What condition do you carry your S&W MP Shield in?

[340PD]

When carrying my Shield the safety is "on"

 

[Potatohead]

Hey!, I said it was "irrational"

Agreed. My fears are not usually based in reality for whatever reason.

 

[TestPilot]

With the S&W Shield and other similar compact "plastic" weapons, there is only the thumb safety. I am a bit squeamish about carrying a round in the chamber that way. Should I be?

Each type of firing mechanism control has its own risks and benefits.

There is something some people should be "squeamish" about a "aim and just pull the trigger" pistol, and there is something some people should be "squeamish" about a pistol that you need to overcome two obstacles to fire when failing to overcome one of them may get you killed.

For example, I do feel more uneasy while holstering an M&P than a 1911. But, then again, often I fail to disengage the "grip safety" on a 1911 no matter how hard I grip, since my training to grip high, like you should, makes my hand also press on the top of the "grip safety" than just pressing on the lower half. My Springfield is a bit forgiving, but my Kimber demands that I grip it in a VERY specific way, unlike my M&P.

Bottom line is that each type of firing mechanism control has times when they present more risk compared to other systems.

 

[Cornhusker77]

I've always felt an empty chamber was an empty gun.
You might not have both hands free to rack one in.

 

[32_d3gr33s]

I've always felt an empty chamber was an empty gun.
You might not have both hands free to rack one in.

An empty chamber just makes it an expensive hammer...

 

[GJSchulze]

often I fail to disengage the "grip safety" on a 1911 no matter how hard I grip, since my training to grip high

I don't have a 1911, but could you file down the top portion of the grip safety so you wouldn't press on it as much?

 

[ljnowell]

Is the small lever not a safety device?

Try to pull the Glock trigger back without the center safety part.

It won't work.

Does this mean it's a "manual safety"? No. But it's worth noting.



When Ruger first rolled out the SR9 9x19mm about 4 years ago, they recalled the guns & re-engineered the stock trigger to be more like the Glocks & XD models.





Glocks aren't perfect but they are darn close.

No, it's really not. It's a joke. A true safety would prevent a trigger that is pulled accidentally(like for example when something snags on reholster) from causing the gun to go off. When something snags the Glock trigger it most often depressed the stupid little wannabe safety and the gun goes bang.

I love my Glock but I'm not delusional.

 

[mongoslow]

getting back to the Shield and 1911, I have and carry both and train to sweep the safety when I draw, it does not bother me to leave the safety off on the shield if its OWB in my fobus beltslide, but when I go IWB (especialy appendix carry)I make sure the safety is on before i holster, my 1911 I will automaticly thumb up the safety before i holster it because that trigger is light and you had better respect it, I only carry it OWB at the moment until I can afford a good hybrid IWB for it, my G23 only gets carried OWB now because I have the trigger too light to trust it holstering into a tight IWB holster, but even when I draw the G23 my thumb still sweeps where a safety is on my other 2 guns.

 

[ritepath]

I only use my Shields safety when I holster or unholster it. Or if I hand it to someone to shoot at the range.