrip and pulling the trigger ending with a AD.

 

[sheepdog]

I do not currently own any guns with external safeties. However, i use to and always carried with the safety off. Just one less thing to think about when the S%#T hits the fan.

 

[LEaSH]

I remember the proposed ring/wrist safety. You know, that without a matching rf chip the gun would be inoperable?

Woohoo. I bet that would ruffle some feathers.

I can hear threads slamming closed at the mere thought.

 

[eldirector]

I remember seeing something about that. Not a terrible idea for LEOs. No way a perp could use your weapon against you.

For me - terrible idea. I'm not putting on a ring or something in a moment of panic. Also can't imagine how it works in a multi-gun, multi-adult household.

BTW: all factory-installed safeties on (XD40 and a revolver )

 

[esrice]

I remember the proposed ring/wrist safety. You know, that without a matching rf chip the gun would be inoperable?

This reminds me of the "thumb print activated" DE in the movie "Shoot 'em Up".

 

[AndersonIN]

Might as well carry a brick buddy...


But to each his own I guess...

Taurus PT92, decocked, safety off.

Come on now a brick can be useful!!!!

I'm the safety for my Glock!

 

[LEaSH]

Clark Howard did a blurb/bit story (couple nights ago) acknowledging at least one instince of a guy getting his finger lopped of by bad guys stealing his fancy car. The car might have been a benz, anyway that was secured by the car owners finger print.

Apparently it worked.

 

[ihateiraq]

i never carried my beretta on safe and it drove my squad leader absolutely nuts. rather than bothering w/ a safety ive practiced cocking the hammer on the way to the target. i carry a h&k w/ no safety now so the point is moot.

 

[rhino]

My Ky-Tac BraveHeart for my S&W 3914 won't allow holstering the gun with the safety "on," which is exactly the way I want it (i.e. safety should be "off" when holstered).

 

[Wabatuckian]

DA/SA - no safety.

1911 - sometimes no safety, though this is rare. The CIA would run covert ops in 'Nam, Cambodia and Laos with Bowie style knives and 1911 pistols carried with the thumb safety off immediately before insertion.

Not the safest practice, but their hammer hooks were .030" compared to the .020" to .025" popular today, so the sear block wasn't as critical.

Josh <><

 

[Indecision]

Safety on.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Here is my question to you. How do you carry? With the Safety On or Off?

I'm not talking about a 1911 here, I'm talking a double/single action (i.e. Beretta) style handgun. Lets hear it.

Well the 92FS, has a safety/decocker. So you lock the slide to the rear, insert your mag, release the slide, decock and you are ready to go. So my 92FS gets loaded then decocked. Carried in the service, so I'm used to the first shot being double action then all other rounds being single action. As for my Xd cocked, and locked. I will not carry any gun, that is manual safety only. To me it's one more action, that you must practice. If I ever have to use my gun, I do not want to have an oh @@@@ I forgot to take the safety off. My

 

[cce1302]

I remember this thread from last year.

 

[Phil502]

The author of this obviously acknowledges that there is no right or wrong answer and was actually taking a poll of opinions across the board.
Which implies that the "right" answer, if there was one, would be to carry however you are best left feeling confident, comfortable and responsible.
As with anything, enough training and practice can elevate your awareness and proficiency with anything, firearms included. It's been suggested that carrying with a safety engaged (if so equipped) will lead to a panic factor hang up in a time of need and cause you to to fail to perform with the weapon. That may be so in the case of the untrained inexperienced person who has not taken measures sufficient to ensure that drawing the pistol and disengaging the safety is all part of an automatic involuntary routine. If that were the case, then I would argue that in a panic "do or die" scenario of self defense, one would be apt to also forget to unsnap the thumb break as part of the draw, or for that matter to pull the trigger. Only an inexperienced individual would cite "forgetting to unlock the safety" as an excuse to need to carry w/o the safety engaged. Other than that it's purely a matter of comfort and confidence, nothing more.
Shall we forget the fellow in PA who, while attending a gun show dropped his revolver while in the restroom and it landed on the hammer spur firing the weapon? All the "long D/A trigger pull in the world didn't stop that Unintentional Discharge from happening did it? (notice UD, not ND...big difference)
I have noticed magazine editors testing D/A only pistols for reliability and safety by loading dummy rounds of brass and primer only loaded in the chamber and dropping the test pieces from varying heights onto varying surfaces to see if they would indeed fire. I have not read of one doing so yet, but the point is, if they knew that 100% for certain they won't go off, then why trouble themselves with the dummy primed round? Heck just toss in a live hot round and start tossing it on the ground and call it a day right? Or for that matter why bother testing that aspect at all if it's a foregone conclusion that they simply can't and won't go off unless intended? No testing would be necessary.
PS: I carry both ways depending on what side of the bed I crawl out of that day

Because you carry both ways, safety on or off depending on how you get out of bed, is it your habit mentally to draw your weapon and attempt to disengage the safety, no matter whether it's on or off?

 

[Jack Ryan]

I always carry with the safety on. Have you ever dropped your pants in the can without thinking and had your carry drop to the floor?

NO.

 

[Jack Ryan]

DA/SA - no safety.

1911 - sometimes no safety, though this is rare. The CIA would run covert ops in 'Nam, Cambodia and Laos with Bowie style knives and 1911 pistols carried with the thumb safety off immediately before insertion.

Not the safest practice, but their hammer hooks were .030" compared to the .020" to .025" popular today, so the sear block wasn't as critical.

Josh <><

Does this mean I need to strap up my Bowie knife to before I run to the quick stop for a gallon of milk?

 

[ihateiraq]

Does this mean I need to strap up my Bowie knife to before I run to the quick stop for a gallon of milk?

youre not doing that now?

 

[GuyRelford]

youre not doing that now?

I llike a Cold Steel Tonto myself.

 

[Jack Ryan]

youre not doing that now?

I've been keeping several Bowie knives strategicly place about my home, work, and vehicles. I normally only carry my favorite one from the time I get up until I go to bed on weekdays. Starting at noon on Fridays I carry around the clock with an Arkansa toothpick in my boot as a back up to my Bowie knife. I have to carry it on my weak side so it doesn't clang on the CS 45 I carry in an ankle holster on my strong side as a back up to my Ruger 480 I open carry in a tied down drop holster.

I read somewhere on the internets that's the way Israeli special forces do it. I figure if it's good enough for them it should be just peachy dandy for a trip to K Mart and back with the little missus.

She's kind of touchy about the issue. Is any one else's wife as unreasonable as this about the whole self defense issue? Uncle Ted suggested I just dump her but I think I can bring her around if I just keeping educating her with all the stuff I been learn'n.