Different types of safeties

[WAMO556]

As the title states, post on here. I'll start.

OPERATOR APPLIED SAFETIES

1. The Glock Safe Action trigger and its many copies and derivatives.

2. The grip safeties characteristic of John Browning designs, such as the M1911 .45 and the FN M1910 pocket pistols.

MORE......

[BKinzey]

Your brain.

[Blackrain7557]

booger hook

[iluvmycolt]

Trigger finger

[SonofWWIIDI]

booger hook

Beat me too it!

[Citadelgrad87]

Conventional manual safeties that prevent the trigger from activating the hammer, 1911 and s and w thumb safeties

Magazine safeties, that prevent firing if a magazine is not in place, s and w.

[JoshuaS]

I will bite. Considering how they are engaged/disengaged rather than necessarily how they function

Active safeties

1. Rear sight safety (this was on the Colt 1900, the great granddaddy of the 1911)- you engage it by pressing down on the sight, blocking the firing pin

2. Grip Safety

3. Thumb safety

4. Crossbolt safety (think 10/22)

5. Grip safety 2- there are some pistols with a grip safety in the front of the grip, they worked differently

6. Trigger blade safety - this is part of the Glock Safe Action, but not the same thing by itself (the Glock safety system includes not just a trigger disconnect, but also a firing pin block and the fact that it is a pre-set double action)

7. Decocker (for DA/SA guns)

8. Safety notch on the hammer (old style Colt SSA, the half cock) but also going back at least to wheel locks

Passive safeties

1. Transfer bar- on some revolvers the hammer by itself will not hit the firing pin, but rather a transfer bar that fits in the gap. The transfer bar only goes up if the trigger is depressed (hence if it is cocked and dropped, and the hammer falls it shouldn't fire)

2. Firing pin block drop safety- a block that is connected to the trigger and only removed from the firing pins path when trigger is depressed. Most modern semiautos have this (including Glock and 80 series 1911's)

3. Magazine disconnect- a firing pin block that is disengaged by an inserted magazine

4. Not sure what this is called but Glocks have, in addition to the trigger blade disconnect and the firing pin block, also a bar that locks in place the striker and i only disengaged by the trigger. Hence Glocks have a redundancy here (if the bar holding it breaks, there is still the firing pin block)

Note that the trigger blade safety Glocks and many other striker fires have now, was (like everything else about the Glock) not new, but is late 19th century. I think the first gun with one was a revolver!


One could include things that aid in the knowledge of the handler, such as the loaded chamber indicator, cocking indicator, or view port


But of course all mechanical safeties should be regarded as nothing but redundancies for the most important safety- which is between the ears

Though there are a few rare exceptions, Jeff Cooper was essentially right when he said if you follow the 4 rules you won't "have an accident" (the exceptions, of course, would be true accidental discharges, not attributable to negligence. You are a CCW holder and an earthquake hits and you fall hard off a step, with the gun smashing into the ground in such a way that the firing pin could have enough forces to strike the gun... then you are glad for the drop safeties. I am sure other rare cases can be dreamed up, but it is hardly worth further consideration, anymore than planning for when a toilet seat might fall out of the sky and kill you... could happen, but you would be silly to worry about it)

[Peter.Steele]

Don't forget the Walther PPK / Beretta style, where it blocks the hammer from hitting the firing pin.

[champu]

H&K's squeeze-cocker safety on the P7 series firearms.