Magazine disconnect pro/con.

[meef]

While yes shooting them would always be nice, its not always a option.

Maybe not. But it's a heckuva lot more viable option than dropping the magazine.

 

[TAB]

Some one comes up from behind, hits you in the back of the head, grabs for your weapon. They get it half way out of the holster, they can shoot you, if they get it all the way out, your dead. you drop the mag, you atleast have a fighting chance.

When if I was in the USCG I During weapon training we had a 5'4" 100lb soaking wet female instructor... there was not a single person she could not disarm. It was an eye opener... here I am right out of college, a college wrestler. I had a grip like a pipe wrench, yet I could not hold onto that weapon to save my life.

 

[Ltlabner]

Another nice feature with the mag disconnect is you can keep a firearm in the nightstand with a round in the chamber and have the mag in your pocket. When it's needed, insert mag and go to work (assuming during the day, at night the mag is inserted).

The weapon is now child-proofed. Yes, yes, I know. All you folks out there have trained your children about guns, never have friends over and know with 100% certinanty that your child would never do anything you told them not to do (even though children have done so since the dawn of time).

 

[Disaster]

I'm a bit ambivalent about them. At first I hated the idea. But, now that I think more about it I doubt there is any chance it would save my life, or end it. I'd rather not tinker with a gun that has one to remove it unless it was the simplest fix...say removing a spring or replacing a part that could be reversed. I wouldn't want to cut springs and trim levers.

Down the road, if some idiot shoots themselves with the gun, someone could argue that I was be liable for removing the safety feature.

 

[c1ogden]

"You know, I keep hearing this thing about how mag disconnects saved the life of an LEO over and over.

It strikes me as an urban legend."



Speak to Massad Ayoub about that. He's covered a dozen of these incidents in his columns.

 

[esq_stu]

I'm inclined to remove disconnects if they impair trigger quality or self defense.

I removed the disconnect from my FEG HiPower clone. The trigger is still terrible, but not as bad. I left it in place on my Ruger MKII Target. I don't know if it affects trigger pull on the Ruger.

 

[meef]

I have this mental image of a cop holding his pistol pointed at a suspect and sternly saying, "Freeze Mofo, and get on the ground or I'll pop the magazine release on my gun - thereby rendering it inoperable and preventing you from shooting me with it once you wrest it from my iron grasp!"






::humming "Scenario Dreaming" to the tune of "California Dreaming"....::

 

[The Bushmaster]

On some autos the disconect impares the magazine. In that when you punch the magazine release it will not drop out and has to be pulled out before a fresh magazine can be inserted. I disabled the one on my carry weapon with a small bit of tooth pick. My magazine falls freely out when the release is pushed. Yeh...Maybe a litigation thing if I shoot someone...

 

[UnTainted]

There are criminals that practice gun grabbing hour after hour after hour after hour...

 

[meef]

Wow! It suddenly came to me! I've got the solution!

Since gun grabbing is sooo easy a 98 lb. quadriplegic can to it to your average SWAT team member or Navy Seal, once you've lost your piece - then you simply turn around and grab it back! Voila!

Unfortunately, since gun grabbing is sooo easy, once you've done that - the criminal can then re-grab it from you.

Fortunately, since gun grabbing is sooo easy, you then grab it right back again.

And so on and so on.

So what we basically have here is a situation in which the person with the greatest stamina prevails.

The secret is, endurance. Do your cardio conditioning religiously all you boys and girls who carry a pistol with a mag disconnect. It could literally save you life!


Or... moral of the story:


"He who grasps last grasps best."

 

[Anna's Dad]

Doesn't make a big difference to me either way.

 

[Flopsy]

I won't vote because it neither makes me want to vomit nor makes me smile. If given a choice on the same model I'd choose without the mag disconnect, I just don't find any strongly compelling reason to include one. But it's not a deal breaker, I wouldn't not buy a gun just because it had that if I liked the rest of the package.

 

[1911Tuner]

haven't read all responses, so this may have been covered...but here's my 2% of a buck on mag disconnects.

An answer in search of a question...and one that could get you killed in a hairy situation if you happen to reload on a hot chamber...which is tactically sound...and you're rushed before you can get the fresh mag in. While there's not a huge chance that'll happen in a given lifetime...I still like the option of being able to fire without a magazine present.

I think its main purpose is for those who think that removing the magazine unloads the gun, and don't clear the chamber afterward. Don't laugh. I've been present for a negligent discharge when that very thing happened. So...I consider it to be primarily an anti-idiot device. In that particular role, it has a usefulness.

 

[Mad Magyar]

if you happen to reload on a hot chamber...which is tactically sound...and you're rushed before you can get the fresh mag in. While there's not a huge chance that'll happen in a given lifetime...I still like the option of being able to fire without a magazine present.

Like you said, maybe in a lifetime.....

for those who think that removing the magazine unloads the gun, and don't clear the chamber afterward. Don't laugh. I've been present for a negligent discharge when that very thing happened.

Planting a "seed" of doubt to reinforce your point is like saying that any safety device can go wrong. Quite true, I've seen that "once in a lifetime" happen with a decocker not pointed in a safe direction....

 

[1911Tuner]

Planting a "seed" of doubt to reinforce your point is like saying that any safety device can go wrong.

Not planting a seed at all. It happens more than most people know. I've seen it happen more than once...but only once that resulted in a loud noise.

But, like I said...It was just my 2 centavos worth. That was the point of the question to begin with...No?

 

[jackdanson]

I originally posted make vomit, but I can see the use.. I'm not a big guy and if someone got the jump on me they might be able to get it away, might be nice to have the option. (btw, don't act so tough, professional fighters can get knocked out in one hit, thinking someone can't hit you from behind or surprise you is asinine. One good punch in the jaw from the average guy would be enough to daze most of us.)

 

[Darthbauer]

I can see the up side of having it but I did like on my old 96 not having a mag in the thing and single shot loading it through the top. It makes the ammo last alot longer on range trips.

 

[FuzzyBunny]

WOW I was shocked to see so many folks dislike disconnects!

I kinda liked it on my Firestar 9mm. I actually trained hitting the mag release in a gun wrestle situation. I guess I turned a bad thing into a feature for me. I have not carried it in years but I liked the fact I could put it in a temporary spot (like a locked drawer) and put the mag in my pocket and know it would not fire without the mag.

That is my only pistol with a disconnect and I can take it or leave it really.


FuzzyBunny

 

[1911Tuner]

thinking someone can't hit you from behind or surprise you is asinine. One good punch in the jaw from the average guy would be enough to daze most of us.)

In which case you've probably lost that fight anyway...gun or no gun...mag disconnect or no. Once you're on the ground and the little birdies are circlin' your head singin' a song...you're at the mercy of your attacker. Even if you can remember that you have a gun...your chances of being able to bring it into the fight effectively are pretty much a crapshoot.

 

[Funderb]

well, I like it. It keeps stupids from dry firing your guns.

 

[1911Tuner]

It keeps stupids from dry firing your guns.

There's another useful feature!

 

[Confederate]

I can see why some might not like the mag safety, but the fact is, lots of LEOs are alive today because of it. It's kind of like fuel ejection in a plane. Not many reasons to have a plane without fuel, but when you need to dump it, you need to dump it.

I've yet to hear a story of someone who died because they had a mag saftety, but like I said, there are many alive because there was.

I'm keeping mine in.

 

[1911Tuner]

the fact is, lots of LEOs are alive today because of it.

No argument there. Cops have different requirements for their sidearms than the private citizen. Snatch-resistant holsters are a good example. I'm not going to carry in one of those holsters, and I don't see a need for a magazine disconnect...for MY own purposes.
Yours may differ.

I don't even have a problem with magazine disconnects per se. What I do take exception to is that so many of the new offerings have the feature, and we're not given a choice in the matter. If Model X, Y, or Z was available with or without it...I'd probably try some of the recent designs...but because of the disconnect...the gun would be relegated to range duty only, and never carried...and I have quite enough range beaters.

 

[passintime]

Quote:
It keeps stupids from dry firing your guns.

There's another useful feature!

Not always true. For instance, the Ruger magazine disconnect design is just a firing pin, or with the SR9, a "striker blocker". If stupids dry fire your gun with the magazine out, you can damage your firing pin per Ruger. This was seen as a problem with the release of the P345.

 

[Marshall]

Not that huge of deal either way.