CCW - Do you use the safety?

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Guy de Loimbard

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
327
Location
ARKansas
I am curious on the viewpoints of other people who CCW. My wife's aunt thinks I am some kind of a nutcase for not having the safety on when I carry a gun (At the time, I was carrying a P64 with stock springs - it has something like a 22lb DA trigger pull). I am not trying to "prove" myself to anybody, but I think this would be a good chance to explain that not all guns are created equal - some have safeties, some have decockers, some have neither, and out of those which have safeties, not all of them work the same way.

I am pretty young but have had been exercising my right to carry for a few years now and I have pretty much settled on developing a carry method (if you can call it that) around the gun, as much as you would buy a holster for each different gun you would carry.

I thought I would share some of the different guns I carry and how I have done so:
P64 - This gun is a DA/SA semi-auto. Hammer down, safety off. The safety is the same as the decocker-safety on the Walther PPK. This gun has a 22lb. DA trigger pull.
CZ-82 This is also a DA/SA semi-auto, but it does not decock when you apply the safety. I also carry this with the hammer down and safety off. On this gun you can't apply the safety with the hammer down. I have in the past carried cocked and locked, but decided at some point I liked hammer down, safety off better with this particular gun.
1911 - Cocked and locked. "nuff said.

I have also carried revolvers, which for the most part don't have safeties (none of mine do).

Some guns I just would not carry in the first place - I have a Tokarev (with the goofy import safety) that I won't carry.

Does anyone else carry certain guns in one condition and certain guns in another condition, or am I just plane crazy?

On a side note, after I took my wife and her cousins shooting, her aunt expressed that she wanted to go shooting sometime. Hopefully, I will be able to use that opportunity as an educational one.
 
I carry SA autos like the 1911, Colt Woodsman, S&W Model 41, etc., safety On.

I carry DA autos like S&W, & Walther safety Off.

I carry my SIG's hammer down de-cocked, as they don't have safetys in the first place.

Thats how they were all designed to be carried.

rc
 
It really depends on what you carry as to whether or not you should have the safety on. General rule of thumb - DA, no safety needed. SA, safety needed. SFA, they usually have passive safeties; I shy away from SFA pistols with the addition of a manual safety. DA/SA, depends on which mode you carry in.

If your pistol has a 22 lb trigger pull, that is way over the limit where I'd say manual safety is not required. I'd place that limit around 6 pounds or so with no trigger safety.

ETA: Personally, I carry striker-fired pistols with about 5-6 lb. trigger pull, with only passive safeties (such as trigger and possibly grip safety).
 
I am curious on the viewpoints of other people who CCW. My wife's aunt thinks I am some kind of a nutcase for not having the safety on when I carry a gun (At the time, I was carrying a P64 with stock springs - it has something like a 22lb DA trigger pull). I am not trying to "prove" myself to anybody, but I think this would be a good chance to explain that not all guns are created equal - some have safeties, some have decockers, some have neither, and out of those which have safeties, not all of them work the same way.
Click to expand...

i also have a P64 and i ALWAYS carry with the safety ON.

even though its a heavy trigger pull, and pulling it by accident is likely not going to happen......it is a hammer fired gun,you dont have to pull the trigger for it to go off.

if you drop your gun, you run a good chance of setting a round off.....

also,if your coat/shirt/ ect. gets hung up on the hammer, it can pull it back slightly where it can fire a round if the hammer drops.

or you can also accidently cock the hammer while carrying it....in which case you are carrying a gun cocked and locked with a <3lbs trigger pull...with no safety.

when you carry with the safety on, the firing pin is shrouded, and the trigger is disconnected, which means the gun CANNOT fire.
 
I carry my da/sa loaded with the hammer down and the safety on. But, i'm a "belt and suspenders" type.
 
I have also carried revolvers, which for the most part don't have safeties (none of mine do). :what:
Click to expand...

:)


Keep your booger hook off the bang switch until your ready to shoot...
 
Basically depends on what I'm carrying. My CZ Rami has no safety so I carry it hammer down (well has the hammer block system). My S&W 6904 I'll usually carry with the slide safety on, its pretty fast and easy to flick off as I draw. The only safety I really trust is my finger.
 
I had the same.... Discussion... with my wife. I carry a SA/DA Walther, and due to the safety being "backwards" (flip up for fire, down for safe) I carry loaded in chamber, hammer down, safety off. My reasoning: The DA trigger pull is plenty safe (I haven't measured) and I had trouble with the safety at the range when I had all the time in the world so I won't risk that in a bad situation. My wife thinks as your wife's aunt does.

As to the "hammer could get caught and drop" idea: I was concerned with this as well but the pistol actually has a 'half cock' position and after many many attempts I was not able to cause the hammer to drop with any significant force. This has made me even more confident in my choices than I already was.

Interesting to see all different views on this topic.
 
My CCWs don't have external safeties. I'm a one switch = bang sort of guy.

I have a couple of DS/SA guns that I might roll into my CCW rotation. Both have a decocker that allows me to chamber a round, decock, and then move that decock lever back to "fire," creating a DA first shot. So still, one switch = bang.
 
Only handguns I have with a safety are single action so - safety on. I think if I carried a double action or striker action with a safety I would carry with safety on. The reason for this is so flicking the safety off would become part of draw in case it was inadvertently switched on at some point.
 
Most SA/DA safety's are slide mounted and are very difficult to operate during the draw because they work backward from a intuitive downward swipe of the thumb to disengage them.

rc
 
With a slide mounted safety I recommend condition 2 which chambered, hammer down and safety off.

If you aren't comfortable carrying with the safety off I recommend Condition 3or full mag but no round in the chamber. I can draw and rack the slide much faster than I can draw and try to disengage a slide mounted safety.

I personally don't think you have to worry about accidently pulling a 22lb trigger.
 
DA/SA S&W. external slide mounted safety/ decocker. I keep one in the chamber, hammer down, safety off. The DA pull is pretty heavy, and that is safe enough while the gun is under my control.
 
only one of my carry guns has a safety at all; its my ruger sr40c and i carry it with the safety off.
 
It depends on the gun. If a gun has a pull-down-to-fire safety, I'll generally use it. If it has a push-up safety, I won't. Push safeties are virtually impossible to use one-handed under stress. They simply take too much time and effort to operate. I would not carry a gun that could not be carried safely with the safety off, if the safety is the push kind.
 
In the past while carrying DA/SA, I carried decocked/safety off but only after I knew the pistol well enough to be convinced that it would not go off without the trigger being pulled (USP, 92FS).
 
I wouldn't have a problem carrying my 1911 with the safety off, but I've trained and ingrained it into my brain to flick it off, do it is up.
 
The 1911 is cocked and locked.

The S&W 637's DA trigger is all the safety one needs.
 
I don't have any carry guns that have a single-action-only trigger. My three most-frequently carried guns are two Kel-Tec (9mm and .32ACP) weapons that do not have manual safeties, and a Bersa Thunder .380 that does. That Bersa, when carried, or even stored "at-the-ready" at home, is done so with the hammer at rest on a loaded chamber, and the safety off.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

mjmcgrso
  • Locked
question on carry condition, EXCEPT 1911's
2 3
Replies
60
Views
3K
mjmcgrso
mjmcgrso
D
  • Locked
Now, what do you mean "condition 3"?...
Replies
6
Views
694
Jim Watson
J
L
  • Locked
Curious, what's the BEST handgun safety design?
2 3
Replies
66
Views
5K
Jim K
J
H
  • Locked
CZ 75B Omega Convertable Safety Question
Replies
4
Views
583
Homerboy
H
C
  • Locked
Safety or No Safety
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
Lonestar49
L
Back
Top