gila_dog1
Member
The thumb safety on my Shield Plus is hard to operate. It's small and stiff and a bit tricky to get my thumb on it just right when trying to flip it to the "FIRE" position. It seems that I'm not the only one who doesn't like it. I've looked around and I don't see S&W or anybody else offering a thumb safety for this gun that's easier to operate. Maybe the thumb safety from some other model of S&W gun would work, but I don't know.
I think one reason S&W made it this way is that so many people hate thumb safeties, preferring the Glock design, which has no thumb safety. So they grudgingly put this little safety on these guns just to satisfy the few of us who want one. One reason a lot of people don't want the safety is because it can get accidentally flipped to the "SAFE" position, and it can slow you down a bit when flipping it to "FIRE" before shooting. But flipping to to "FIRE" is a bit difficult.
So I tried a simple thing, just to see if it would make the safety easier to operate, but wasn't a big PITA to install. I got a piece of 3/16" diameter shrink tubing (used for insulating electrical connections), worked on it a little with my dikes, and made a little tube I can slide onto the existing safety lever, and shrink it down with a BIC lighter. A heat gun would have been better, but I don't have one. The shrink tubing comes if various colors, but what I had was green. I think this mod helps a lot. Now the safety lever is fatter and has a softer, more frictiony feel, and it's a lot easier to operate. I can put it in the "SAFE" position, if I really mean to, but it's not going to go to that position without some effort. But now flipping it to "FIRE" is a lot easier.
Here are some pics of what I did.
When you heat up the shrink tubing just a very brief exposure to the flame is all that's needed. Then before it cools down it's quite flexible and can be molded tight against the edges of the lever with a thumb nail. The BIC lighter flame will leave soot on things, but this can be cleaned off with alcohol or gun cleaning solvent. It doesn't take much flame to shrink the tubing. No more that a second or two. I think the plastic of the gun can tolerate a much higher heat than this. Mine shows no sign of having been warmed up with the lighter.
The shrink tubing should be just a tiny bit too long on the front and back ends, so it can be mashed down when it's still warm. This makes it impossible to accidentally slip off when you operate the lever. Not too long, tho. It needs to stay in the grooves in the plastic when going up and down.
Here's "FIRE" position:
Here's "SAFE" position:
I think one reason S&W made it this way is that so many people hate thumb safeties, preferring the Glock design, which has no thumb safety. So they grudgingly put this little safety on these guns just to satisfy the few of us who want one. One reason a lot of people don't want the safety is because it can get accidentally flipped to the "SAFE" position, and it can slow you down a bit when flipping it to "FIRE" before shooting. But flipping to to "FIRE" is a bit difficult.
So I tried a simple thing, just to see if it would make the safety easier to operate, but wasn't a big PITA to install. I got a piece of 3/16" diameter shrink tubing (used for insulating electrical connections), worked on it a little with my dikes, and made a little tube I can slide onto the existing safety lever, and shrink it down with a BIC lighter. A heat gun would have been better, but I don't have one. The shrink tubing comes if various colors, but what I had was green. I think this mod helps a lot. Now the safety lever is fatter and has a softer, more frictiony feel, and it's a lot easier to operate. I can put it in the "SAFE" position, if I really mean to, but it's not going to go to that position without some effort. But now flipping it to "FIRE" is a lot easier.
Here are some pics of what I did.
When you heat up the shrink tubing just a very brief exposure to the flame is all that's needed. Then before it cools down it's quite flexible and can be molded tight against the edges of the lever with a thumb nail. The BIC lighter flame will leave soot on things, but this can be cleaned off with alcohol or gun cleaning solvent. It doesn't take much flame to shrink the tubing. No more that a second or two. I think the plastic of the gun can tolerate a much higher heat than this. Mine shows no sign of having been warmed up with the lighter.
The shrink tubing should be just a tiny bit too long on the front and back ends, so it can be mashed down when it's still warm. This makes it impossible to accidentally slip off when you operate the lever. Not too long, tho. It needs to stay in the grooves in the plastic when going up and down.
Here's "FIRE" position:
Here's "SAFE" position:
