Is it possible to add a thumb safety to a M&P that does not have one, or does it have to be manufactured that way? Just wondering.

Welcome to the S&W Forum on behalf of me. A yokel from East TN.

You might want to read the following thread.

New M&P 40c owner with few questions

From this it seems that the external safety cannot be added after the fact. I'm no expert though and perhaps it can be sent back to S&W and added at their discretion or for a fee?

The frame on my M&P9 is not cut for the safety. If it had the safety I'd have removed it long ago, it's a liability unless you depress and hold it down all the time you shoot.

-- Chuck

Chuck:

Might be an individual gun/tolerances thing, but the thumb safety on my M&P40C (it was an M&P9C until I swapped frames, but you know that) has always been fine.

I agree that it's essentially useless, but a rat tail file and a little work (and the right roll pin punch!) will stiffen it up a bit so it stays put.

The only problem I've noticed is that the levers are located where I pretty much have to shut the thing off to move the slide - racking a first round, press check, etc. Minor issue....

In my case, as a 1911 guy, I sort of like the commonality, but only because I like to use the safety lever on the range on both the M&P and a couple 1911's.

jabate01:

Chuck's comments notwithstanding, S&W says you can't.... There's a cutout in the plastic frame portion that's not there, but you could make that yourself (on both sides). I'm not sure if you could get the associated parts, or if they'll work with the sear block you have.

Worst case, I suppose, would be to swap the gun with somebody who doesn't want a thumb safety....

Mine did NOT need to be held down - whether as a 9mm or .40 - but I have heard that some of them are very loose, and mine's not all that tight.... I'm more concerned about having it on when it should be off, but being a 1911 guy, flicking the safety off is kind of automatic. I don't find it of any non-training value....

But that's just me, and YMMV ....

Regards,

__________________
Stu.

Ya still gotta thumb a safety OFF very time even if you never, ever put it ON.

Bad magic things happen to safety locks between the time you holstered the pistol and when you really need it in that parking lot at 0200. "***" is not what you want to be thinking when the pistol doesn't fire...

-- Chuck

While I am not a safety lever guy myself, issues like the one you described are overcome by proper training and tactics. The case for guns with safeties and guns without are entirely based in personal preference.

Exactly and proper technique requires thumbing the safety OFF every time. Even if you never use it.

If you have a firearm with a safety you gotta assume it's safed, not the other way around.

Only my M1911s have safety locks.

-- Chuck

Have the thumb safety. It has never gotten in the way, nor have I ever pushed it backed into the "safe" position while firing.

Chuck:

Yeah, but training is the key here.... As a 1911 guy anyway, snapping off a thumb safety is sufficiently automatic for me that not finding the thumb safety is a little disconcerting.

If it's "ON", so what?

OTOH, if you're not trained up on snapping off a thumb safety, that's another story.

Thumb safeties, if present, should always work in the same direction (S&W's older semi's are backwards, as is the PPK series), and it's OK if your BUG doesn't have one, but you need to train to always try to turn it off during presentation.

If there's no thumb safety, but you're used to having one, it's a nuisance.

The only real exception is the backwards thumb safety on some S&W semi's.... They're stiff and flat, but the gun can be safely carried (once decocked) with the safety off. (Some of these guns have just a decocker, btw.) If you're trained try to snap one off during presentation (which would turn it on), you're not likely to. Will it turn itself on? Probably not, but if you use it for a decocker and forget....

IF the thumb safety has a habit of turning itself on while in use, without the shooter's overt act, there's really something wrong. It could be the safety, the grip, or the shooter's hand. I feel that the thumb safety on my M&P40C is a little loose, but it doesn't turn itself on or off while being shot.

My daughter's quite petite, and when trying to shoot a buddy's M41 her inner thumb knuckle flips the thumb safety on with every shot. More than a little disconcerting. But it's a range gun.... My M22A doesn't do that for her.

The M22A is an inexpensive "target" gun - really just an advanced plinker. Mine's got a 7" bull barrel and HUGE target grips (similar to those on my ancient Combat Magnum), and essentially pot metal construction. Joe's M41 is nominally the same gun, in real steel, about four times the price, and his has flat grips not too different from S&W's current all-metal semi's. The thumb safety is just in the wrong place for the kid on the M41.... It's not well placed for an "automatic" flick by a trained shooter, either.... But that's almost a fluke. It's hard to believe that a .22 would bounce her around to the point of turning the thumb safety on, but she really is very petite.

Regards,

__________________
Stu.

I found that on the shield it was on several times from holstering the gun and pocket carry. I found myself squeezing the trigger to no avail, That 2 seconds could have got me killed. None of my other guns have safetys