Glock Safety

[blakdawg]

So my opinion (which will ruffle a lot of feathers) is that the Glock is at a higher risk of ND due to its operating system. Especially when compared to DAO and DA/SA pistols with equivalent drop safeties.

I think this can go both ways - a manual safety which must be (de)activated prior to firing could help prevent an AD/ND if, say, clothing or something else got stuck in the trigger guard when reholstering, or if the operator screwed up and let his/her finger get inside the trigger guard and then something happened which caused the hand to reflexively tense (grasp reflex upon falling, for example).

So, in that regard, another handgun might be safer than the Glock.

On the other hand, that same manual safety might prevent the gun from firing when it's supposed to - e.g., if you forget to go "off safe" when you draw from your holster or your safe because you're experiencing extreme stress or are literally being attacked at that moment.

In other words, some guns don't fire when you expect them to, and some guns fire when you don't expect them to. Both of those represent failures, and danger. Individual users have to figure out which failure they're more worried about.

[Andy Taylor]

Keep the bugger hook off of the bang switch and you will be fine.

[Ackrite]

Google Chuck Taylor glock torture test. Personally, I own 3 and fired thousands of rounds through them, intentionally. Never one unintentional or negligent discharge

[scootle]

lol... booger hooks and bang switches. i love calguns.

if you carefully inspect how the Glock trigger safety works, you'll see that it is highly unlikely to set it off without a serious error by the user (not to say it couldn't happen in a freak situation). hence, there are multiple layers of safety inherent in the 4 basic gun handling safety rules... there's a reason we have them.

for events outside of bad trigger discipline, there are internal safeties that prevent discharge if you throw your prized glock off a cliff...

[locosway]

I would like to weigh in. I believe that when people hear about Glock Safety issues it is regarding the relatively light trigger and the partially cocked striker. The Glock safety coalition always points out how they can be dropped from aircraft, and that your booger hook is your main safety. But the reality is that the trigger (while heavier than a SA trigger) is relatively light and there is no manual safety to engage.
Nobody would ever recommend carrying a single action or da/sa cocked and unlocked because the trigger pull is so light. So my opinion (which will ruffle a lot of feathers) is that the Glock is at a higher risk of ND due to its operating system. Especially when compared to DAO and DA/SA pistols with equivalent drop safeties.

I don't believe Glocks are unsafe, and I wouldn't call them dangerous. I wouldn't hesitate to carry one either, but I would say they are relatively less safe than other platforms.

I'm not sure why you think a 6.5 lbs trigger is light.

[760knox]

This is good to know. As a firearm for home defense, I can definitely see how it simplifies the process when the heart is pumping. I personally like the design a lot.

+1

They are great guns! and Safe!

[BanjoGunner]

IMO, the odds of a properly-maintained Glock going off accidentally are vanishingly small.

Not too long ago during a self-defense exercise I tripped, hitting the ground hard enough to bloody my left hand, left knee and right forearm, and put a bruise the size of a grapefruit on the front of my left hip. The G17 was slammed into the ground mag first with a great deal of force, but it did not discharge (my finger was off the trigger). I also kept it pointed downrange through the entire spill.

Now I just need to learn to remain upright while walking/running...

[Moto4Fun]

I'm not sure why you think a 6.5 lbs trigger is light.

I'm not sure why you think Glocks have a 6.5 lbs trigger pull.

In all seriousness, as I said before, I don't think Glocks are un-safe. The trigger safety is a good thing. I don't know the physics behind it, but if it mitigates the risk of anything other than your finger from pulling the trigger, then it becomes safer.

[locosway]

I'm not sure why you think Glocks have a 6.5 lbs trigger pull.

In all seriousness, as I said before, I don't think Glocks are un-safe. The trigger safety is a good thing. I don't know the physics behind it, but if it mitigates the risk of anything other than your finger from pulling the trigger, then it becomes safer.

Because if you put a scale on the trigger it pulls at 6.5 lbs, that's why. Glock markets their triggers as 5.5 lbs, but they're 6.5 lbs when pulled.

Why do you think Glocks don't have a 6.5 lbs trigger?