Glock external safety modification?

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SniperStraz

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I've seen a couple of companies advertise external thumb safeties that can be installed on a Glock. I realize that with proper trigger discipline and all that the Glock is 100% safe and thats all fine and dandy but I still wouldn't mind having some extra safety. Here's an example. Tell me what you guys think or if any of you have tried it before any feedback would be great.http://www.tarnhelm.com/GlockSafety.html
Are they reliable do they function well?
Thanks in advance.
 
Personally I've never liked the glocks from day one. The early ones came with a 3.5 lb. trigger and there were and still are a lot of accidental discharges. The reason they are so popular with leos is they are easy to train to shoot and relaible. Give me a dao or a single action with an external safety or safeties. Please no s/a then d/a. Too hard to switch from s/a then d/a. Even if the glocks had a better safety I still wouldn't buy one as I don't like the way they feel, not to mention their looks.
 
I've never minded Glocks, functionally or aesthetically. I'm also of the school that proper training is more important than a hundred external safeties. With that in mind, I think a Saf-T-Blok is a reasonable option, both financially and realistically.

I also think the website mentioned in the original post is wrong on almost every count; "history of accidental discharges"!??! In all the posts here and from all the personal stories I've heard, Glocks aren't any more likely to accidentally discharge than any other handgun; the bottom line is that the user commits the mistake. And all the "proper training" they suggest you do with their own product would be much, much better spent with the original gun in question, to understand it, become comfortable with it, and thus prevent ANY incidents.

No safety can truly claim to prevent an accident. Almost everyone has forgotten a round in the chamber at one time or another; the difference between those who pull the trigger and those who double- and triple-check is training, discipline, and force of habit. Safeties, external and internal, can make accidents only somewhat less likely. But that likelihood is equally affected by the familiarity and training of the user. If your finger isn't on the trigger, the gun will not fire; this is, of course, the best safety of all.
 
Since Glocks are the first guns I ever shot regularly, I think all the anti-Glock sentiment is a little ridiculous. It just seems like it's coming from 1911 people who are used to something else. The external hammer, the external safety ... When you learned to shoot without these things, they just seem like an awkward unnecessary nuissance.

The SAF-T-BLOK looks like a decent idea, but $15 is a little steep for a friggin' piece of plastic to fit behind the trigger. I think I could make a $0.25 SAF-T-WOOD-BLOK.
 
consensus is that the "trigger-condom" plastic behind the trigger is a horrific idea.

glock already has 3 safeties.


"KEEP YOUR BOOGER HOOK OFF THE BANG LEVER".
 
Anyone that feels an external safety on any handgun, besides a SAO handgun like a 1911, is needed should do two things.

First, read up on exactly what external safeties are designed for. In short, they're there to prevent a mechanical failure from causing the gun to fire when the trigger wasn't pulled. To use them as a device to prevent you, your clothing, your holster, your cat or your kid, from pulling the trigger negligently is begging to have a nasty accident.

Next, stay away from Glocks. There are more than enough quality guns on the market with every kind of safety lever imaginable. Thumb safeties, grip safeties, trigger safeties, etc, etc. Why buy a gun that has none when you think one is necessary? All the add on safeties for Glocks are a joke and make the gun less useful.
 
Since Glocks are the first guns I ever shot regularly, I think all the anti-Glock sentiment is a little ridiculous. It just seems like it's coming from 1911 people who are used to something else. The external hammer, the external safety ... When you learned to shoot without these things, they just seem like an awkward unnecessary nuissance.

+1

The other thing that stuns me is people who get hung up on the Glock's looks. Are they really that shallow?

Besides, in 1911, most people probably thought the 1911 looked hideous compared to their revolvers. Not to mention the grip angle and fit isn't the same as a revolver. Sound familiar?
 
…but I still wouldn't mind having some extra safety.


Using that stream of logic, it may make you feel safer to just leave the gun unloaded in your safe. Really, if you’re not at ease in the presence of a pistol over which you have full control, when will you be?

In the end you need to do whatever makes you comfortable.
 
Re having an external safety vs. no external safety, it's really a personal decision. People should suit themselves. If you're not comfortable with the Glock operating system, it makes more sense to purchase something else instead of a Glock, rather than try to Mickey-Mouse a way to run the gun in a manner it wasn't designed to run.

Re external safeties being "safer" for new shooters, I have to say that the one excuse I have never heard from a Glock-toting newbie is " ... but the safety was on!" after they have done something stupid. They're more apt to look sheepish and vow not to do it again.

pax
 
I been eyeballing a G30 at the local store and the Sales idiot told me I shouldn't buy a Glock because it didn't have any saftey.The saftey is on the trigger. I gave him the gun back and drove to the other GS. People any gun can go off if you push the trigger. A DAO, A SA if the saftey if off or miss adjusted and so on. Saftey is more in how you handle a firearm not the gizmos on the the gun. If you never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to discharge you will no have an AD unless somthing breaks and that falls under never point a gun at somthing you are not prepared to destroy.
BB
 
OK then...nothing that's been posted here has been of any help at all regarding the topic except post #2. I asked what you think about external glock safeties not what you think about glocks and I certainly didn't ask which gun I should be carrying. If anyone has any useful information that would be greatly appreciated otherwise I don't wanna hear about 3 safeties and between my ears and I don't wanna hear about DAO and SA as a better option. I'm talking about external-glock-safeties.
 
Posts # 8 and # 12 answered your question about external Glock safeties. They are a bad idea. If the way a Glock is designed bothers you, choose a gun with a different design.

pax
 
The same thing could be said about getting a Taurus PT1911 and getting a trigger job. Just buy a $2000 1911 if you don't like the way the Taurus is set up.
Pax Saying that its a bad idea is the kind of feedback I'm looking for but I'd also like to know why? Any personal experiences? I"ll still shoot Glocks I just want to know about the external safeties. I agree about the between the ears thing and I feel comfortable carrying a Glock. But I'd still like to know.
 
ok, i've never commented on this issue before and may never again, but look, no one is 100% infallible. you can have all the training in the world, and still that ONE time you screw up, you get an accidental, or more properly "negligent," discharge. "you need more training" is not responsive to the question, and if the guy likes glocks in all respects but this one, he's perfectly entitled to look into installing an external safety. it's not just peace of mind -- it makes the weapon that much "safer," to use a word. my understanding is that most ADs/NDs occur in the holstering/unholstering process, and if an external safety that can easily be flicked on and off eliminates just a few of those, what's the complaint? all this "3 safeties" on a glock is well and good, but the FACT remains that ANYTHING, finger or otherwise, putting about 5.5 lbs. of force on that trigger in a rearward direction is going to cause it to fire.
 
I’ve mentioned in another thread how my AMT Hardballer, a 1911 (clone) design with an external safety, fired with the safety fully engaged. So no, you cannot ‘trust’ a mechanical device.

As an aside, I would also recommend that anyone with a 1911 design periodically test their safety with the gun unloaded to ensure the hammer doesn’t drop with the safety engaged.
 
My brother's Glock 21 has been a test-bed of several Glock modifications, including the Cominolli safety. I tried it out when he still had it on (note the term "had") and it worked well, but eventually it came off because he didn't see a need for it (same with every other modification he tried). It didn't make the firearm "less useful" and it didn't effect the performance or the reliability of the Glock and it didn't put a hex on his shooting ability and gremlins didn't fly out of the barrel to taunt him....it was just an extra piece of metal that hung off the frame that didn't serve a purpose for him.

If you want to see what all is involved, then take a look at this page. It has some pics on someone installing the safety so you can see what is done to the firearm. After that, the decision is yours.
 
Sniper,
Dont worry about what other people say. If you like the idea of the safety and have the money, go for it.

I would be a little hesitant with that level of customization though, especially cutting the frame. You might also consider resale value and the potential for malfunction / dirt grime infiltration through the cut in the frame.
 
That's a good point Pecos21. I was thinking the same thing. Its a pretty drastic change that might have ill effects. Not to mention that even the most reliable gun with an unreliable safety is unreliable. I'd have to check out the quality of the parts the safeties are made with. Or anyone who's already done it can chime in.
 
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