I hate ambi safeties on 1911s

[TMann]

And it has nothing to do with their usefulness or whether they may get clicked on during concealed carry.

I hate them because they are a royal pain to disassemble. Yikes! It took a lot of time and a fair amount of effort to remove the ambi safety on my Taurus 1911 this evening. (I was swapping out the trigger.) It was pretty tight. By comparison, the left-sided safety on my S&W 1911 felt like it popped right off during disassembly.

Granted, it's not as bad as trying to reassemble my Ruger MK III, but sometimes it seems as if it is just as aggravating.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Umm. That sucks. Seems like you should blame Taurus rather than all ambi safety 1911's.

JMO though. Hope you get it worked out.

 

[rskent]

You sir, are clearly not left handed.

 

[WC145]

Why didn't you replace it while you had the gun apart?

 

[red rick]

I agree with you and WC145 .

 

[hAkron]

They do make disassembly a little bit more difficult, but they make the gun more useful to us left handed guys.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Me too!

Extra bits always give me pause. Some of them are downright weak as componentry and I may be blessed with unusual hands... I have always been able to manipulate a safety with an off-side thumb. Right, left, ambi or standard it's just ever been enough of an issue for me to justify adding an ambi to a 1911 platform.

Can't stand 'em.

 

[TMann]

Good morning, folks! I didn't mean to start an ambi vs. non-ambi safety debate. (I think that there is currently one going on somewhere on this site.)

The post last night really was to disparage my own lack of mechanical skills. Perhaps there's a "trick" that I haven't yet figured out, but the two 1911's that I've owned with ambi-safeties were both bears to disassemble. I don't have any problem with ambi-safties in practice; I just get all fumble-fingered when I'm trying to disassemble them.

As for the Taurus itself, I picked it up used recently from a local gun shop. I'm generally not a big fan of Taurus handguns (too many bad stories from other shooters) but this one came at a good price. It showed a bit of use on the exterior, but shoots really, really well. I installed a short trigger and some pachmayr grips on it, and it's becoming my favorite range gun.

 

[CNobbe]

Only "1911" ambi safety I don't like is the Sig 938... Any other ambi safety 1911 is no issue to me, I don't notice it on my Springfield at all. The 938 was a no go when I could feel the right side safety touching my index finger on my strong hand as I swiped the safety off. I went with a Kimber Solo that is still an AMBI but I don't notice the safety.

I've seen a lot of Taurus 1911s at the range, they seem like nice guns. I tried one in .38 Super I really liked but apparently they discontinued them some time ago.

 

[jhb]

You sir, are clearly not left handed.

But I am a southpaw shooter, and I dislike ambi safeties and extended beavertail and other add ons. I just like a standard gi 1911..but I learned on one and I learned how to carry in condition 3 and draw when unholstering...and if I feel the need to carry condition 1, I learned how to use my trigger finger to disengage the safety during draw. So in that regard it's a non issue for me. Yeah I'm the lone wolf one that, but it is what it is....

 

[Drail]

If you think you hate your ambi safety now just wait until it starts to loosen up. (and it will). Left handed guys would be much better served by building a left handed mirror imaged gun - not by using a poorly designed safety as an afterthought. I used to sell and install LOTS of ambi safteies and none of them are worth the price they charge. Almost every gun came back when the right side paddle developed a huge amount of play and stopped working reliably. And I would tighten it up. And it would loosen itself again. A poor design IMO. If you don't absolutely need one don't bother.

 

[rskent]

I stand corrected

 

[Wil Terry]

When they were available I installed SWENSON Ambi safeties in all my 1911 pitols of the time and never had problem one ---NOT ONE--- in any of those pistols one of which is over 55,000 rounds. NONE have ever loosened up. The same will be said for the new custom Ruger 1911A1 when it gets here in a month or so.
And so it goes...

 

[TMann]

Wil Terry: What's different about the Swenson safeties? I'm a bit of a newbie to all things 1911. Is the design different somehow? Or is it just made better?

CNobbe: I've never shot a 938, but a friend mentioned that he had the same problem with the opposite side pinching his trigger finger. If you are right handed, I've heard that you can swap out the ambi-safety for the single-side safety from the P238 (the .380 pistol.) Apparently, the safeties are interchangeable.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Good morning, folks! I didn't mean to start an ambi vs. non-ambi safety debate. (I think that there is currently one going on somewhere on this site.)

Well, to be fair, with this crowd, saying the sky is blue will start a debate. Of corse that's the beauty of THR. So many different experience levels, ages, and opinions result in some great information sharing.