Why no internal locks on the autoloader S&Ws?

Breakaway500 · #1 10-11-2017, 05:36 AM

I'm not bashing or whining about the internal lock,but another thread recently started about which revolvers don't currently have the lock made me think about why S&W never incorporated it into their autoloaders? If the mindset of the lock was to promote tampering by unauthorized users (children,thieves etc) then why were the autoloaders not equipped with them as well? It was not intended to be a "safety" so arguing that the autoloaders have safeties isn't valid. Just wondering aloud..

Ray1970 · #2 10-11-2017, 07:38 AM

I think some of the early M&P pistols had the lock. Not sure when or why it went away.

chief38 · #3 10-11-2017, 08:31 AM

I have absolutely no clue and still to this day don't get it! A cable lock would have gone a loooooong way IMHO!

It is my personal opinion that the current S&W Company is not really run by "Gun People" and so they don't think like Gun People.

silversnake · #4 10-11-2017, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breakaway500

I'm not bashing or whining about the internal lock,but another thread recently started about which revolvers don't currently have the lock made me think about why S&W never incorporated it into their autoloaders? If the mindset of the lock was to promote tampering by unauthorized users (children,thieves etc) then why were the autoloaders not equipped with them as well? It was not intended to be a "safety" so arguing that the autoloaders have safeties isn't valid. Just wondering aloud..

Let's not give them any ideas.....

Doug M. · #5 10-14-2017, 02:48 PM

Probably because it a much harder task to modify the pistols to add a lock. Considering that the locks of all types are a solution in search of a problem if one is generous, that's not a problem to me. Heck, when we were issued the 4566s back in ... 1999(?), everyone threw away the trigger locks right there on the range.

GerSan69 · #6 10-14-2017, 10:02 PM

Taurus has them on their semis.

WR Moore · #7 10-14-2017, 11:30 PM

The internal lock on the M&P 1.0 series standard sear block really wasn't anything terribly difficult to add. Removing the lock on a spare sear block I bought last year was a whole lot more trouble than doing the original. Or at least more trouble than I remember.

I kind of think that the demand for manual safeties drove the lock into the basement, if not to extinction. They need the room in the sear block for the manual safety.

Several years ago, I recall a guy showing up at the range for his first pistol match. He was going around asking if anyone had a key for the internal lock on his not-a-Smith and was surprised no one had one. Everyone was was too polite to comment on way he showed up without HIS key.....until he got irritated and asked why no one had a key. The comments were still polite, but quite pointed.