S&W Shield Safety ?

The only issue I have is it can get activated. And if you don't train to swipe it off every time regardless, you'll get a very silent sound when you expect a bang. I have both types and it has happened to me. So I'm not in the just leave it off camp. If it has a safety, train to use the safety. IMO

1KPerDay said:

If it has a safety, train to use the safety. IMO

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IMO also.
I do not have any striker fired handguns with manual safeties because;
a. I don't want one.
b. Few, if any, are lefty friendly.

Mine has the manual safety. I don't and won't use it. IMO it's so small and unobtrusive that you're unlikely to unintentionally engage it and may fail to disengage it during an oh **** event.

357smallbore said:

Leave it on the off position and it will be fine.

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Until it's on the moment you need to use the gun, and you haven't trained to turn it off, and you lose.

357smallbore said:

I get it.

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No, I don't think so.

If you need the gun, you're probably going to be dumping two weeks worth of adrenalin; that's not the moment to remember a relatively fine motor skill you haven't trained, on a lever that's already on the small side.

I'm wondering about the legal ramifications of neutralizing/removing the safety.

foxmeadow said:

I'm wondering about the legal ramifications of neutralizing/removing the safety.

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Shields without manual safeties don't cost that much, why bother?

Manual safeties on a pistol offend me on a personal level.

Practically, I can learn to live with it and have with various models. That said if given an easy no safety option I would rather that. My holster and training is my safety.

I have been carrying and training with a shield with a safety for a couple years. It hasn't been placed on safe once. No problems.

I would like to see an after market manufacturer develop a manual safety for the Shield with a different profile. I would want it to be easily manipulated by the shooter. It’s present profile is almost useless

Mine has a safety and I like it. It's unobtrusive and it's very positive and doesn't seem likely to get toggled on or off unexpectedly. I do think if a gun has a safety you should use it, and if you don't want to then you're better off with the version that doesn't have a safety at all. I know I'm an oddball here but I like a safety on a striker fired gun. The only handgun I would be comfortable with not having a manual safety would be one with a double action first pull, be it a revolver or autoloader.

Having used a 1911 since 1968 and training extensively with them I sweep where the safety would be on any semiauto I use, regardless of whether the pistol actually has one. I also practice with pistols at least twice per month so this good habit is regularly reinforced. That said, we all revert to our training in times of stress so if you're going to use some pistols with safeties, train for that so you'll sweep them off as a conditioned reflex. I find no loss in time from sweeping a non-existing safety in my striker-fired pistols or my DA/SA pistols.

YMMV but I doubt that it will.

I've had a Colt Gold Cup for more than 30 years. Right from the beginning, it never occurred to me not to use the thumb safety. It's on the same level as cocking a single action revolver. Neither have I needed an extended safety; the factory one has always worked fine. What is bad is a thumb safety that is physically difficult to manipulate or diverges from the Browning design in form or function.

357smallbore said:

I'm still in the camp of leave it off, and you are fine. I carry mine an awful lot. Never once has it magicly went to the on position. It takes a deliberate push to make it go to safe.

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^THIS^

I don't' believe the non-safety version was available when I bought mine so there was no other option. I've carried it lots and I've shot it lots. The safety has never once been engaged, accidentally or on purpose. Darn thing is so small, I wouldn't trust disengaging it under stress.

I've always carried any semi-auto that has a safety with it off (to date, I've only carried DA/SA autos or DAO autos, the latter of which have not had safety levers.) My first striker-fired, safety-equipped semi-auto that will be purchased for carry and/or HD duty will be the G2C Taurus I'll be ordering before the week is out. If I like it as a carry gun, it will also be carried safety-off.

BTW, I'm left-handed.

Jeff H said:

^THIS^

I don't' believe the non-safety version was available when I bought mine so there was no other option. I've carried it lots and I've shot it lots. The safety has never once been engaged, accidentally or on purpose. Darn thing is so small, I wouldn't trust disengaging it under stress.

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Same here! I'm a lefty and the only problem I've ever had is that I'll occasionally press the mag release when re-holstering. I've adjusted my holster location a bit and it seems to have fixed the issue...

A manual safety on a striker fire gun is like a blinker on a race car, it's not needed. But it does give some people comfort, and comfort is a big part of carrying a gun.
I do have two striker fire guns that have manual safeties, a FNS9 and a Sig P320 M17. I bought the FNS9 used in like new condition, it had not been fired, for $200 less then I could get a new one. The M17 I bought because I wanted a copy of what the military is issued. I like both guns but don't carry or plan to carry them. When I carry it's a striker fire without a manual safety.
Some will get into a debate on which is better, with or without manual safeties. But really there is no debate to be had, it's all about what you like are don't like and what you are comfortable with.

GunnyUSMC said:

A manual safety on a striker fire gun is like a blinker on a race car, it's not needed. But it does give some people comfort, and comfort is a big part of carrying a gun.

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Way back when the Kal-Tek P3-aT was new, my brother, step father and myself all bought one. After a few months, my step father told me he was trading it in for a 380 that had a manual safety. He just couldn't' get comfortable carrying even a DAO pistol without a safety. Different strokes....

Gunny

I also have two striker fired pistols that have manual safeties: a Steyr M9 and a Ruger SR9c. I don't care for the location of the M9's safety with it being inside the trigger guard and requiring your trigger finger to push upward on it to disengage it. Too much going on there in close proximity to the trigger to make me feel comfortable using it.

The safety on the SR9c is in a good location; it's just that it's a little too far back on the frame. It's kind of small and hard to reach, especially if you have small hands like I do. Again I feel better off not using it than to try and get it to work while still maintaining my grip on the gun.

bannockburn said:

I don't care for the location of the M9's safety with it being inside the trigger guard and requiring your trigger finger to push upward on it to disengage it. Too much going on there in close proximity to the trigger to make me feel comfortable using it.

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That’s a nice vintage Steyr you have there. The current models do not have manual safeties.

Jeff H said:

Way back when the Kal-Tek P3-aT was new, my brother, step father and myself all bought one. After a few months, my step father told me he was trading it in for a 380 that had a manual safety. He just couldn't' get comfortable carrying even a DAO pistol without a safety. Different strokes....

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I see this all the time. The gun you like will not always be the gun that someone else likes. What you think is the best thing since sliced bread, the other guy might not think it's worth making a sandwich with.

bannockburn said:

Gunny

I also have two striker fired pistols that have manual safeties: a Steyr M9 and a Ruger SR9c. I don't care for the location of the M9's safety with it being inside the trigger guard and requiring your trigger finger to push upward on it to disengage it. Too much going on there in close proximity to the trigger to make me feel comfortable using it.

The safety on the SR9c is in a good location; it's just that it's a little too far back on the frame. It's kind of small and hard to reach, especially if you have small hands like I do. Again I feel better off not using it than to try and get it to work while still maintaining my grip on the gun.

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I often tell people to go to the gun store and put their hands on a few different guns of the same type to see which feels better for them. Not only the grip, but where the controls are located. Not everyone's hands are the same size so, what feels good to you may not feel good to someone else.
If your gun has a manual safety and you don't want to use it, be sure that it has an internal safety like a firing pin block.
My advise is to find a gun that you like with the features you like and train with it.

I bought a Shield when the only model came with the manual safety, which I had no intention of using. In six years of carrying the Shield in a kydex holster the safety has never accidentally engaged.

Here is the twist to how I carry a Shield with a safety. When the Shield is in the holster and being carried, the safety is disengaged and the gun is ready for immediate use. When I remove the gun from the holster for any reason other than immediate use I engage the safety. The Shield's slide can be manipulated with the safety engaged, so I prefer to have the safety engaged for any form of administrative handling of the gun.