Why have a thumb safety on an M&P Pistol!

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Good observation. But chiming in inspires others to give their opinions. And hopefully we get close to agreeing at the end.

Yes, perhaps the only question regarding the autos with no external safety is the trigger pull weight and often more important the holster.

In theory perhaps the handgun is not likely to have an accidental discharge in a good reasonably stiff holster. Particularly if the gun is in the holster when the holster is shoved inside the belt, or the type holster where part of the holster shoved inside the belt.

But then here we go again to the next step, about holstering a handgun after an incident. Your nerves are peaked and maybe your clothes a bit looser. Shirt tail more likely to be out, perhaps blocking the handgun from good entrance to holster. I assume nobody teaches this stuff in class but the classes are getting much better.

So it would seem pertinent to experiment with the highest trigger pull weight you can shoot well with at 15 or 20 yards. Then dress nice and do some toe touches and side bends. Roll around on a judo mat and at least look at your new belt line obstructions. If appropriate, try to holster your gun.

I think I just talked myself into buying my next one with an external safety and light trigger.

I agree with Delos!
 
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The Shield is an odd one. The one I fondled at the LGS had a pretty stout safety. It wasn't easy to engage/disengage it by accident. It took a bit of pressure. I'm not a big fan that style safety. At least S&W made it as unobtrusive as possible. If you don't want to use it, leave it disengaged.

While the stiff small thumb safety might make it harder to flip off it also makes it far less likely to be accidentally flipped on during carry or while holstering/unholstering.
I have firearms in various configurations, with and without thumb safety, with and without grip safety, with and without mag disconnect, DAO or SA/DA or SAO. Each has pros and cons in different situations.
So far I have carried with an empty chamber and safety off and with a round in the chamber with safety on. Trying to balance the fact that I have to handle the weapon a number of times in order to get through a day against the chance that I might need to use it.
What about this - chamber a round - put the safety on - holster the weapon (before or after attaching the holster to your belt) - get everything situated, then thumb the safety off - assuming you have a good holster which covers the trigger. Then if needed the safety is off. At the end of the day or when removing the gun from the holster of the holster form the belt, thumb the safety on to make it safer to handle when in a safe location.
Then again there is the keep it simple philosophy where minimizing the parts and steps involved is the way to go. Not that anyone is completely safe anywhere but some level of threat assemesment needs to be done.
I don't feel I need to have my safety off while sitting on my sofa but perhaps I do when inspecting a vacant house.
 
Thumb safety has it's place

Good for reholstering, charging the first round, clearing the weapon, etc. I don't like safeties that lock the slide because that defeats half the benefit.

I wish that people would quit thinking that the trigger tab/hinge makes the gun safer from fingers and other things entering the trigger guard. That IS NOT it's primary purpose, it is a DROP safety. It is designed to easily disengaged with a finger, just like a grip safety does when you grip the pistol. Both are designed to stay out of your way and be more or less automatic.
 
(This is an OLD thread....)

I have an M&P9C, an M&P40C, and an M&P40FS. The 9C's got a thumb safety.

I took it because the dealer had only the one gun, and being a 1911 guy, swiping off the safety is habitual. (I always carry a 1911 in Condition One, AKA "Cocked & Locked".)

What I found is that the thumb safety on the 9C is just too soft to protect anybody from anything. While it's not too likely to move by itself, holster contact IMHO might do it, or just accidental finger contact in handling. IOW, I don't trust the thing.

The silly little safety in the trigger is a joke, IMHO, too, although it may help as a drop safety. The real drop safety in the rear of the slide is going to be a lot more useful.

I gave the gun to my daughter. She also knows how to work the thumb safety, and doesn't carry the thing - "nightstand". Can't talk her into getting licensed, and her employer won't let her bring it to work anyway.

Now, I'm told - I haven't got one yet - the thumb safety on the Shield is pretty difficult to turn on or off, and may be a better "childproofing" option. For the guy who puts one in his pocket, though, you'd better practice turning it off.... IMHO, the one on the 9C wouldn't stop a kid over about 2 years old....

Now, if you have one of the other S&W guns (or just about anybody else's) where the lever position is reversed (i.e., "up to fire"), like my old M39, being a 1911 guy puts you at a disadvantage. You can carry the thing with the safety off if desired (that defeats the drop safety in mine), but trying to figure out whether the gun in your hand wants the lever up or down can be a problem....

All of that said, pick one you like, and train up on it to the point that you do it automatically. I'm at the point where I try to flip the safety on or off while handling one of the M&P's, even though there's no lever there. I'm just used to the 1911....

(I carry a small 1911 "outdoors", and the M&P40C or FS "indoors". The reason being that the M&P's are very light, and don't require a special belt. Goes well with grubbies :D.... On a trip involving aircraft - i.e., checking a weapon - it's one of the 40's, though. Never check a gun you really want....)

Regards,
 
I know...old thread...but still relevant.

Yes, perhaps the only question regarding the autos with no external safety is the trigger pull weight and often more important the holster.

My Shield has a TS, and I use it at home, but I don't use it when I carry it. It's too small for me to be comfortable with swiping it off in a hot situation. If I could buy an extended safety lever for it, I'd do that, and use it. However, the Shield has a crisp-but-stiff trigger that requires intention to pull, and I carry it in a secure IWB Kydex holster that covers both the trigger and the safety lever. Once the gun's in the holster, and the safety is clicked off, nothing about that gun will change state. The safety will not accidentally become engaged. The trigger will not accidentally be pulled.

I think I just talked myself into buying my next one with an external safety and light trigger.

I just bought a full size M&P 9 with the TS. Sure, it probably doesn't need a TS with the stock trigger, from a trigger pull weight standpoint. The beauty of the TS models is that you can either keep the safety in it and use it, or you can remove the safety lever and try without if you like. But you have the option. I understand that most guns now have the universal sear block where you could add a TS to a NTS model if you wanted, but I don't think it's guaranteed that any one gun will have that universal block.

But I don't plan to keep my full size M&P stock. I'd like to really shorten and lighten the trigger...down to around the 4 lb point. It's a fun gun, a range gun. Guns with short and light triggers generally have a TS. I regard my "future" M&P no differently. But, hey, who knows...maybe I'll take the TS lever out and have a NTS model. I have the choice.

I see no harm in folks offering opinions on this topic, but I see little value in questioning why someone else would want it any other way. That's like asking someone why their favorite color is blue when, clearly, the best color out there is red! We all like what we like, and I feel that we all learn by reading and sharing opinions. But questioning someone else's opinion is rarely productive.
 
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This subject is reaching the heights of AR vs AK and caliber wars. S&W offered thumb safeties on M&P's because some police departments, (the original target audience), required them, same-same mag safeties. Don't understand the controversy. It's like choosing between a car with buckets and a floor shift, or the same one with a split bench and column shift. Whatever floats your boat.
 
Google / Bing the words Glock Accident, and you will find some people who could have benefited from a thumb safety.

In one case, a police officer shot himself in the leg while reholstering his Glock, because the trigger got tangled up in a jacket drawstring.
 
Wow! The safety haters on here who are so quick to smuggly disparage those who want a safety, remind me of the anti-gunners who would question why anyone would "need" a gun at all.

I wonder how many folks who have had negligent discharges with their striker fired pistols talked the same way before they made holes in something that did not need holes in it?
 
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I have a Shield .40 that I carry and it has a thumb safety. I think it does not matter if you have one or not as long as you train properly with/without it. I have trained to take it out of the holster and the distance between pulling out of the holster and focusing on the target, I switch the safety off. I think it's there for psychological reasons that the gun will not go off if the trigger is pulled accidentally while retrieving the gun from the holster or while in the holster.... but once again, that's a training issue.
 
I also prefer the safety and don't consider myself "gun dumb". The bottom line is that I cut my teeth 30 plus years ago on single action guns like the hi-power. I am trained to sweep the safety off. I also am of the mind that the trigger safety is not sufficient as it is too easily defeated. I believe that this position has been proven out by the number of AD/ND's of the Glock platform.

One of the reasons I moved to the M&P platform was because of the availability of the thumb safety. The ergonomics are as close to the hi-power that I have found in a current design. The Shield with a thumb safety is the best concealed carry platform available today.

While I appreciate that some feel they don't need a thumb safety, I feel strongly that they are incorrect. I just hope that they never find out how incorrect they are in their misguided confidence in an inadequate trigger safety.
 
Safety vs No Safety

I have been involved in the shooting sports for the past 55 years, experience includes semi auto pistols with and without a manual safety as well as revolvers. Before retiring from law enforcement I was the department firearms instructor and armorer, and no one I had trained ever had an accidental discharge or negative incident involving a firearm. I well understand the pros and cons, if there are any, of a manual safety. I am now contemplating a purchase of another compact 9mm to give my CS9 a break and seriously considering the Shield, one of the reasons being the availability of a manual safety, I prefer it. As others have stated in this thread, it is my life, my money buying the firearm, and my preference, no other explanation is necessary.
 
This IS and old thread. I'm in Mass and I prefer the thumb safety and actively trying to buy the parts to convert it to such, for reasons like some have stated here. I'm divorced, no kids, live alone and I still worry about somehow some GF's kid or something getting their hands on a gun and with the safety ON, it will NOT go boom. I have a big ole safe and it's either in there or on me, so chances are nill. Just my preference, but I am NO expert compared to some on here. But I am a responsible gun owner. Plus, MSM loves tragedies involving some kid killing themselves accidentally under circumstances discussed like on here.

I agree, it's still America (for now) so let the buyer choose.
 
As I read these posts for and against a thumb safety on an M&P no one has mentioned children.

I am a responsible gun owner. My Shield is always holstered and when not on my person it is locked away in my Gunvault. However, accidents happen and children get their hands on loaded guns. I like the idea that if a child pulled the trigger on my loaded Shield it would not go bang and hopefully I would realize my error in judgement (leaving a loaded gun unattended) before the child figures out the safety.

Russ


Allow me to open up a big ol' can of worms here. If kids or grandkids are around I agree with the safe. While in the relative safety of your home if you have a gun out I would suggest not having a round in the chamber.

Let the flames begin....
 
Necro thread, but ok.

I like the thumb safety. It is why I bought a Shield instead of a Glock 19. If Glock had a safety, I'd have bought it.

With CCW, there is SO much administrative handling, it seems orders of magnitude higher risk to have an ND from that, than the vanishing small risk of not releasing the safety if and when the SHTF. I practice so much with it that I actually have a small callous on my thumb from it!

My M&P22, Sig P238, and my Ruger SR9C also have thumb safeties.
 
Necro thread, but ok.

I like the thumb safety. It is why I bought a Shield instead of a Glock 19. If Glock had a safety, I'd have bought it.

With CCW, there is SO much administrative handling, it seems orders of magnitude higher risk to have an ND from that, than the vanishing small risk of not releasing the safety if and when the SHTF. I practice so much with it that I actually have a small callous on my thumb from it!

My M&P22, Sig P238, and my Ruger SR9C also have thumb safeties.

I bought my shields, 9MM for Spring, Summer & Fall carry and .40 for winter, heavy clothing. If I am in the car or at a really safe place like my sons homes or my home I leave the safety on. When I get out my car at a mall parking lot the safety goes off before I exit the car. I have also spent time practicing drawing and releasing the safety in one fluid motion. Not a problem & extra piece of mind especially with the grand children around.
 
I'm in the 'buy whatever you want' camp but.....

I just got Shield and I'm really surprised at how easy it is to pull the trigger compared to other DA semis that I have. My other guns don't have safeties and i'm fine with them, but I'm glad to have one with the shield whether I use it or not.
 
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This IS and old thread. I'm in Mass and I prefer the thumb safety and actively trying to buy the parts to convert it to such, for reasons like some have stated here. I'm divorced, no kids, live alone and I still worry about somehow some GF's kid or something getting their hands on a gun and with the safety ON, it will NOT go boom. I have a big ole safe and it's either in there or on me, so chances are nill. Just my preference, but I am NO expert compared to some on here. But I am a responsible gun owner. Plus, MSM loves tragedies involving some kid killing themselves accidentally under circumstances discussed like on here.

I agree, it's still America (for now) so let the buyer choose.

I used a 1911 for nightstand duty etc for years. Bought a 9 & 40 M&P for the extra capacity but always felt a little vulnerable with a pistol w/o a safety especially when the cat jumped on the night stand one night. When the M&P .45 became available with a thumb safety I bought one and liked it so much I bought my son one also. Problem was I could not transfer it to him b/c he is in MA. Now I have one on each nightstand equipped with Streamlight TLR2s light and laser setups. I love the thumb safety on these because for me they are just the right size and even in the fog of sleep you will not have a problem disengaging this safety. 10 rounds mag with 230Gr Gold Dots & one in the chamber should take care of any threat or give me time to get to the Mossberg or AR. Tried the S&W 14 round mags when they came out and broke a loader trying to get the 14th in. With 13 they still were not 100% reliable on the first round feed. Too much pressure for the slid to strip the first round. Maybe they have improved. I use them for the range using ball ammunition and they have loosened up a bit and function well. The 10 round mags function 100% so that's what I use for defense. Feel sorry for you MA guys but at least you can now get a S&W E series 1911.
 
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