SAFETY: ON or OFF?

I know. I keep mine on. Talking to someone who is under the assumption that If it is on that you waste time if you need to draw and fire. I tell him that misfires have happened that way. He doesn't think it's a big deal'

IMPUT

It all depends on the type of gun you have, your carry method, if you're partnered up, where you are.

On a 1911, safety on or locked and loaded. On a Kel-tec the safety is your brain.

I always keep my guns on safe. You can flick the safety as you draw and it doesn't take any extra time. I know there are those out there that believe your finger is your safety.

Badger Johnson said:

It all depends on the type of gun you have, your carry method, if you're partnered up, where you are.

On a 1911, safety on or locked and loaded. On a Kel-tec the safety is your brain.

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He said it is a Ruger Sr9c.

William Fisher said:

He said it is a Ruger Sr9c.

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If it has a safety, use it. If it doesn't have a safety, there is no option nor need.

You don't need a safety on a striker fired pistol anymore than a DA revolver. The length of trigger pull is the safety, e.g., Glocks, XD/Ms. Any SA pistol with hammer should be carried cocked and locked. DAs can be carried hammer down, round in chamber. A decock is nice to have on them. I carry my 1911s and HPs cocked and locked, and by the time the gun is gripped by my second hand, the safety is off--finger off trigger until ready to shoot. It takes no extra time as it's part of the draw.

depends on what i am carrying on said day. My M&P has no safety, but my Ruger SR9 does, and the safety is VERY easy to get to, as I'm drawing from my holster.

Negligent discharges injuring others or self, are of course a possibility. But, it increases from there.

I imagine the Ruger handbook for that gun expressly recommends using the safety. Can you imagine the dollar signs in a plaintiff attorney's eyes if he finds a witness who is willing to repeat what the OPer told us here? "Ladies and gentleman of the jury, I have here the Ruger owner's manual..."

Imagine what a prosecutor might tell the grand jury. "Ladies and gentleman, I am seeking a manslaughter indictment because this was more than a tragic accident. It has come to our attention that the accused deliberately never used the thumb safety on his pistol. The manufacturer of the death weapon expressly recommends using the thumb safety. This is negligence. Negligence that resulted in a death..."


William Fisher,

You might point out that real pro's know the value of the safety. And, even they recognize they're only human and make mistakes. Whatever his own personal reason for thinking the safety gets in his way, he needs to practice flicking off the safety as the first step to pulling the trigger. With a little practice, it becomes part of the firing motions, just like only putting your finger inside the trigger guard when in the very act of actually firing the gun.

He does leave his finger along the frame of the gun until he is ready to fire, right?

My carry gun is a Ruger P89DC. No safety on it. Just a decocker.

I have an XDm and the act of holding the gun and pulling the trigger removes both safeties but for my wife's tcp the only safety is the long and somewhat heavy trigger pull. Personally I don't like to have to think about removing the safety as I feel that is one more place for you to potentially mess up at in a high stress situation.

My XD is the type with the manual and grip/trigger safeties, I leave the manual one off. My LCP has no safety besides the extra long trigger pull.

With SA/1911 , I prefer Condition 1.
With my DA/SA 845, I go hammer down, loaded chamber, safety on most of the time. I train with it to drop the safety on the draw. It doesnt slow me down,or cause me to fumble or anything. And I have had to draw it in a situation ,or two, under the duress, and it did not hamper my draw/speed in any way.

only gun i own that i use the safety on is my 1911. every other weapon is a DAO *no safety* or an SA/DA with at least a 8LB trigger pull, which is a safety in itself.

my beretta 92FS is a SA/DA and my holster takes the safety off when i snap the thumbsnap but with an almost 9LB SA trigger pull im not worried about the safety.

99% of my firearms also have a firing pin block that blocks the firing pin from striking the striker unless i pull the trigger all the way back....heck even my 1911 has one.......so unless im carrying the 1911 i usually dont bother . same idea as a safety on a revolver......NOT REQUIRED

edit- not to mention. my Brettas safety flips UP.which is a pain in the butt

William Fisher said:

He said it is a Ruger Sr9c.

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I know he said that, but being a forum sometimes we give a more comprehensive answer so that um, the other people reading can apply it to their case.

To summarize:

1. If it has a safety, use it. - add to that PRACTICE at the range and with snap-caps when employing a safety. Make sure your action is smooth if not that fast;
2. If it has a striker fire hammer, then the long trigger pull is the safety (etc.);
3. If it is a 1911, it's designed to carry C&L;
4. Did I mention practice?

Mines always locked and loaded, but the safety is always on. I can turn it off when drawing my firearm.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate them.

Of the four pistols that I have two of them have a safety that will engage when the guns are not cocked the other two are decocking levers only. All four of them are combo DA/SA.

Safety OFF on every handgun I own when it's being carried (and usually even when it's just sitting around at home or in my vehicle holster mounts.)

H&K P2000 = Has no manual safety. I do keep the hammer decocked though. Round in chamber.
USP = Has a manual safety, and that's a small part of why I'm looking to get rid of it. Hammer also decocked. Round in chamber.
XDm = No manual safety, as it should be. Striker fully cocked. Round in chamber. Trigger and grip safeties are more than sufficient.

The only weapon that I leave the safety engaged on when carrying is my AR.

Simply put, a properly holstered and functioning handgun of any modern vintage is NOT going to magically fire by itself. It took me a while to get used to that idea though. For the longest time I would carry the XDm with an empty chamber as a result.

If all of my guns were of the same design and warranted leaving the safety on, like a 1911, I would probably think otherwise. Since my carry gun can be any of the above three (and on occasion some others) and they're all different as far as safety mechanisms, action, etc. I would rather ALWAYS keep the safety off than to have to think remember under stress which gun I'm carrying and if I need to disengage a safety lever. It's bad enough that I alternate between non-retention IWB leather holsters, Blackhawk Serpas, and Safariland SLS paddle rigs. I don't need/want to add more variables than I've already got.

carry for myself said:

edit- not to mention. my Brettas safety flips UP.which is a pain in the butt

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And that right there is why I will NEVER own one. Nice guns, but the backwards safety is something I won't even entertain. They even carried it over to the (now) Stoeger Cougar that my friend has. Drives me insane =)