GLOCK MANUAL SAFETY

[anygunanywhere]

I like my 1911s.

I do not dislike Glocks, but I do not want to own one right now. Too many other items are ahead of them on my list.

I do own some plastic handguns, just not a Glock.

500 bucks is a steep price for plastic guns.

Again, why would you want a safety when not pulling the trigger will prevent it from firing?

Almost Anygun for this post.

[westernamerican]

I answered "no", and my "good reason why" is that I don't like Glocks.

Then if I were you, I sure wouldn't buy a GLOCK!

[G.C.Montgomery]

...By design, the Glock's ignition system doesn't have enough stored energy to ignite a round until the trigger is pulled back...

I wanted to verify my memory was correct before saying anything but this is not true. With the chamber loaded and the trigger fully reset, the striker is in fact under sufficient pressure from the striker spring to ignite a primer. The three passive safeties combine to prevent ignition until the trigger is pressed by direct action.

I really don't consider the first safety, the "trigger-safety" as much in the way of a device to prevent accidental discharge. I honestly think this was an afterthought to get past the perception that Glocks "don't have any safeties." The two primary features that prevent the Glock from going bang are the firing-pin block and the "drop-safety."

The firing-pin block is deactivated only when the trigger is pressed to the rear and a camming surface on the trigger bar itself engages the block to clear the way for the striker/firing-pin. This is an elegant system that works pretty well as firing-pin blocks go.

The drop-safety is the weird one. The intent of this design is that the gun cannot fire until the trigger bar "drops" off it's shelf and clears the way for the striker. The crucible of the trigger bar (the part that curves up at the rear) engages the striker's lower surface and the striker pushes the trigger bar on to the shelf as the slide goes into battery. As the gun returns to battery, the force of the recoil spring also compresses the striker spring against the striker and trigger bar. This also returns the trigger to the fully reset position since the trigger cams off the trigger bar. But the trigger bar only moves so far and the rest of the distance traveled by the slide provides the compression for the striker spring. Pressing the trigger to the rear moves the trigger bar off the shelf and the trigger bar is forced down by the small angular camming surface found on the connector. Once the crucible is clear of the striker, the striker flies forward under spring pressure to ignite the primer.

Now, after all that verbose garbage one will say, the striker is moved back during the aforementioned process and therefore compression imparted to the striker spring as a result. However, it's a short movement and shorter than what's needed to compress the striker spring for ignition. Pressing the trigger compresses the striker spring about a 1/4 of an inch before it's released but, the striker spring itself needs more than three times that compression to provide the energy needed to ignite a primer. As mentioned earlier, the striker is retarded by the trigger bar itself but the additional distance the slide must travel to return to battery is what provides a "pre-cocked" of sorts to the striker spring.

I think I'll let the rest of my marbles spill out of my head now...they started rolling all over the place as the squirrel started turning the wheels necessary for me to visuallize how Glocks work.

[Stupid]

The main reason that I don't carry a Glock is that it lacks of external safety.

Do you know how much attention that you have to pay when you holster your weapon? Especially IWB? Oh, a good holster will fix the problem. The gun should be safe with and without the holster. You cannot say not to carry the gun when there's no holster.

[govnor]

I don't carry anything with a safety, unless it's a shotgun or rifle. The number one rule is to keep your booger picker off the trigger!

I have a friend that installed a safety on the trigger of his Glock. I think it's a real good idea if you have kids around, but that's the only reason I can see for it. If I bought a Glock with one, I would probably convert it back.