Carrying a GLOCK.... Safely?

[romadant]

For that matter... your little block thing.

So you have to pull your weapon some day. You pop it out with your finger and it falls and bounces around on the floor. What the hell is it doing to make reholstering safer at that point? You gonna reach down and find it and try to wiggle it back in??

[nitroxdiver]

Glocks are very unforgiving of user error and inattention. They are a very safe designs in and of themselves, as has been stated a million times, tested, and proven so. If it's not the right handgun for you based on its method of operation or lack of features, there are plenty of other very high quality self defense arms available. Want a traditional double action with a manual safety? No problem, USP compact V1, or P30Safety V3. Want a striker fired pistol that has the ability to be "decocked" to a heavy double action style first shot? No problem, Walther P99 AS. What I would NOT do, is try to make carrying a Glock seem safer by adding widgets that require fiddling around anywhere near the trigger. Get a good holster that adequately covers the trigger guard. Practice reholstering an empty weapon at home, and sign up for a class. Good luck in your quest, and stay safe


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[caliberetta]

For that matter... your little block thing.

So you have to pull your weapon some day. You pop it out with your finger and it falls and bounces around on the floor. What the hell is it doing to make reholstering safer at that point? You gonna reach down and find it and try to wiggle it back in??

Well, if I have to draw my firearm I guess that little plastic thing would have no more value than the red pin you pulled out of the fire extinguisher after you've prevented your house from burning down.

As I've said, I've had safeties on my firearms for 20+ years. Glad to report no incidents. My Glock is new, and I absolutely love it. Wayyy back on my first post, I mentioned the Safety-T-Block is something I've been trying out for a few weeks, only because of what I've been used to. Same goes for the Siderlock, but I prefer the plastic pop-off.

I recommended it to the OP, because I've taken the time to buy them, evaluate them and share my notes.

These innovations do have an added benefit besides unintended discharges. They can buy you precious time in the event there is a struggle for your weapon, or somehow your weapon falls into the wrong hands (part of $h|t happens situations). I believe that is a valid concern for CCW.
.

[caliberetta]

Glocks are very unforgiving of user error and inattention. They are a very safe designs in and of themselves, as has been stated a million times, tested, and proven so. If it's not the right handgun for you based on its method of operation or lack of features, there are plenty of other very high quality self defense arms available. Want a traditional double action with a manual safety? No problem, USP compact V1, or P30Safety V3. Want a striker fired pistol that has the ability to be "decocked" to a heavy double action style first shot? No problem, Walther P99 AS. What I would NOT do, is try to make carrying a Glock seem safer by adding widgets that require fiddling around anywhere near the trigger. Get a good holster that adequately covers the trigger guard. Practice reholstering an empty weapon at home, and sign up for a class. Good luck in your quest, and stay safe


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Thanks for the advice. I have more firearms than you shake a stick at. I have Glock disease right now though.

[romadant]

caliberetta - Then I just agree to disagree. I don't think putting your finger around the trigger and messing with some sort of add-on makes anything safer and absolutely makes it dangerous. You seem convinced they're safer. Just remember pushing out the block or moving that little pin is a very fine motor skill, even more so than a trigger pull, and might not be as easy and simple under stress. I suggest you train heavily with it.

[caliberetta]

caliberetta - Then I just agree to disagree. I don't think putting your finger around the trigger and messing with some sort of add-on makes anything safer and absolutely makes it dangerous. You seem convinced they're safer. Just remember pushing out the block or moving that little pin is a very fine motor skill, even more so than a trigger pull, and might not be as easy and simple under stress. I suggest you train heavily with it.

Thanks. That's what I've been trying to do these last several weeks as I evaluate my options. Over these last several weeks, I estimate I've popped these off maybe 100-150 times in a drawing motion. It's easy to get the hang of it.

I can imagine these devices will be very awkward for the person that has trained himself without it. Before purchasing I tried to do plenty of research. These things have been around for quite a long time and they're still here. They're not for everyone for sure, but there did not appear to be any actual report of failure which would dissuade from trying it.

Here are over 100 positive (and verified) reviews on the Saf-T-Block.

So I thought, why not?

[KahrGuy9]

Don't expect glowing agreement from too many folks around here for it, though. If that lack of worshipful adoration for your position is painful for you (and from your rhetoric, this appears to be the case), guess you'll have to learn to live with disappointment.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Or a Para-Ordnance with the thumb safety on... that way they'd have a double-action trigger, a grip safety, and a thumb safety. I suppose to be absolutely safe, it should be carried empty, with the magazine in a locked pouch... that'd do it.

[Citadelgrad87]

There's supposedly a study that shows that after seat belts became standard equipment in cars, people drove more recklessly, measurably so. I remember reading an essay in college positing that affixing a dagger in the center of steering wheels, pointed at the drivers heart, would reverse this and ensure careful driving.

I think that if we agree that Glocks do not mechanically fail spontaneously in numbers higher than any other firearm, we necessarily need to agree that they are going off when people are either pressing the trigger when they don't want to shoot, or they are letting objects enter the trigger area and do the same.

The fact that a da revolver or a 1911 with a thumb safety, or a smith with same, or a sig with da first shot, wouldn't fire under identical circumstances doesn't mean the Glock is unsafe.

It highlights how weapon handling is unsafe. If we are letting a mechanical safety replace the basic safety rules, that's on us, not Glock.

I know a guy who used to be a cop, he breathes firearms, and has many many more than I do. I let him try a 1911 that I just got back from Terry Tussey. He did an internal work over and replaced the trigger. It was light, but not target light at all. It's meant to be a carry piece, and it's not light to me.

This guy ND'd at least two rounds while we were shooting. All went down range. It was only because he complained that the trigger was too light that I was sure they were NDs. Was the trigger too light, or was he fat fingering the trigger when he wasn't prepared to fire?

I don't want anyone carrying a weapon they aren't comfortable carrying. But to me, the add ons are just cover for poor handling skills. I don't wear a belt and suspenders because sometimes I forget to button my pants. I learn how pants work and I do it the same every time.

Frankly, if someone feels the need for additional safeties, I am not overly comfortable in their skills, as it implies that they are planning on a mechanical solution to a handling issue.

[jlist]

Not sure if it's already mentioned - I've seen youtube videos of real life police officers shoot himself when re-holstering. The plastic "bolt" end of a string on his jacket went through the trigger guard when the gun was inserted into holster. Because the bolt is stuck on the other side of the trigger, when inserting, the string pulled the trigger. In this incident finger was not on trigger and holster was not to blame. I think there were a few ND incidents that happened in this fashion. This won't happen with a manual safety switched on.

Please explain how that is possible.

You do realize you have to pull the trigger to disengage the striker block and to cock the striker, right?

[calibased]

Not sure if it's already mentioned - I've seen youtube videos of real life police officers shoot himself when re-holstering. The plastic "bolt" end of a string on his jacket went through the trigger guard when the gun was inserted into holster. Because the bolt is stuck on the other side of the trigger, when inserting, the string pulled the trigger. In this incident finger was not on trigger and holster was not to blame. I think there were a few ND incidents that happened in this fashion. This won't happen with a manual safety switched on.

thats just so clumsy why would you wear clothing which would interfer with your draw/reholster? isnt this a prerequisite?

[Mainspring]

Not sure if it's already mentioned - I've seen youtube videos of real life police officers shoot himself when re-holstering. The plastic "bolt" end of a string on his jacket went through the trigger guard when the gun was inserted into holster. Because the bolt is stuck on the other side of the trigger, when inserting, the string pulled the trigger. In this incident finger was not on trigger and holster was not to blame. I think there were a few ND incidents that happened in this fashion. This won't happen with a manual safety switched on.

if you are talking about the one in the gun shop... since you saw that vid you know how this happened. It was total negligence on his part.

after he reholstered his weapon, draw string got caught and instead of carefully redrawing his weapon and fixing the issue, he instead just tugged on his clothing.

best safety is located in your skull.

[Citadelgrad87]

Not sure if it's already mentioned - I've seen youtube videos of real life police officers shoot himself when re-holstering. The plastic "bolt" end of a string on his jacket went through the trigger guard when the gun was inserted into holster. Because the bolt is stuck on the other side of the trigger, when inserting, the string pulled the trigger. In this incident finger was not on trigger and holster was not to blame. I think there were a few ND incidents that happened in this fashion. This won't happen with a manual safety switched on.

It's still pulling the trigger. It doesn't have to be your finger.

In hunters safety classes, they teach to unload a weapon if you're climbing a fence or crossing through bushes because several guys have reached through the bushes and grabbed the end of he barrel and pulled it to them, with a branch inside the tg. Boom, right in the stomach.

That's not an unsafe weapon, it's an unsafe user.

It should go without saying that if a cardinal safety rules is do not touch the trigger until you are on target and ready to fire, ALSO means don't let anything else touch the trigger.

This rule has been around way longer than Glocks, it's not some stop gap to cover Glocks.

[jlist]

if you are talking about the one in the gun shop... since you saw that vid you know how this happened. It was total negligence on his part.

after he reholstered his weapon, draw string got caught and instead of carefully redrawing his weapon and fixing the issue, he instead just tugged on his clothing.

best safety is located in your skull.

Yes, that one. You are right - no doubt it was a user error. The point here is that the safety features aren't there to make the users better but they help avoid or reduce some user errors and in that sense they make firearms safer, at least for the users who are not as good as they should be. Human beings get tired, distracted, etc. and aren't always the best they can be. User errors happen. Not necessarily to a specific person, but collectively people make mistakes.

[caliberetta]

User errors happen.

Sir, you are far more eloquent than me. I called it $h|t happens.

No matter how it is conveyed, these people are fixed in their old ways and beliefs, so I'm not really sure if your eloquence will have any effect. They have apparently found a way to convince themselves that they no longer have any risk of "user error." The rest of them are just lemmings who will agree to anything that is supported by more than 2 posters with an aggregate post count of at least 1,000.

But the hardliners will come back again and again. You can tell who they are by their nasty tone. That's because they are wound up like a 2-dollar watch over this. If you want to know why, read on.

I say people should be free to trust their instincts to require a safety on a firearm if they want one. It's only a matter of time before California will lead the world in mandating a safety for every firearm and you will be well prepared for that scenario while many of these cranky old guys will have to retrain or never have a new Firearm. Now you know why they are wound up like that.

If anyone has any doubts as to whether Glock will yield to that legislation, just remind yourself that Cali is the 7th largest economy in the world that is just beginning to issue CCW's. That means that an unprecedented explosion in firearm sales is just ahead of us, SSE will be irrelevant, Microstamping will be unconstitutional, the Roster will be huge. Gaston Glock and his progeny will be hitting the California market like a whack-a-mole at the County Fair. They will not be able to install safeties fast enough. Anti 2A Politicians will make a U-Turn faster than an Orange County Housewife can say "I feel safer when he has his gun."

So there.

(Make way for Gloom and Doom below).