So I have a question about thumb safeties

[p238shooter]

Safety first, trigger second. I am a 1911 guy, practiced many hundreds of thousands of draws over the years. Thumb safety is just part of my draw, does not slow anything down. Same with my 870 pump, safety is on while looking for a target, clicked off on the way to my shoulder. Just my preferences of what I have practiced and fits me. Yep, I would have a problem drawing with other firearms that have the safeties the opposite direction or in a different place for example. I have some firearms I target shoot that have different safeties but I do not switch them up my everyday draw/carry with odd configurations.

That is why their are so many variations of firearms on the market, each of us has our own way we practice with the firearm of our choice. To me, that is the key, practice with what you carry or hunt with. Again, practice, practice, practice.

 

[JEVapa]

under distress you are more likely to botch the safety and a superior gun for self-defense does not need one.

It's all about your knowledge of the manual of arms of your weapons and your training with them. Disengaging or removing a manual safety for say, a 1911 or an AR pretty much falls into the stupid category.

The stated "delay" in flicking a safety off or on isn't noticeable by any human, even the user. If it is, you should probably go to a nursing home and not use any weapons because your turtle-like ninja moves will get you killed.

I'm just curious why it became acceptable on pistols but not rifles

Striker fired pistols still have safeties either internal or in the trigger like a Glock, or both.

A Beretta 92 has a manual safety/decocker but is DA/SA and when decocked, is considered safe in a holster with the safety off. This means with a 92F, you can be as fast as a Glock guy.

1911 either gets carried old school flap holster on an empty chamber or cocked and locked. It will still be as fast as a Glock guy (C&L)

 

[ricco]

It's not about forgetting the thumb safety, it's about missing it. If you're not in a panic hitting the thumb safety probably won't be a problem. Try it Force on Force before you make a decision, things change when you have a living breathing person chasing you down rather than shooting at a static piece of cardboard.

At my first FoF class in 2007 I watched one person throw his $150.00+ air soft gun down range after he had missed the thumb safety several times during knife attack drills. There were some who didn't get a good grip on the pistol and didn't hit the grip safety, they lost the drills too.

Over the years Glock style air soft and sim guns are about all you see at Force on Force classes, I'll let each person decide for themselves why that might be.

To each his own though, no one knows what works best for you but you.

 

[YetiSam]

Thumb Safety= Potential Delay as well as not needed. Practice all you want, still a delay against a non thumb safety. But to each their own!

What?

Thumb safety comes off as you clear holster before sights are on target if you have already made the decision to shoot. No delay in draw to first shot time.

If you haven't thumb stays on safety ready to disengage as you bring sights on target. No delay in low-ready (whatever position) to shot time.


It's 100% a training issue unless the thumb safety is a poor design.

 

[264killer]

Next question ? Will a pet rock return affection?

 

[KOPBET]

IMHO, training with a 1911 style pistol isn't just about training to take the thumb safety off before attempting to fire, but it is also about training to keep the thumb safety off (thumb on top) while blasting the target. If you don't (always) do it right, the thumb safety could likely engage just when you don't want it to. It happens.

 

[jhb33rd]

Practice, Practice, Practice…….. 1000 repetitions becomes a reaction. Drawing and disengaging the safety the same every time. 1000 repetitions becomes a reaction. How many here practice malfunction drills? Slap, rack, bang……. 1000 repetitions becomes a reaction. Again, it has been proven that in a stressful situation a person automatically reverts to training. You don't have to think about how or what your doing. Practice, Practice, Practice… (Webster Dictionary: Practice..... the customary, habitual, or expected procedure or way of doing of something.) By the way, did I mention Practice?

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Most modern handguns have internal safeties (such as firing pin blocks or drop safeties) that many rifles don't have. So the manual safety issue isn't the same from handgun to rifle.

I also agree that using a 1911 with the thumb safety engaged is a matter of training and isn't any slower to engage a target with than a striker fired gun without a safety.

 

[2busy]

Glock guys can't multitask?

 

[adamsredlines]

I feel most all of you have missed the point of the post but that's to be expected here. I didn't ask whether they were Superior or not or faster or not, I just laid out the reasons that I have heard for why some people use them and some people don't. The question is why has it become acceptable and engineered to not have thumb safeties on pistols but no one has done the same for modern rifles. If that is the way the tech is evolving and shooters preferences are evolving why did it stop at pistols.

Those that say it causes a delay, why is that delayed not acceptable on your pistol but it is acceptable on your rifle?