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You need to be safe from the gun, and you need the gun to make you safe.

1. To be safe from the gun, you need to avoid accidental and negligent discharges.

2. For the gun to make you safe, it needs to fire when you pull the trigger.

Thumb safeties can be excellent when it comes to 1, but they can cause problems when it comes to 2.

If you ever need to fire your weapon in self defence, chances are your going to be nervous and jittery with an overdose of adrenalin pumping through your system. You might pull the trigger without taking the safety off first, and when the gun doesn't fire, your mind might freeze up for a split second making you unable to figure out what the problem is in time to protect yourself.

This might sound far fetched, but its not. While I have not been in any gunfights, I have driven a car for many decades. On a few occasions when I tried to stop the car, I hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. I knew there was a problem, but I didn't know what the cause of the problem was. My foot was stuck to the gas pedal, and my mind froze up for a split second. Luckily my mind snapped out of it in time to move my foot to the brake and stop the car. Similar things can happen when deploying guns that have thumb safeties.

If the gun doesn't fire when you pull the trigger, the gun is not a safe gun.

WTR wrote:

tbryanh wrote:I also feel the Sig is the safest pistol out there. That is why I chose it.

I don't know how you could make that argument when a 1911 has both a grip and thumb safety and mt H & K has both a decocker and a thumb safety.

Thumb safeties are considered by many to be a hazard when trying to deploy a weapon. I buy into that philosophy, so I consider a thumb safety to be a hazard.

Excaliber wrote:

tbryanh wrote:

Liberty wrote:

tbryanh wrote:I also feel the Sig is the safest pistol out there. That is why I chose it.

Is there a reason why? Just wondering there are lots of DA/SA with hammers, and it my platform of choice. Is there a reason that this design is safer than others... The one thing that does differentiate the M11-1A from similar handguns is that it has a decocker instead of a safety.

Just curious.

As mentioned, it is safe to holster by keeping your thumb on the hammer. It appears this is what the after market device for the Glock is trying to achieve.

Other DA/SA pistols that have safeties instead of decockers add complexity to operating the pistol. In an urgent situation, you can forget to take off the safety, then when you are unable to pull the trigger, your mind might go blank at that point as to what the problem is. This is why I stay away from pistols that have safeties.

The heavy trigger pull on the first shot makes up for not having a safety.

Many police administrators thought so too - until they discovered that heavy trigger pulls significantly and adversely affect accuracy among those who do not train frequently.

Making the gun harder to shoot also makes it harder to shoot well.

This doesn't mean that it's not a good choice for a given individual who is willing to maintain a high level of skill with the weapon, but in general a gun with a heavy trigger pull on the first or all shots wouldn't be a good choice for an occasional shooter from an accuracy performance under stress standpoint.

There is no perfect system. You trade one problem for another. I choose the problem Sig has over the problems the other pistols have.

Liberty wrote:

tbryanh wrote:I also feel the Sig is the safest pistol out there. That is why I chose it.

Is there a reason why? Just wondering there are lots of DA/SA with hammers, and it my platform of choice. Is there a reason that this design is safer than others... The one thing that does differentiate the M11-1A from similar handguns is that it has a decocker instead of a safety.

Just curious.

As mentioned, it is safe to holster by keeping your thumb on the hammer. It appears this is what the after market device for the Glock is trying to achieve.

Other DA/SA pistols that have safeties instead of decockers add complexity to operating the pistol. In an urgent situation, you can forget to take off the safety, then when you are unable to pull the trigger, your mind might go blank at that point as to what the problem is. This is why I stay away from pistols that have safeties.

The heavy trigger pull on the first shot makes up for not having a safety.

I also feel the Sig is the safest pistol out there. That is why I chose it.