Right, and that is the risk with the Glock. If ever for any reason (like when going to draw the thing) you accidentally put your booger hook inside the trigger guard and pull, it will fire, and there's nothing like a thumb safety (or a grip safety) to stop this from occurring. This actual accident has happened numerous times to innocent and conscientious folks. And there are a lot of "polymer" guns out there now that do have some sort of other safety mechanism.
eider reposted RD's post:
then eider responded to it:
I know.
Cool.
Because . . . Glock doesn't use MIM? Or Glock does use MIM but even so their guns are head-and-shoulders more reliable than everybody else's pistol offerings?
All quality 1911s (and there are tons of them out there, only some of which you mentioned in your next paragraph below) pass that test too, even if they're the Series 70 without the firing pin block. Fact remains for Glocks (unless you augment them as you and your wife do) if ever anything threaded through the trigger guard and then fell the wrong way the trigger can be pulled and a round discharged. And for that matter if this were to discharge one round, with the gun fumbling around under its own power with something stuck in its trigger guard, and the recoil energy of the first round discharging, it might well fire a second round too.
This doesn't have anything, to do with anything, why did you write this? Seems like something that should have been cut in editing but it evaded detection.
Extended grip safety, yep. There are a few other tweaks to Browning's 1911 design (the year 1911) that are regularly packaged in quality 1911 (the gun) offerings from all the gunmakers, including Sig and Colt but also now Ruger and Smith. But you are right that some people have done that to the grip safety. Nobody wants to get into a gun fight, injure your hand or something, and then not be able to shoot because of that. Do you know if soldiers or Marines ever disabled their grip safeties on their .45s? (Obviously this would have been before they all went with 9-mm Berettas.)
First handgun I ever fired was a Glock 17 or 19, I'm not sure. I don't like the more forward cant, which is, as you know, not something you can do anything about.
I'll take liberty over tyranny every time. Your love of tyranny is plain to see.
I know.
Cool.
Because . . . Glock doesn't use MIM? Or Glock does use MIM but even so their guns are head-and-shoulders more reliable than everybody else's pistol offerings?
All quality 1911s (and there are tons of them out there, only some of which you mentioned in your next paragraph below) pass that test too, even if they're the Series 70 without the firing pin block. Fact remains for Glocks (unless you augment them as you and your wife do) if ever anything threaded through the trigger guard and then fell the wrong way the trigger can be pulled and a round discharged. And for that matter if this were to discharge one round, with the gun fumbling around under its own power with something stuck in its trigger guard, and the recoil energy of the first round discharging, it might well fire a second round too.
Can't happen with the quality 1911, even with the thumb safety disengaged because of the grip safety. And of course with the thumb safety engaged the thing just will not fire even if a stick or a peg or a hanger or whatever threaded right in and jammed against the trigger. I have at the range disengaged the thumb safety and pulled with all my might to pull the trigger, without disengaging the grip safety and it wouldn't yield.
And also like a Glock the quality 1911 can take a beating and yet will still fire. This has to do with everything from the rounds being standard ball and the feed ramp being ground to spec and the spring in the magazine, the gun is a system and all its critical parts must be made to spec with the right metal, but if this is all so (i o w, a quality 1911) then the 1911 is every bit as reliable as a Glock.
Glocks though have the inherent advantage over 1911s in their capacity. The nines can hold 17 rounds +1, and even their full size .45s can hold more than the ten-round limit so popular in gun-control-drunk states like mine (MA). Meanwhile the 1911 just works with its standard seven +1 design although eight-round mags as reliable as the seven-round mags are easier to come by more than they used to be, but those 10-round extended mags, along with being too long and looking silly, I'm not sure they're as reliable as the seven-rounder.
So you can't go with the 1911 if you think capacity is prior once you've established that reliability and safety are on a par. A loaded pistol and one spare mag makes the capacity difference between the two of them (Glock 17 vs. single-stack 1911) kind of ridiculous, kind of like the difference in how much ammo troops can carry with the 5.45 (.223) vs. the 7.62 .30-caliber. Our Army and Marines went with the M16 and never looked back. Probably people should do that with the Glocks too.
Which is why it's important to note the inherent risk to them. If you're mechanically inclined and interested in doing it, you've found a third-party device to add a safety mechanism to the gun, but most people aren't going to do that, so the question for me comes down to capacity vs. this specific safety risk.
This doesn't have anything, to do with anything, why did you write this? Seems like something that should have been cut in editing but it evaded detection.
Extended grip safety, yep. There are a few other tweaks to Browning's 1911 design (the year 1911) that are regularly packaged in quality 1911 (the gun) offerings from all the gunmakers, including Sig and Colt but also now Ruger and Smith. But you are right that some people have done that to the grip safety. Nobody wants to get into a gun fight, injure your hand or something, and then not be able to shoot because of that. Do you know if soldiers or Marines ever disabled their grip safeties on their .45s? (Obviously this would have been before they all went with 9-mm Berettas.)
First handgun I ever fired was a Glock 17 or 19, I'm not sure. I don't like the more forward cant, which is, as you know, not something you can do anything about.
I'm going to use that one sometime.
The Czech Republic is surprisingly pro-gun among all the nations of the world, in case you hadn't heard. Better than the Swiss, and the Swiss are pretty good, so that's really saying something. I mean, no other country is in the same category as us, don't get me wrong, but if there were a notable second place it might be the Czechs.
Isn't Sig and Walther like the same gunmaker? They're related or associated somehow aren't they?
I didn't know Army could just up and substitute a personal sidearm for their standard issue.
Hadn't heard about that.
I'm sure it's striker fired yes.
If you have a solid kydex holster that covers the trigger guard over entirely I'd imagine it would minimize the chance of problems, yes. And it is not just a "perceived problem", you are just a Glock guy.
Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem
All of his or her bluster on the matter of "reasonable" infringements of our rights in this matter, all come from a place of remarkable experience with firearms for a civilian. Eider has fired many different varieties of handguns, including revolvers, and many different varieties of long guns, including shotguns, carbines, and rifles of very many varieties themselves. Eider owns multiple handguns and long guns as well, keeps a good stock of rounds of every caliber he or she uses, and has experience carrying or wearing a gun basically every day for decades, as a matter of course. Eider also has not only trained at shooting ranges numerous times but has identified and practices numerous methods of shooting, including offhand, seated, on one knee, and prone, along with double-taps and the rapid site reacquisition of Miculek. Eider's thought into firearms is extensive, and goes so far as to imagine how to survive in a surprise gun fight, in the possible if not likely scenario that he or she is shot and injured, so he or she considers how to prepare to remain able to defend himself or herself in that scenario.
lain: