ye olde gun safety

[Rob P.]

I thought he made it SA cuz DA technology didn't exist yet

good points by all. remember make your children gun proof not your guns childproof

The Model 1889 Colt revolver was DA so the technology and engineering knowledge to make DA pistols was available in 1911. It is just a sear engagement linkage after all. Browning chose to make the 1911 SA because it was safer that way.

The reason it is safer for an autococker to be SA is that at that point in history firearms were KEPT loaded at all times. This means there was a round in the chamber and a full magazine for pistols. A pistol with a DA trigger system can be fired by anyone or anything which pulls the trigger. However, a SA pistol needs to be cocked before it can be fired. Adding a safety selector and a grip safety means that the pistol cannot be fired unless one INTENDS it to be fired and the weapon is held in a way that all the safeties are disengaged. (Yes, we all know that 1911's can be fired if the safety is off, the hammer down, and one strikes the hammer hard enough. So can any of the SA peacemakers of the time. This is just physics not oversight.)

This SA points given above are not true with today's plastic fantastic lineup which are almost all DA and have almost no true safety mechanisms. Glocks and ND's are almost synonymous to the point that some Glock's being holstered can have an ND. You CANNOT do this with a SA automatic - it is impossible if the hammer is "cocked and locked" or down.

[mothergreen]

ah, didn't know that learn somethin new every day. my glocks are plenty safe but it makes sense that that is why the finger out of the trigger guard is the way now.

[Pulsar]

Not to mention DA is kind of an answer to a question no one ever asked for auto pistols. DA on auto pistols only really started making sense when hammerless guns started coming on the market.

I know I just opened a nasty can of worms here.

[N6ATF]

One of these days I might just get my USP converted to var. 9 (SA only) since I couldn't find one already in that configuration in about a year of searching (almost all var. 1 SA/DA)... to me, DA is crap anyway.

[mothergreen]

Not to mention DA is kind of an answer to a question no one ever asked for auto pistols. DA on auto pistols only really started making sense when hammerless guns started coming on the market.

I know I just opened a nasty can of worms here.

my first handgun was a glock. so the first guns I got to know how to shoot well were double action heavy pull. I bought my first 1911 not to long ago. it practically shoots itself. a hammerless gun with the trigger of a 1911 would be nice. but I can shoot em all.

[BillCA]

Just to set the record straight...

The reason it is safer for an autococker to be SA is that at that point in history firearms were KEPT loaded at all times. This means there was a round in the chamber and a full magazine for pistols. A pistol with a DA trigger system can be fired by anyone or anything which pulls the trigger. However, a SA pistol needs to be cocked before it can be fired. Adding a safety selector and a grip safety means that the pistol cannot be fired unless one INTENDS it to be fired and the weapon is held in a way that all the safeties are disengaged.

Look at a Colt 1905 .45 pistol and the 1903 .38 Auto pocket pistols shows that a safety lever was not considered necessary on all semi-auto pistols.

At the point where JMB was designing what would become the 1911, his original designs were less than perfect. Both the grip safety and the thumb safety were add-ons after his first design proposal (Colt 1905). Why? Because as a military sidearm it was already decided that it would be carried without a round under the hammer and that the slide would be operated in order to use the pistol. After early trials, a thumb safety was added. In military trials it was decided that the pistol needed a safety to prevent discharge if dropped or mishandled so a grip safety was added.

When the new 1911 pistol was first delivered, several senior Army staff officers were concerned that there were too many "gadgets" on the pistol (levers and safeties) and that it would be "complicated" to instruct soldiers to safely operate the pistol.

[mothergreen]

interesting.. and now they turn away the simple glock for more gadgets on the m9

[Greg-Dawg]

It's called, "Times have changed". I don't think the "Finger Off the Trigger" phrase was popular back than as now.

[M. Sage]

125 years ago people KNEW that a firearm was loaded because it WAS loaded. ALWAYS. This is not true in today's world where people know that a firearm is UNloaded but we're supposed to treat it like it is loaded.

It has nothing to do with fingers or triggers. We invent rules that say "keep you finger off the trigger" to perpetuate the awareness that it is a gun and not an everyday tool for food and defense.

... I just shot a run-and-gun rifle competition, and whenever I had to move, my finger was off the trigger. The rifle was loaded: I knew it was loaded, it's an autoloader, the mag was still full, and the safety was off. Those were the reasons I had my finger off the trigger.

FWIW, I'm pretty "casual" about my guns, but muzzle control and keeping my finger off the trigger are the two big ones that I worry about around the house.

[supersonic]

God, does this picture make me want to shout a word that starts with the letter "C" and ends with a "T"!!!!!!!!!

[M. Sage]

Carrot!

[762cavalier]

Carrot? I was thinking

CORRUPT

[N6ATF]

COPOUT!

[mothergreen]

funny my thought was a 4 letter word.

[M. Sage]

funny my thought was a 4 letter word.

Hmm.. Can't think of one that short.