I've shown my AR firearm here before. It works quite well. It still bears a relatively bare buffer tube instead of going for one of the fancy braces.
If I grasp the concept, then a foam covered buffer tube is best, unless you need the handicap brace. Less to snag & lighter. Am I right?
"Gear Head Works" Tailhook Mod. #2 is a game changer. It locks in 5 positions with a button. The hook deploys with a button. Sure it costs $200. With my sling attached to the slot in the Tailhook I can spin the gun off my shoulder just like the GAU-5 I carried in the Air Force. I carried it with the foam covered tube. Then with a paracord wrapped tube. No comparison worth mentioning to the Tailhook Mod. #2. I don't think the tailhook mod. #1 is worth stopping at compared to the #2. Here are pics of a #2:
Yes, the safety is in the pew pew position. I also put another lever in front of the trigger.
If it was a P320,they can be had with or without a thumb safety. The traditional line is DA with a decocker...which is at least as good as a safety. The rest of the line are single action with manual safeties.
IIRC correctly, that Sig didn't have a thumb actuated safety, which made her nervous. Personal preference, got it. Just making sure there wasn't some chemical/mechanical issue I wasn't aware of. Personally, I'm good without a thumb-switch since I've got the break-trigger plus the backstrap switch. Especially since there are no other folks here with access to the safe.
Although, I do need to allocate the cash for a safe electrical outlet kit, and a dehumidifier...just to avoid any potential corrosion issues.
If it was a P320,they can be had with or without a thumb safety. The traditional line is DA with a decocker...which is at least as good as a safety. The rest of the line are single action with manual safeties.
It definitely had a decocker, which was new to me as well. The decocker provides as much "safety" as the revolver. But to someone that's got limited experience and understand of firearms, it added to the complexity. It was just another lever for her to figure out and remember what it does.
Personally, I'm good without a thumb-switch since I've got the break-trigger plus the backstrap switch.
I would probably be ok with this setup, but I feel a break-trigger only safety (GLocks) isn't adequate. I like having to make the conscious decision of having to flip the thumb switch before the pistol is enabled to fire. YMMV fo course.
I look at it the same way I look at my ECR/auto-on laser - under duress, I want to think none, and react 100%. Flip a switch or fumble for the laser button just adds to the fight-or-flight step of draw/dot on target/pull trigger.
I pray it never comes to it, but if it does...I'm stacking the deck as far in my favor as I can.
I was also raised to treat any firearm as loaded and deadly unless you were actively looking into an open chamber - bolt, slide, cylinder, whatever. If you can't see light through the chamber...treat it like it's loaded. Period. Yes, there's a popup tab on the XDs when a round is chambered...but I trust my eyes. Period. Anything else is just a sign to check it and make sure.
Hell...I put my finger on the guard of my freakin' DEWALT when I carry it. Never touch a trigger till its time to put a hole in something. Again, though...YMMV.
The safety I was taught was don't even point your finger at people, and if you don't want it to go bang, don't touch the trigger. AND when it is time make it count.
The safety I was taught was don't even point your finger at people, and if you don't want it to go bang, don't touch the trigger. AND when it is time make it count.
Well, that all good and dandy if you are a perfect human being. Most aren't.
Also, combine the fact that gun handling SHOULD be done and a well lit room with a fully functional, awake person...the likely scenario in a home defense situation is that neither will be the case. IMHO, having a revolver or decocked DA pistol is the very minimum when a gun is being stored within reach of a sleeping person.
I look at it the same way I look at my ECR/auto-on laser - under duress, I want to think none, and react 100%. Flip a switch or fumble for the laser button just adds to the fight-or-flight step of draw/dot on target/pull trigger
I can agree with much of this (especially for gun carried on the side), however with a carry gun pointed at my family jewels and/or femoral artery I just can't get comfortable without a thumb safety that actually blocks the hammer when engaged. My Sig P238 has this, although I had to convert to the ambi-safety since I am left handed.
As far as flipping the thumb safety under duress, I hope my drawing-to-fire training has instilled this as muscle memory. Plus I really feel like it eliminates the possibility of firing a shot during de-holstering and re-holstering (which is probably when an accident is likely to happen in reality.)
IMHO, having a revolver or decocked DA pistol is the very minimum when a gun is being stored within reach of a sleeping person.
For home defense I never store a pistol within reach of a sleeping person. Uncle Sam had me watch a film of a guy that fell asleep with a pistol. Yes, he shot himself. I had a guy wake me up once. He didn't get me awake before I knocked him out. I store firearms away from the bed.
For home defense I never store a pistol within reach of a sleeping person. Uncle Sam had me watch a film of a guy that fell asleep with a pistol. Yes, he shot himself. I had a guy wake me up once. He didn't get me awake before I knocked him out. I store firearms away from the bed.
Great point. When I said within reach of a sleeping person, I was thinking in the nightstand. You would have to be nuts to sleep WITH a pistol.
The kicker is I knew the Airman that shot himself in the mirror. His name wasn't Smith. (it wasn't me) He lived in the same barracks I lived in. We always said he committed suicide in the mirror.
I thought the sleeper was going to be something other than a dramatization. I guess the moral of that story is to not watch any cowboys and indians movies when falling asleep holding a gun.
Gruesome stuff didn't get caught on film that often back then. One of the guys in my unit was quick drawing a .44 magnum with a 7.5" barrel in the dorm. It didn't clear the holster. Went in and out of his right calf. About 10 or 12 inches of meat. I looked at the floor where the bullet hit. 2 to 3 inch circle a 1/4 to 3/8 inch deep with the tile and some of the cement gone. He spent 2 hours in the room before figuring out he was going to have to tell someone and go to the hospital. What a mess, but I had to go look.
One of the guys in my unit was quick drawing a .44 magnum with a 7.5" barrel in the dorm. It didn't clear the holster. Went in and out of his right calf
Wouldn't have happened with a thumb safety...
And what kind of moron does that with live ammo? He ain't shooting in the dorm.
There was even crazier stuff that went on there. The location was described as 50 miles from no where and 5 feet from hell. Lot of suicides and people that died in training accidents. The Marines that went to Iran lived in the barracks next door.
I would not take part in his course. There is no profit in it. I went through a course of fire in the military where there was a base of fire that chewed up the ground in front of you as you walked through an area firing your weapon every time your left foot hit the ground. Then the sweep element would be the base of fire as the former base of fire people swept through. All with live ammo.
There was a machine gun course with a fixed element laying down a base of fire over an assault element below. On one occasion a squad leader ran out of colored signal flares and decided to use the same flares for all signals. It got a little hairy after that. Thankfully the fire support element was very accurate.
The other most dangerous thing we did is team drills at the tire house with pistols. Proper muzzle awareness and control is a bit more critical and difficult to maintain than with rifles.
Firing a hard fit 1911 is a thing of beauty. It is perfectly smooth, mild in recoil, and very accurate. It feels like a solid block of metal, with no discernible play in the slide to frame or barrel to slide fit, no play in the bushing to slide fit, and no perceptible play in the bushing to barrel fit. The only thing that rattles is the grip safety...and I can live with that.
The Smith and Wesson is a bit stouter in felt recoil, has a trigger that requires vastly more skill and concentration to run quickly, carries a couple less rounds, but is still a joy to shoot. It is quick to reload with full moon clips and has superb mechanical accuracy.
My long suffering pistol spinner. My brother nearly wrecked it with my 44 magnum and +P defense ammo tends to leave marks. 20190426_201208 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr