Regarding safeties, my first handgun, almost 40 years ago, was a 1911, so, I became comfortable with a thumb safety. My next handgun system was S&W revolvers, later supplemented by Rugers. I later added DA/SA pistols, and was able to become comfortable with the differing operation of the slide-mounted thumb safety, because aligning the lever, with the target/opponent, was the same, with both the 1911 and the S&W/Walther slide-mounted safety.
Something went wrong, however, when I added a Browning Hi-Power. Even though my BHP was a Mark III, with the extended safeties, I would, on occasion, miss the safety. Something about the ergonomics of the BHP was “telling” my thumb to lock-down, on the grip, rather than engage the safety lever. The BHP had to go away.
Then, I decided to try a Colt Mustang, as a pocket pistol. I soon found that I was missing the thumb safety. It was not a matter of forgetting, but the safety lever, itself, being positioned in a way that required a very deliberate, “just so” placement of my thumb. The Mustang may have been a miniaturized 1911, in its handling, but, the thumb safety was just too close to my hand, for the thumb pad portion to be within the natural movement arc of my thumb. So, the Mustang was traded-away.
I have handled several of the now-trendy striker-fired pistols, with thumb safeties. None of them “worked,” for me. It was immediately apparent, in each case, that I would be likely to miss the safety, due to its position being too close to the base of my thumb, or that I would be likely to fumble it.
Yet, I still have no trouble using a normal-sized-1911 frame-mounted safety, or the slide-mounted safety on an S&W 39-series pistol. Notably, the Tasers, issued to me by my employer, have safety levers that operate like those on my S&W 39-series pistols, which is also like the safeties on classic Walthers, and the Beretta 92/M9 types. Test-firing the Tasers was required at the beginning of each shift, so, I had PLENTY of reinforcement of that conditioned reflex, until I retired in 2018.
I had learned the 1911 safety, in the early Eighties, and the S&W/Walther/Beretta-type safety in the early Nineties. In 2001, airliners became weapons, in a new Global War, on US soil. The PD, for which I worked, had disallowed patrol rifles, in 1983, just before I was hired. Suddenly, after 9-11-2001, it became necessary to re-start a patrol rifle program. I had not grown up with M16/AR15/M4 rifles, but, if I wanted to carry a patrol rifle, I needed to become very familiar, at age 40, with either the Mini-14, or AR15/M4. The first available certification classes were to be taught with the AR15/M4 system rifles. I soon learned about the cognitive dissonance that can happen, when one carries one weapon system that is on-safe, when the safety/selector lever is aligned with the target/opponent, and, ready to fire, when the “Dingus is Down.”
Once upon a time, “Don’t Get Caught With Your Dingus Down” was a useful way to remember that a weapon with the S&W/Walther/Beretta safety could not fire when the lever was pointed at the ground. Well, then, at age 40, I had to learn that my AR15A2 Govt Carbine WOULD FIRE while the Dingus was down, and was ON SAFE when the lever was aligned with the target. Deep. Sigh.
Something went wrong, however, when I added a Browning Hi-Power. Even though my BHP was a Mark III, with the extended safeties, I would, on occasion, miss the safety. Something about the ergonomics of the BHP was “telling” my thumb to lock-down, on the grip, rather than engage the safety lever. The BHP had to go away.
Then, I decided to try a Colt Mustang, as a pocket pistol. I soon found that I was missing the thumb safety. It was not a matter of forgetting, but the safety lever, itself, being positioned in a way that required a very deliberate, “just so” placement of my thumb. The Mustang may have been a miniaturized 1911, in its handling, but, the thumb safety was just too close to my hand, for the thumb pad portion to be within the natural movement arc of my thumb. So, the Mustang was traded-away.
I have handled several of the now-trendy striker-fired pistols, with thumb safeties. None of them “worked,” for me. It was immediately apparent, in each case, that I would be likely to miss the safety, due to its position being too close to the base of my thumb, or that I would be likely to fumble it.
Yet, I still have no trouble using a normal-sized-1911 frame-mounted safety, or the slide-mounted safety on an S&W 39-series pistol. Notably, the Tasers, issued to me by my employer, have safety levers that operate like those on my S&W 39-series pistols, which is also like the safeties on classic Walthers, and the Beretta 92/M9 types. Test-firing the Tasers was required at the beginning of each shift, so, I had PLENTY of reinforcement of that conditioned reflex, until I retired in 2018.
I had learned the 1911 safety, in the early Eighties, and the S&W/Walther/Beretta-type safety in the early Nineties. In 2001, airliners became weapons, in a new Global War, on US soil. The PD, for which I worked, had disallowed patrol rifles, in 1983, just before I was hired. Suddenly, after 9-11-2001, it became necessary to re-start a patrol rifle program. I had not grown up with M16/AR15/M4 rifles, but, if I wanted to carry a patrol rifle, I needed to become very familiar, at age 40, with either the Mini-14, or AR15/M4. The first available certification classes were to be taught with the AR15/M4 system rifles. I soon learned about the cognitive dissonance that can happen, when one carries one weapon system that is on-safe, when the safety/selector lever is aligned with the target/opponent, and, ready to fire, when the “Dingus is Down.”
Once upon a time, “Don’t Get Caught With Your Dingus Down” was a useful way to remember that a weapon with the S&W/Walther/Beretta safety could not fire when the lever was pointed at the ground. Well, then, at age 40, I had to learn that my AR15A2 Govt Carbine WOULD FIRE while the Dingus was down, and was ON SAFE when the lever was aligned with the target. Deep. Sigh.
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