Just a question I am wondering. I have met people who have had problems with their safeties due to not being able to fire fast enough due to having their safety on...One was my grandpa who had a break in and he had his safety on and wasn't able to shoot the guy in his house that had a knife, instead the guy got away because my grandpas initial reaction after having spent years in the military was to raise the gun and pull the trigger, however no bullet came out and the guy ran.

So I just want to see what you guys think about safeties, I personally would never have a safety activated unless I had kids or someone was visiting that I thought was irresponsible. Please give your opinion.

Well I think this is an issue that has to do with training and familiarty with your weapon. I would never recommend leaveing the safety off with a round in the chamber, now having said that, I would recommend having a revolver as a primary home defense weapon and resting the hammer on an empty chamber. Semi-auto handguns are generally the prefered weapon of choice these days due to round capacity and I my self am a big 1911.45acp fan. I can't stress enough the need for training and practice,practice,practice this way your response in a defense situation becomes second nature.When you are old enough to purchase and own a handgun please get training, if there are handguns in the home now ask your father or grandfather to familiarize you with the guns and to take you to a training class. Gun safety is paramount to smart gun ownership. I hope I have been of help to you in answering your question.

Yes I agree thank you! I just want to see what different people think about this matter, to see the difference in opinions about safeties.

He's right training and familiarity is a huge factor.
You need to know where the safety is and be able to flip it off as an almost subconscious gesture. Safety is a useful tool when you're not comfortable with people who may be around the firearm.

I think this should really be evaluated in light of the area where you are in. For example if I am going to concealed carry my gun I would not have a safety on (assuming Glocks had an external safety), however if I was at home the pistol would be locked up if not on me or in my nightstand at night which alleviates that problem. Rifle or shotgun wise I think you would keep it on in a cold environment but if you have reason to think you'll be using it soon by all means leave it off. In a home situation like Sergeant Russell said I would leave it on, but you do have to train to have reflex take it off. However if you bring kids into the equation the guns go in the safe unless they are on my person. In the end though your brain is the ultimate safety, train it that way.

Just a few interesting facts for you Glock fans. Did you know that Glock started out in 1963 as a curtain rod manufacturer, and that Glock beat S&W to the punch by offering a model in .40S&W before smith did and last the Glock18 select fire has been around since 1986. I found these little tidbits on good old wiki, I myself have never really liked the Glock because it feels strange to me. I carry a compact 1911 as my concealed peace and I carry it in condition one with a round chambered and thumb safety engaged. Now I have been carrying a 1911 that way for over 28yrs and flipping the safety off at the draw has become automatic for me. I also use a number of other pistols that I have trained and practiced with but I stick to my most familiar weapon for everyday carry.

What is the point of a safety?
To prevent the potentially harmful accidental discharge of a firearm.
This primarily means "dropping it" or "banging it against something" or "slipping sear".
A safety is NOT for fire control. That's what your trigger finger is for...

If you're carrying a weapon with an external safety on you, why would you take the chance of it blowing a hole in your thigh or buttock or hip because you clobbered a doorframe with it while you walked through? I mean... didn't we just establish that that's the POINT of a safety? to prevent potentially harmful accidental discharge?

Go with in-trigger safeties or grip safeties and you don't have to worry about accidental discharge, nor about the added time to flick it off before engaging an enemy.

Storing it around little ones is another matter...

Well TomBob that's why I go with the 1911 because it has a thumb safety and a grip safety, I do admit that the in trigger safety configuration is great though.

XD's have a trigger safety like a glock and also a grip safety like a 1911. Best and most secure combination there is, IMO.

the only time it was a problem is when i was going for 3 clay pigions (2 machine 1 hand), the safty was on so i didnt ever try to get one, i got all three next time (with a mossburg maverick with 3 shots)

There is no such thing as bad safety.

I personally cannot thing of anytime in which not to use the safety on your primary... Although i will admit that we carried our M9s with the safety off

That is one of the things I like about hte XD a lot, plus the fact that you can feel just past the chamber and behind the hammer wether the gun is loaded and if it is cocked, I havent seen this option in too many guns that I have fired.

Glocks have a loaded chamber indicator. It is a raised step on the side of the extractor. When the chamber is empty it is flush with the slide. When there is a round in the chamber it is raised and can easily be felt with the index finger while maintaining a proper firing grip. XDs like Glocks are striker fired pistols, no hammers. With the XD the striker protrudes from the rear of the slide plate to provide both tactile and visual indicators of its position. With Glocks, the striker isn't "cocked". It doesn't move back until the trigger is pulled. So if the trigger is positioned in its forward most position you know it is ready to go.


On Safeties...... proper training is the answer. I remember reading an article written by Massad Ayoob many moons ago where he cited an incident where a weapon safety saved a police officers life. A suspect managed to wrestle an officer's Colt 1911 out of his holster. He then tried to use it to shoot the officer but not knowing how to operate the thumb safety, he could not get the gun to fire. He fled and was found several blocks away still unable to figure out how to get the gun to fire and was arrested. I had a friend get into a scuffle with some drunken buddy(wanting to shoot it off for the 4th of July several years ago) at a party over a Browning Hi-power. He immediately ejected the magazine when the guy went for his gun. Browning Hi-powers have a magazine safety. If the magazine is not in the gun it will not fire regardless of whether there is a round in the chamber or not.

I have seen a safety on a Leinad Cobray M11/9mm fail. It bent in half inside the frame allowing the trigger bar to move down enough for the gun to fire and thus sending a bullet into my buddies kitchen cabinet. While some could say it was an AD since it was a mechanical failure of the safety, I still say it was an ND since he never should have had his finger in the trigger guard to begin with. Fortunately no one was injured. Again as other posters have said... proper training is the answer. If it has a safety, familiarize yourself with it and use it accordingly.

what kind of firearm was it?

guessing since it was your grandfather and he was in the military he would have been issued a 1911 in service most likely so it probobly would not have beed a 1911 he had trouble with i imagein?
the way i was tought to opperate a 1911 witch from what i understand is the way most law enforcement agencys that issue them teach and the military taught when they were issue (my grandfather was also in the military and tought me how to shoot on his 1911 ) isto first thing when you draw your pistol once its cleared the holster but before is even shoulder level is thumb the safty to off then squeeze the grip saftey right before its eye level the reasoning behind that sequence is your not drawing it unless you intend to fire so you should have your target aquired before you even reach for your sidearm

We teach to disengage the safety as soon as the weapon meets your support hand and step 3

Army? One of the captains I used to work for talked about the differences between AF security forces and Army MP's, said the biggest sticking point was AF carries their pistols safety-on with a round in the chamber, Army carries safety-off with an empty chamber.

If memory serves.

I dont know of any unit that carried their pistols with an empty chamber overseas... When working the road stateside it is up to that particular units SOP... I will say that ive heard of individuals not abiding by certain SOP's

Officially we were to carry with the safety on... Certain things happen outside the wire when not under the watchful eyes of fobbits and the CSM =)

Ok, thanks, I havent fired too many glocks, one that I fired was a compact, I think it was a 2 1/2 inch barrel, and it had been tinkered with by my uncle and it didnt have any way to tell wether it was already loaded and ready to fire that you could feel, though it was probably because of his moddifications...


No, it wasnt a 1911, it was a .40 S&W, S&W automatic. I dont like the safety on it at all because it isnt easy to move because of how stubby it is and there is no thumb safety (it is a strange model).
It is kindof funny how he keeps it stored though, he cut the pocked out of some old jeans that he never wore and stapeled the pocket to his bed side and keeps his gun in the pocket.
Anyways, I didnt post this topic because I needed to be told about safeties, I just wanted to see other peoples opinions on them, and I guess considering that most of you prefer to have the safety on but to practice a lot, that you guys like safeties; I do to but I guess that it isnt likely that what happened to my grandpa to happen to anyone with a pistol they are more familiar with and that have practiced with it a lot.

This is the rifle section, not the pistol section. Can we get this moved to the pistol forum if the OP intent was pistols, or get on topic with rifles if that was the idea?


If we are talking about RIFLES, yes, I leave mine on while on patrol, it comes off when I am coming up on target to engage. Its the same thing I did in the service.

I always have my safety on when I have a round chambered. Yet another reason I am so in love with 1911s, easy access safety that I don't even have to think about. I have learned to raise my thumb during draw, which drags down the safety every time. I've also practiced a lot with drawing from a holster, disengaging the safety on draw, and firing as soon as I'm on target. It has become so routine that it isn't even a thought that passes through my mind. When I pick up the gun to fire, the safety is disengaged almost instantly, long before I even aim the gun without spending any extra time in the process.

With some other models, I honestly can't say that I would use the safety (Beretta, Sig) because they just are not in a convenient spot for me.

I think safety use goes hand in hand with ergonomics, and choosing the right weapon for your needs. I would never use a Beretta for the sole reason that I find it rediculously uncomfortable to engage the controls and that not something I want to deal with should I need to use it.

A safety is never an excuse for trigger control. Safeties can fail. Proper gun safety doesn't stop because the safety is on. /thread

Quite simply, I won't buy a gun that doesn't have a safety. It's one of my biggest complaints about the Glock, and one of the reason why I like 1911s. As for having problems with it, just practice drawing your sidearm, and thumbing the safety at the same time. Develop the muscle memory, and it won't be an issue.

I own a Sig P220 Combat and Sig P226 both are DA/SA and neither have an external safety, what they do have is a firing pin block which is disengaged by pulling the trigger, also the fact that they can be decocked and are now completely safe.

I don't think that safeties on a firearm are inherently good or bad. I do believe that some people rely upon them too much, and that becomes bad when it starts to replace common sense. Back in the day, I made the mistake of pulling the trigger on a rifle while the safety was engaged because I couldn't remember if it locked up the trigger of just disconnected it from the firing pin. Made a decent-sized crater in the ground in front of me. Lesson learned.

I do think they are useful, because once engaged, people who are not familiar with the battery of arms of that particular firearm (I think I used that term properly, if not, give me a heads up & I'll grab my Nomex pants) will not be able to operate the firearm. My younger brother is not familiar with how to operate an AR15-type weapon; I could hand him one with the selector on 'safe' and he would give up trying to shoot it after he found out that 'the trigger wasn't working right for some reason'. Same on an SKS or a Mauser 98-type rifle, most people who are not familiar with them (and would be more prone to causing an accident) wouldn't think to look for a safety where it's actually located, so they could pick up a fully loaded rifle of a similar type to those mentioned above, and not be able to use it as anything more than a club. For those of us who are vaguely familiar with different weapon systems, it wouldn't take too long to find the location of the safety by process of elimination (not on the bolt, not next to it, must be on the trigger guard). Just for the record, I do not advocate storing firearms loaded just because the safety is on.

I was taught that the first rule of firearms safety was to never point it at anything I did not intend to destroy. Or always keep it pointed in a safe direction. Or not point it at anything I didn't intend to shoot. Pick whichever version makes you feel the warmest and fuzziest inside. In that context, I always agree with having the safety on.

Specifically in the context of handguns, it gets a little confusing. I use a horizontal shoulder holster for a revolver. Therefore, if someone is standing behind me, technically I'm pointing it at them, and there isn't even a manual safety to engage. Bad? No, I don't think so. The hammer has to be cocked before it'll accidentally fall. If your particular firearm of choice can be carried with the hammer cocked, and you do so, I believe that you should engage a safety designed to block the hammer from striking the firing pin in the event that the sears slip and the hammer does fall. On a double-action automatic, if the hammer is not recessed and could be made to strike the firing pin should it hit the ground, a safety that only locks the trigger does no good. One that blocks the hammer (much like the single-action automatic situation above) would be appropriate. The poll was a little vague, I presume intentionally, but it really comes down to the individual firearm/situation when discussing mechanical safeties.