Can a 952 be Carried Cocked and Locked???

[Isher2000]

Massad Ayoob in his "World's Greatest Handguns Volume 1" on page 276 shows a 952 with the safety on and hammer cocked and implies that the pistol can be carried "cocked and locked" like a Colt 1911.

My 952-2 safety does drop a firing pin block to keep the hammer from striking the firing pin but the hammer and trigger are in no way "locked" and a pull of the trigger will drop the hammer.

Did the 952 have a different safety than that put in the 952-2 or is Mr. Ayoob taking a broad view of "cocked and locked"?

Can a 952-2 be modified to provide a true "cocked and locked" safety without messing up the target quality trigger action or compromising reliability and/or safety?

Thanks

 

[colt_saa]

NO

The "Safety" on a 952 (or 52, 845, 3566Limited, 5906PC, etc) does not prevent the hammer from falling (locked).

As you know, the "Safety" on a 952 prevents the firing pin from being struck when the hammer falls.

While almost any gunsmithing job can be accomplished if you throw enough money at it, the design changes necessary to force a 952 to operate "Cocked and Locked" and build a single firearm to do so, would be exorbitant. Additionally the firearm's lock work would no longer be that of a 952.

 

[Sevens]

Did the 952 have a different safety than that put in the 952-2 or is Mr. Ayoob taking a broad view of "cocked and locked"?

While it doesn't solve the problem of cocked and LOCKED (and I would suggest or surmise that Ayoob simply had a minor fumble here...) there is a difference between the original 952 (and the other elite pistols mentioned above) and the 952-1 and 952-2 models in that the later 952's incorporated a grip safety which worked similarly to the Swarz safety in that it locked the firing pin when not gripped/not defeated.

None of the other elite Performance Center 5-inch and 6-inch full target models incorporated a grip safety as the 952-1 and 952-2 did, although perhaps the (much different) 945 series pistols did?

I suppose we'd need to see the full text from the book, but it should go without saying that Ayoob seems to have made a very odd choice here... we are talking about a precision target pistol with large target adjustable sights, a slender single-stack magazine, a truly elite-short-light-superb trigger and price tag even 15 years back when it was produced that runs 3-5x the typical price of a carry or defense minded pistol.

For him to suggest using this in a defensive role would be similar to discussing standing 1/4 mile ET's for a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. Certainly, it is a car and yes, that ET tells something of a tale... but it goes WAY out of rational bounds to re-purpose a Rolls as a weekend "run what ya brung" drag strip car. Much like discussing the carry and raw fighting qualities of a PC-952.

 

[fuzzymcnab]

GIP

Gratuitous Picture Insertion

fuzzy

 

[Magload]

Nice pistol.

 

[malph]

The Super 9 pistol has a different safety mechanism. It provides for a true cocked and locked capability. I have one and it's pretty nice. I always thought it was something Smith&Wesson should have used in other pistols. It gives an excellent and consistent trigger pull while being more carry friendly than the mechanism used on the 952,52,845,.....

 

[Isher2000]

Super 9

I had a chance to buy one of these once but was short on cash at the time. I've always regretted it.

 

[Camster]

Having owned a 952-1,(that and my Les Baer PII were two guns that I deemed to be magnificent)I would never consider any cocked and locked usage of this gun.It has an extremely light trigger pull-it's a target gun,not SD,-careful use at a range is the only application for this gun.
If I wanted a SD 9mm,it would be the Browning HP-another gun that I've also owned in the past.

 

[Tom S.]

Having owned a 952-1,(that and my Les Baer PII were two guns that I deemed to be magnificent)I would never consider any cocked and locked usage of this gun.It has an extremely light trigger pull-it's a target gun,not SD,-careful use at a range is the only application for this gun.
If I wanted a SD 9mm,it would be the Browning HP-another gun that I've also owned in the past.

I own a Browning, the old GP Competition model, and while I love it for it's accuracy, I just can't get past the magazine disconnect. Because mine is used for target use only, I have disabled that 'feature', but doing that to a SD carry weapon isn't advisable. Just as some find the S&W revolver lock objectionable, I find the magazine disconnect in the same light.

 

[Sevens]

The biggest problem with defeating the magazine disconnect safety on a S&W 1-2-3rd Gen is that it requires removal of the rear sight.

I have my arguments on the subject of a magazine disconnect safety also, but they end up being quite a thread drift here in this discussion.