Best manual safety on a pistol

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Jake

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Is the anything better than a 1911 thumb safety?

No...unless you are talking about the old GI style thumb safeties. I can't work those for shit. I've only had one 1911 with the GI thumb safety, and it only had that on there for about a week.
 

Mac11FA

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Your finger is the best safety. I have carried the Shield with no safety and the new Sig does not have one either. I carry with one in the pipe always. To me, in a defensive situation, the less things you need to think about when protecting yourself with a firearm the better. More safeties are equivalent to the gun control some states use when traveling with a firearm. For example, when a gun has to be stored in a locked box and separate from the ammo. If you are getting robbed or car jacked this will be no help as the perp is not going to wait while you get your shit together.

I guess if you are comparing hammer fired to striker fired then a safety is necessary. I think a grip safety would be sufficient in most cases. If the hammer cannot be released unless the grip safety is off then why have a secondary safety? I am sure issues of safeties can be debated all day long. It ultimately comes down to one's own comfort and abilities.
 

Willy Leadwell

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Your finger is the best safety. I have carried the Shield with no safety and the new Sig does not have one either. I carry with one in the pipe always. To me, in a defensive situation, the less things you need to think about when protecting yourself with a firearm the better. More safeties are equivalent to the gun control some states use when traveling with a firearm. For example, when a gun has to be stored in a locked box and separate from the ammo. If you are getting robbed or car jacked this will be no help as the perp is not going to wait while you get your shit together.

I guess if you are comparing hammer fired to striker fired then a safety is necessary. I think a grip safety would be sufficient in most cases. If the hammer cannot be released unless the grip safety is off then why have a secondary safety? I am sure issues of safeties can be debated all day long. It ultimately comes down to one's own comfort and abilities.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I don't carry a 1911 anymore, but when I did it was condition 1 and I still didn't like the idea of having to get the safety off before getting a shot off, even though it would instinctively be off by the time you've drawn. It's still a variable and seemingly unnecessary step. The Sig is DA only, with no safety and I carry a P30 in winter clothes and when I'm not working, it has a manual safety, but is DA/SA, so I carry it with the manual safety off and it's no different than carrying the Sig. I am not a fan of manual safety and I'm not a fan of strikers, so my options are fairly limited. I tried to learn to like the strikers, now @ArtVandelay has my M&P. I just don't dig it.

You can find plenty of instances if you look where the perp got the first shot off before the the good guy gets his safety off. I know training is the ultimate solution, but still, why not remove as many variables as possible and keep it simple?
 
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BackWoods

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Only had experience carrying striker, non manual safety pistolas. After all the various platforms I've played with at the shop, seems hard to beat a 1911 thumb safety. The design is just right.
 
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Laufen

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Beretta 92. Just about every other safety sits too low if you like to hold high and tight on the frame. I always have issues with safety levers digging into my thumb because of my high hold.
The best option is no manual safety.
 
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Thenut

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Beretta 92. Just about every other safety sits too low if you like to hold high and tight on the frame. I always have issues with safety levers digging into my thumb because of my high hold.
The best option is no manual safety.
i was just about to suggest the beretta 92

hands down my favorite safety

the SW 3rd gen autos are also great. my 3913 has the best safety out of any edc i have carried
 
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Waterguy

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Only had experience carrying striker, non manual safety pistolas. After all the various platforms I've played with at the shop, seems hard to beat a 1911 thumb safety. The design is just right.

Yup. The old 1911 is hard to beat with the safety location. Although striker fired with no manual safety is preferred, a person trained on the 1911 platform should be able to remove the safety during the draw before getting on target.
 

Laufen

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I'm always disengaging the 1911 safety accidentally, and I can't even shoot a Browning buckmark because the safety sits where your thumb should be (when on safe).
 

NWS

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A safety has no place on a double action or striker fired pistol. Single actions need them, and then I prefer the 1911 safety.