I feel uneasy about Glock's safety

[Bobby Lee]

Since it is almost impossible for the Glock to fire without a trigger pull then the Glock is safe.

If someone is just too stupid to keep their finger off the trigger of a loaded gun then they have no business carring any firearm.

The real problem is when someone carries a gun in public that can fire without a trigger pull. Such people also have no business in public with a firearm.

 

[Graystar]

If I've said it once.. I've said it at least a dozen times. "A trigger is NOT the place where one wants their safety to be!"

I don’t agree with that. I think the Glock safety design is very insightful. If there is a finger trying to squeeze the trigger, then I feel that it is a very reasonable presumption that the person squeezing the trigger wants the gun to fire. It makes perfect sense. The Glock safeties prevent the gun from firing under a variety of conditions such as being dropped or mutilated. Some so-called safeties on other guns don’t even do that. All they do is prevent the trigger from firing the gun. There has been more than one instance of people who tried to defend themselves while the safety on their gun was switched on. For these people the "safety" nearly cost them their lives.

I personally see no value is switch safeties and I never use them. A gun is not safe. To think that some switch makes it so is foolhardy.

 

[TheDutchman]

The "Israeli Method" was shown to be a hoax.

Because Solder of Fortune said so

 

[Sinsaba]

I have heard (and did so for a while after I first purchased my G17) that to prove to yourself how safe a Glock is, chamber a snap cap and then put in your mag.

If you have to actually use your gun then you are no worse off than if you had your chamber empty... just rack and roll.

Once you are convinced that you can carry it without having an AD, replace the snap cap with a live round.

Is this perfect? Not a chance!! I'm sure life could deal up with a situation 5 min after you drop the snap cap that would make you do something stupid. But it does answer the safety question for a while. If you do this and take the gun out at any time and the trigger has been actuated then you might want to rethink things.

 

[Bobby Lee]

First off guns are not for idiots. If you own a handgun you should either keep it in it's holster ot keep it put away untill you are ready to shoot it.

If you are one of these people that must sit around all day playing with your carry gun and finger ????ing with the trigger then sooner or later you will have an AD with a Glock.

If you have more than half a brain a Glock is safe.

 

[Ash]

Switch safeties make perfect sense as they render the firearm incapable of firing even if the trigger is pulled in sa or da/sa pistols and are safer to employ than lowering the hammer. What's not to understand about that? And, they obviously make a great deal of sense as millions of semi-auto pistols ever produced employ them. Would one really call the safety on a High Power, 1911, and the like silly?

Calling it a safety because it is on the trigger is wrong in the conventional sense because a safety in the conventional sense is designed to not be deactiviated by the act of pulling the trigger, even if it can be deactiviated by the trigger finger such as in the Steyr, M1 Garand, or the like. The chances of pulling the Glock trigger in such a way as to not activate the blade are utterly remote, so in most cases, what ever that enters the trigger guard will automatically deactivate the trigger safety.

In the real world, does this make the Glock unsafe? Not at all. However, it does not make the Glock more safe than a CZ75. Indeed, that CZ with hammer down or cocked and locked is inherently more safe and more forgiving than the Glock. Once fired, without safety engaged, the Glock becomes safer.

Ash

 

[the duck of death]

*QUOTE*
If I have a complaint about my Glock is the HUGE trigger guard.

Round it, an easy task with file or Dremel. I did mine and like the looks.

*QUOTE*
If you are one of these people that must sit around all day playing with your carry gun and finger ????ing with the trigger then sooner or later you will have an AD with a Glock.

Wow, I never realized I was finger ????ing my trigger when I handle my EMPTY Glock in the evening. I've never been able to get my finger ????ed Empty Glock to discharge either.

 

[medmo]

They designed that neato spring loaded piece of plastic in the center of the trigger to safeguard against unintentional discharges from bumping the trigger. You have to depress the neato spring loaded thingy straight to the rear and then depress the trigger for a "bang" reaction. Most AD's from reholstering occur when the trigger finger is ON the trigger which is a Holy Testament violation regardless of make and model.

United States Marines teaching the secret ninja Isreali forces pistol craftmanship? Horse-hockey! I heard about the IDF slide-rack-bang but that was with HP's a long time ago.

 

[Graystar]

Wow, I never realized I was finger ????ing my trigger when I handle my EMPTY Glock in the evening.

They always think it's empty right before the ND.

 

[triggertime]

Its entertaining to watch people pontificate about how unsafe Glock handguns are when they themselves have neither owned one or carried one on a daily basis.

Glock handguns are safe as long as the individual is not prone to spontaneous bouts of cerebral flatulence or lacks the most important prerequisite, common sense.

Keep your finger off the trigger, keep your Glock in a proper holster that encloses the trigger guard and utilize the grey matter between your ears and you'll find that not only are Glock handguns safe, but they just may be the most practical mass produced carry gun on the market.

 

[Sulaco]

I carry my Glocks with a round in the chamber. I use the 3.5 pound disconnector, a lightened trigger spring and a lightened firing pin spring. I polish all of the internals and figure the trigger pull is as close to 3 pounds as a Glock can get (just because you use a 3.5 pound disconnector doesn't mean you have a 3.5 pound trigger pull weight).

I've never fired a round I wasn't planning on firing and never will. Why? Because I have self-discipline.

My advice is if you don't feel comfortable carrying a Glock with a round chambered, don't. Last I checked it was a free country and you could do whatever you wanted to.

 

[the duck of death]

Graystar,
Thinking a gun is empty and an empty gun are two entirely different things. Last I heard an empty gun WILL NOT fire.

 

[Elmer]

(Sulaco) I carry my Glocks with a round in the chamber. I use the 3.5 pound disconnector, a lightened trigger spring and a lightened firing pin spring. I polish all of the internals and figure the trigger pull is as close to 3 pounds as a Glock can get (just because you use a 3.5 pound disconnector doesn't mean you have a 3.5 pound trigger pull weight).

I've never fired a round I wasn't planning on firing and never will. Why? Because I have self-discipline.

All those years of law enforcement, teaching and gunfights, and I still don't have your self discipline. I actually fired twice during a gunfight when I thought I only fired once. With a double action revolver no less.

I hang my head in shame........

You, Sir, are my hero......

 

[Marshall]

If you're not comfortable with it, trade it. No sense in having a gun you're not going to carry and feel uncomfortable using.

 

[Curare]

I carry my Glocks with a round in the chamber. I use the 3.5 pound disconnector, a lightened trigger spring and a lightened firing pin spring.

That's how I set up my Glocks. Oh FYI, if you change trigger return springs you probably went with the heavier one--it decreases trigger pull weight because it pulls the cruciform forward.

 

[Boss Spearman]

I just picked up a Glock 19. I really like it, it's light, accurate, and I can find mags, parts, etc for it.

If anyone has a G19 they don't like, I'd be happy to trade a Witness polymer compact with one .45 acp compensatored barrel and one .40 barrel for the G19.

I don't feel uneasy about the safety of Glocks now, except when LE's are using them.

 

[JohnKSa]

If I have a complaint about my Glock is the HUGE trigger guard.

That huge trigger guard is a safety feature. The combination of a very wide trigger guard and the trigger safety make the trigger virtually snag proof.

 

[Surefire]

I own and like Glocks (don't love them though), and in the beginning I had reservations. I mean, the "safe-action" trigger feels more single-action'ish to me than double action'ish. Its a light trigger, that doesn't take too much length to set it off.

However, with time I got use it it. If you follow the basic gun safety rules, the trigger is heavy enough to safely carry IMO. Its not an ideal trigger IMO, but it is decent for most uses, including carry.

 

[c_yeager]

Yep, that fantastic Glock has plenty of safeties to ensure that it wont fire without the trigger being pulled.

Wait, now that i think about it I havent yet met a gun that WOULD fire without the trigger being pulled. What exactly is accoplished by the "safety trigger" that ISNT accomplished by an ordinary run of the mill trigger?

Theres nothing really wrong with Glocks, they just arent the pistols for me. In order for me to be comfortable carrying one i would need the trigger to be as long as a revolver, and in that case i might as well carry a revolver and get a nicer overall trigger.

 

[JohnKSa]

c_yeager,

The trigger safety is to keep the trigger from moving unless it has been pressed.

The trigger safety along with the oversize trigger guard is designed to reduce the chance of a trigger snag causing a discharge. The trigger safety also improves the drop safety of the firearm.

After all, safeties are to prevent discharge when the user DOESN'T want the gun to discharge, not when he DOES. Therefore it clearly doesn't make sense to design a safety to prevent the gun from going off when the trigger is pulled. Every gun owner I've ever talked to WANTS the gun to go off when the trigger is pulled.

I'm curious to know an example of when you'd want to pull the trigger, but you wouldn't want the hammer to fall or the gun to discharge?

 

[IZinterrogator]

El Rojo, after reading this,

Mexican Carry has been working, so I haven't tried to fix it. I think the first time I shoot myself in the ass I will change my mind. However, I don't plan on doing that.

I don't think your ass will be the thing you will be worrying about. Think a little more towards the front.

 

[RFC]

Like virtually any safety issue (in the broad sense), whether to install a Glock safety is a matter of risk management or mitigation. For example, I have a G34 that I use as a range gun. For this use, I am not concerned about the lack of the additional safety. However, I am considering picking up a G26 for occasional carry, the car, and as a trail and backpacking gun. Because of the convenient size, it could be housed in a holster, a console, a backpack, or a pocket. From my point of view, a safety would be appropriate for a G26 and these uses.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

Anyone who 'Mexican Carries' a Glock is a Stupid Idiot in my book.

I'm not trying to start something here, but it does not take much intelligence to figure out why.

A Glock pistol is very nearly a negligent discharge waiting to occur, moreso than almost any other handgun I know. One must practice exquisite trigger discipline when carrying a Glock.

The Glocks light trigger pull and short length of travel, combined with no other external safety, scares a lot of people, hence the creation of this thread.

Anyone who does not take this seriously can not only blow off portions of thier own anatomy, but could possibly kill or injure an innocent third party, all because they were too proud to buy a $15.00 Uncle Mike's holster and did not wish to listen to other's advice..

 

[c_yeager]

I'm curious to know an example of when you'd want to pull the trigger, but you wouldn't want the hammer to fall or the gun to discharge?

Contrary to what you may have gathered from my post i am not endorsing external safeties (i.e. on/off switches). My problem with the Glock trigger is that it isnt any safer than a traditional double-action trigger and yet still trades the smoothness of a traditional trigger for the "safety trigger" design. The double-action trigger on a revolver or DAO or DA/SA isnt any more likely to discharge due to a snag than the glock.

The problem is that the little safety switch on the front of the Glock trigger can be depressed by the same object that is causing the "snag" in the first place and with a 3-5lb trigger the only way your going to know it is when you hear a bang.

 

[John C]

The Opposite Concern

I have the opposite concern about the Glock. I own 4, and I carry a G17 on duty with a dept. mandated 8 lb trigger for 9 years. My concern isn't about the safety of MY using the Glock, but of the risk of losing it in a gun grab (though I have a retention holster) and having a chucklehead shoot me with it. I've read that safeties dramatically slow down the action time of a criminal putting a newly found pistol into action. A Glock, of course, doesn't have an external safety, and I don't want to get shot before I can get to my backup gun.

I've idly considered getting a comminoli safety for this reason.

However, I still carry my glock, when the dept. issues Sigs!

-John