Grip safety on the EZ pistols…WHY??

[gc70]

My aged parents both bought the Shield EZ pistols (coincidentally, they’ve been divorced for decades, and live 1,000 miles apart, and don’t speak - Mom got a .380, Dad got a 9). My dad is a retired martial artist instructor, yet NEITHER of them can manage to hold down the grip safety reliably while they try to fire the pistol.

A cottage industry exists to produce 'enhanced' 1911 grip safeties. They are not designed to help people who lack strength; the force needed to depress a grip safety is minimal. Instead, those grip safeties are designed for people whose hands are not shaped to naturally fully depress a grip safety.

While a Shield EZ grip safety is hinged at the bottom rather than at the top like a 1911 grip safety, the same concepts apply. And some people's hands are simply not shaped in such a way that they readily engage and depress the EZ's grip safety.

It is unfortunate the Shield EZ grip safety does not fit your parents' hands well. NDZ makes 'enhanced' EZ grip safeties and several individuals 3D print replacements. A replacement grip safety might solve your parents' problem with the EZ, or they may determine the EZ is simply not a suitable design for them.

 

[DocSkinner]

My aged parents both bought the Shield EZ pistols (coincidentally, they’ve been divorced for decades, and live 1,000 miles apart, and don’t speak - Mom got a .380, Dad got a 9). My dad is a retired martial artist instructor, yet NEITHER of them can manage to hold down the grip safety reliably while they try to fire the pistol.

Why did S&W choose to ruin this pistol with the stupid grip safety???

As others have said, if you can't keep the grip safety down, you have a TERRIBLE grip on the gun. it takes maybe an ounce or two of pressure. I have tried on mine and I can NOT NOT depress the grip safety unless I grip the I pistol with my hand BELOW the safety on the grip. If the web of the thumb is up at the beaver-tail like it should be, even a weak grip should depress it.

 

[Nomadmax]

32 caliber revolver.

 

[Cphobes]

Neither of them have strong enough hands to reliably keep the grip safety pressed - I’m a shooter/collector/RSO/instructor with over 30 years of experience in pistols specifically.
Even having a correct grip doesn’t mitigate their weaker hands, which is why they chose (without consulting me) the EZ.

My workaround has been to slip a bike inner tube over the grip safety to essentially pin it down - but my initial question remains - WHY put this problematic grip safety on a gun that’s meant for people who probably have weak hands to begin with???

In my limited training, education and experience disabling a safety is never a good idea. YMMV

I disagree with the premise of your question; the grip safety is not problematic. It's just a poor match for the user. I'm an IT guy, pretty familiar with poor matches to users though in my line of work the chances of serious bodily injury is low.

Best of luck for them finding the right pistol to match their needs. I hear Ruger has a line of "EZ" style pistols, never shot one though.

 

[Cphobes]

Fine for those with a 9mm EZ. NDZ does not make a replacement grip safety for the .380 EZ.

Correct, they don't only the one for the 9EZ.

NDZ's 9EZ grip replacement works perfectly at least for my pistol and several range trips.

As for the 380EZ - I did purchase an aftermarket 3D printed replacement. After installing it the 380EZ had light primer strikes and would not reliably fire. This is a pistol I bought and have put over 1,600 rounds through with no issues prior. Swapped back the original S&W grip safety and had zero issues. So, either the installer (me) failed, or the 3D printed replacement was faulty. Not knowing definitively either way I wouldn't disparage the maker, or any other 3D printed replacements, just buyer beware.

 

[LVSteve]

A cottage industry exists to produce 'enhanced' 1911 grip safeties. They are not designed to help people who lack strength; the force needed to depress a grip safety is minimal. Instead, those grip safeties are designed for people whose hands are not shaped to naturally fully depress a grip safety.

While a Shield EZ grip safety is hinged at the bottom rather than at the top like a 1911 grip safety, the same concepts apply. And some people's hands are simply not shaped in such a way that they readily engage and depress the EZ's grip safety.

It is unfortunate the Shield EZ grip safety does not fit your parents' hands well. NDZ makes 'enhanced' EZ grip safeties and several individuals 3D print replacements. A replacement grip safety might solve your parents' problem with the EZ, or they may determine the EZ is simply not a suitable design for them.

^This. Grip strength is unlikely to be the issue. If you push on the EZ grip safety it moves very easily. BUT, if the shape of your hand and/or grip style means that you aren't pressing on the safety, it won't work. The meat, or lack of it, on people's hands varies greatly, and this is why some cannot use grip safeties or get hammer and slide bite from certain guns.

 

[Donn]

When the EZ first came out, handled one at the LGS. Was tempted, but there were two deal breakers. I have a Gen 1 Shield and several mags, none of which fit the EZ or vise versa. The second was the grip safety. Hard pass.

 

[trees4]

I’m gonna say it. And I may catch flack for it. While I’m all for one’s right to self defense and right to own, shoot, and enjoy.

But…
If they’re not strong enough to hold grip pressure, on what I feel is very, very easy to do on the EZ line, do you have confidence…they can fire them safely?
I’m not trying to be a jerk, I’m just asking a real question.

At a certain point in time, due to vision, memory, or other they’ll probably have to give up their right to drive due to safety to themselves, and to others.
This may…follow along those same lines.

Very valid question. And yes, they’ll reach that point - probably soon.

I’m really just bringing this question up to see if S&W has considered that this is a problem for people with weak hands.

As for the light trigger/ ND issue, there are literally MILLIONS of Hi-Power pistols out there that have light triggers, a thumb safety, and NO grip safety. What’s the problem there???

 

[trees4]

32 caliber revolver.

That was my mom’s previous carry gun - a Charter Arms ‘Undercoverette’ in .32 S&W Long.
What a powerhouse that thing was! To quote Ian Fleming “It hit like the hammer of the gods!”

 

[trees4]

^This. Grip strength is unlikely to be the issue. If you push on the EZ grip safety it moves very easily. BUT, if the shape of your hand and/or grip style means that you aren't pressing on the safety, it won't work. The meat, or lack of it, on people's hands varies greatly, and this is why some cannot use grip safeties or get hammer and slide bite from certain guns.

Many here have decried the training and grip, but the reality is that some people lose muscle mass in their hands as they age. I believe this is my parents’ problem. So no matter how well I’ve tried to help their grip, it’s still an issue. Not on every shot, but enough to be worrisome

 

[picker77]

I practically ran to my local dealer to look at the EZ when they first hit the street because the very strong slide spring on my original Shield 9 made quickly and safely racking it very difficult (old, arthritis, etc.). When I actually handled an EZ9 I really liked that it was in fact much easier to rack. But I just couldn't stomach the look and feel of S&W's idea of a grip safety. Never had a problem with 1911's, but for some reason my hands had a hard time reliably activating S&W's version. I eventually ended up owning a pair of P365X's instead, which although are not all that easy to rack, I continue to be very happy with. All this in spite of being (still) a big fan of S&W's in general, and Gen 3 semiautos in particular.

 

[DEP801]

After 29 years as a LEO, as well as someone who enjoys range time, I don't claim to be an expert, but I do consider myself a competent shooter. I've been qualifying for the LEOSA with my Shield (9mm) for the past few years, and for the last session I also used an Equalizer I had recently purchased and spent some range time with. No problems on the target range, but with the timed draw/fire and other movement requirements to qualify, not so smooth due to the grip safety. After that experience, it will not be an EDC weapon. But for that grip safety, I really like the gun.

 

[sjmjax]

May not always be grip strength.

I don’t own an EZ S&W. Have shot a few.

I Doo own a number of antique pocket pistols with grip safeties. The combination of size of the safety, the shape of the grips and size of my hand often makes disengaging the grip safety unreliable.

 

[gc70]

For those whose hands are the right shape, grip safeties are marvelous because they essentially function automatically with no conscious thought or discernable effort.

If your hands are not the right shape, grip safeties often simply do not work with any reasonable degree of reliability and you should get a different gun.

 

[kelljor]

Not being able to depress the grip safety is the shooters way they grip the gun, they are not gripping it correctly, my advice is to order up a NDZ grip safety in their preferred color and when the grip safety is replaced with the NDZ grip safety take the spring and go to a good hardware store and buy a weaker spring that is close to the original size and shape as the original, install that spring in there and should be good to go, I own both a 9 EZ and a Equalizer and both have a NDZ grip safety, if you shoot a hundred rounds in one day the stock grip safety will cause the web of your thumb to hurt a bit but with the NDZ grip safety it depresses down to be flat and your hand won’t hurt when shooting a hundred rounds, both of my guns have the stock spring but I replaced the grip safety's and triggers with the flat style Galloway trigger before I ever fired them, it transforms them into a easier to shoot more accurate handgun, after 50 years of being a mechanic, my hands are crippled up and full of arthritis and my thumbs don’t hardly work, the 9 EZ and Equalizer are the only handguns I can operate properly, I have shot the 9 EZ for years and have run at least 5000 rounds thru it without a single problem so it’s my EDC, the Equalizer is my home defense handgun with the Viridian green dot scope and Viridian green laser/1000 lumen light, I have ran close to 2000 rounds through it without a hiccup, I have been shooting handguns for over 60 years and these 2 handguns are the easiest to shoot in most accurate guns I’ve ever owned besides my Colt trooper mark lll, shooting handguns is about the only fun thing I can do anymore with four cervical vertebrae and three lumbar vertebrae fused together and the arthritis that goes along with it and not being able to lift 10 pounds without hurting for days.

As others have said, if you can't keep the grip safety down, you have a TERRIBLE grip on the gun. it takes maybe an ounce or two of pressure. I have tried on mine and I can NOT NOT depress the grip safety unless I grip the I pistol with my hand BELOW the safety on the grip. If the web of the thumb is up at the beaver-tail like it should be, even a weak grip should depress it.

Second that. If you have your hand in even remotely the right place, and cannot depress the grip safety due to lack of hand strength, then that puppy gonna jump out of your hands. My SO kind of had the same problem a couple times, I got her to use the push pull method and that straightened that right out. My problem was that if I rode the thumb safety it would move my hand back just enough at the web to disconnect (connect?) the grip safety. So I quit riding the grip safety. If you are unfamiliar with the push/pull, have them push the gun forward with the strong hand, and pull back with the support hand.

 

[MikeCTx]

32 caliber revolver.

That was my solution. I had a 30 EZ Super Carry that was too much after hand surgery. Have 380 EZ Performance Center that is easy to work with, no issue. The PC grip safety is just a hair different and makes compressing it a non-issue. A 32 revolver (or 4 actually) and problem was solved.

 

[skwchock]

All these "experts" seem to enjoy educating the readers. The main point and only point is: is the owner/shooter happy with the grip safety. These are adults who made a reasonable choice and decision to spent money on a "self-defense" option. Their choice-- their decision. NO ONE ELSE'S OPINION IS IMPORTANT OR MATTERS.

 

[A10]

That was my solution. I had a 30 EZ Super Carry that was too much after hand surgery. Have 380 EZ Performance Center that is easy to work with, no issue. The PC grip safety is just a hair different and makes compressing it a non-issue. A 32 revolver (or 4 actually) and problem was solved.

Are you firing your revolvers single or double action? Three people I know with hand strength issues (all female if that matters) don't have the hand strength to be able to fire double action safely or accurately. One switched to an EZ and loves it. One is my honey, who I am getting an EZ for. One is a new shooter who I've been coaching and will let her try the EZ. BTW, the new shooter shot a Colt .380 Govt and loved it! She also loved my 1911, so it's not a recoil issue for her.

 

[rwsmith]

Try using both hands. Just be sure to keep the thumb away from the slide. The grip safety is very easy for most people. But my wife had a problem with it. Once she realized that she needed to actually grip the grip, she did fine. And she's darn good with it. Maybe put some rubber bands on it to make it easier to activate.

 

[trees4]

I practically ran to my local dealer to look at the EZ when they first hit the street because the very strong slide spring on my original Shield 9 made quickly and safely racking it very difficult (old, arthritis, etc.). When I actually handled an EZ9 I really liked that it was in fact much easier to rack. But I just couldn't stomach the look and feel of S&W's idea of a grip safety. Never had a problem with 1911's, but for some reason my hands had a hard time reliably activating S&W's version. I eventually ended up owning a pair of P365X's instead, which although are not all that easy to rack, I continue to be very happy with. All this in spite of being (still) a big fan of S&W's in general, and Gen 3 semiautos in particular.

I have to admit that I had the same reaction. I’m only in my 50’s, and shoot a lot of guns often, but I find the grip safety annoying - although I’m able to overcome it while my parents cannot always.
And yes, I chose the P365 as well. Great little pistol, I can hide it under a dress shirt in appendix carry, and I’m not shaped like a watermelon.