Weekend training: Carrying a gun with a safety

Welcome to the family brother @SteveKane and you are in the right place at the right time.

2 Likes

So from what I 've read and believe, use the gun you are comfortable with and train and then train some more.

4 Likes

@William621 - Welcome to the Community!
You have found good reading .
I’d like to see more people like you, who believe in this. :+1:

2 Likes

Welcome to the family brother @William621 and you are blessed to be here.

1 Like

I’m 5 years retired from 26 years in law enforcement and have substantial experience with firearms. My ccw has a manual external safety because that’s what I’m comfortable with. That said, there’s always something for me to learn. Whether, or not, one chooses to carry with a manual safety, training is critical. Your brain remembers your habits.

7 Likes

Just wanted to mention that the older Sig 320s do not have a manual safety.

2 Likes

Experience, yes. Train, yes!! But the mechanics of the firearm and the type of holster used also dictate (for me) the need for a safety.

My baseline: Always carry one in the pipe. Never eject to top off a mag once 1st round is chambered (another discussion). Only use adjustable rigid molded over-the-trigger holsters.

  • 1911 is cocked, thumb safety is a must. It’s second nature if you practice.
  • Baretta 92 with a G mod (decocker only - no safety). Wilson Combat tuned, 1st pull is very light.
  • Glock 45 and SIG P 365 X - both striker fired, no safety.
    Again… regardless of safety/no safety, they all require practice.

Over the past couple of years, I carry everywhere I can legally. Stupid people sometimes want to interact, talk guns, or anti-gun nuts call you out if they see you’re carrying. So I mostly CC with my SIG P365X (virtually undetected through clothes).

3 Likes

I’m up for expanding on the discussion or starting another one. I don’t re top off the mag on my rifles but with a handgun I generally feel that I need every round I can get in it.

4 Likes

That may be a good and interesting thread. I do top off, however few people reported feeding problem with topped off mag in Shield Plus.

4 Likes

I carry 1911s and Glocks interchangeably. I also train with a PAC timer. The difference between an accurate first shot between the Glocks and 1911s? Exactly ZERO time…

Train, train and train. Work yourself out of bad habits and things that steal your time between recognition of a threat and delivering that first shot. Sweeping off a well designed safety is not one of those.

6 Likes

I say it’s what you are comfortable with and it’s all about training. I dry fire train everyday and go to the range to shoot once a month. I’ve only been shooting for 6 months.
I can pull my SIG P365 from an IWB holster after pulling up my shirt, disengage my thumb safety, get on target, and get my first shot off (on target) in just 1.64 seconds. If I turn on my red laser then my time moves to 2.08 seconds.
The stats say 3 shots in 3 seconds in 3 yards. If you can train and establish your pull and shoot time to under 3 seconds you are in a good place. Just don’t let up and maintain that level of training.

“Don’t stop training until you get it right, then keep training until you can’t get it wrong”

3 Likes

Most of my experience is with guns, any type that have manual safties so it comes natual. Not an “extra” thing to do but something that happens at the same as you are bringing your piece on target, be it rifle, shotgun or handgun. I go cocked and locked except when I have my S&W J frame. I like that little gun and is easy to conceal comfortably. Everyone else should do what they feel comfortable and competent with

4 Likes

I eject and top off every magazine I use to load my CCW of the day and always when I train. I’ve been doing it for decades and have never had a single problem. Not saying your way is wrong, I’ve heard from others that it might be problematic. I’m just saying my experience has proven to me that it’s not, at least in any of the guns I’ve owned.

4 Likes

I am not opposed to Manuel safeties. I think they can be a good thing. I grew out of the manual safety after becoming more comfortable with my weapon handling.

To me there are two advantages to a manual safety. One is practical the other is just kinda tacticool.

The first reason is it is an extra barrier to safely reholster. You should never depend on a safety, but it is another layer to protect yourself if your shirt gets caught in the trigger guard.

The second is if someone takes your gun, they may not deactivate the safety if they try to use it against you. I saw this on an active self protect vid where a cop carrying a Barrera got his firearm taken away (should never happen) and the perp tried to shoot him but was unfamiliar with the Barrera safety. Had the cop been carrying a Glock, he’d have probably died. This isn’t a serious reason to consider.

I now prefer no safety. It’s one less thing to mess up under stress. I recognized mechanically speaking, a safety on a strikerfired gun adds no structural safety in the gun, it only holds the trigger from engaging the sear.

I think no safety is better, but having a safety helped me get comfortable carrying and reholstering. If you feel like you can skip that step, that’s better. If this is you HD gun, it also makes the gun easier to operate for your spouse or other family members who may need to access it when you are not around. My wife can shoot, but she doesn’t carry or train like I do. I still like her to have access to a gun. Having one without a safety is better because all she needs to do is chamber the round and pull the trigger (my HD gun stays in condition 3).

I wish I could take the safeties off my shields, but now I’m stuck with them. Nothing wrong with a safety as long as your willing to rep it over and over again. I don’t carry with a safety anymore unless I have to get my old carry gun out for its size.

2 Likes

In one of the other dozen threads we have about safeties, I remember mentioning that their real intended purpose is to prevent fratricide. Unlike a probable self-defense or home defense scenario, government agents (i.e. law enforcement, service members) will train regularly to shoot, move, and communicate in pairs or teams. That little switch gives them one extra level of certainty that they won’t shoot their buddy if, under the stress of an engagement, they fail the 4 cardinal safety rules.

Along similar lines, I think it (theoretically) gives departments and agencies an aura of limited liability should a government agent shoot the wrong person. They can argue that not only did the shooter squeeze the trigger, but he also manually switched off the safety(s).

In reality, I’m not sure how much difference it makes. As others have noted, it becomes an ingrained part of shooting. No one who has trained to the point of muscle memory thinks about flipping the safety, it’s just something that happens when they are prepared to take a shot.

And that last sentence is why I don’t understand why so many people want to argue about safety switches. Either a pistol has it or it doesn’t, who the heck cares? Train with your pistol and let other people train with theirs.

3 Likes

Welcome to the family brother @Robert1094 and God bless you.

1 Like

Muscle Memory, Muscle Memory, Muscle Memory.

4 Likes

So far I haven’t had that problem thank God. I top off my mag with one in the chamber on my Shield Plus and no problems.

3 Likes

I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on this.

4 Likes

Think this used to be an issue years ago with older style magazines with straight military style feed lips and guns with weak older mag springs. I have some old Colt and Mil-Spec 7 round 1911 mags that are twitchy and require you to baby them but modern magazines and premium magazines should feed empty beer cans if you need them to.

Like I said before I have ignored this rule forever topping off every mag I own after loading one in the chamber. If it causes an issue it’s a mag problem and the mag gets either fixed or discarded and replaced.

4 Likes