3rd Gen decocker only 45 acp's

Hey guys I'm asking cuz I just don't know.
Of all the 3rd gen 45 acps DA/SA produced, which ones were manufactured with decocker only?
And which of the safety decocker models could be converted to decocker only ?
Thanks in advance for your help.

My 4566 is decocker only. Love that feature. Wish my 6906 were the same.

I have seen examples of almost every model of 3rd Gen 45 equipped with decock only.

In the mid to late 90s it became a popular feature on LE ordered pistols. And for awhile S&W offered the service to convert decocker/safety equipped 3rd Gens to decock only.

The slide needs to be modified, a hole drilled under the decocker assembly, for the end of the spring and a decock only assembly put in place.

I have seen it on 4506-1s, 4566s, 4563s, 4513s, 4516s and CS45. All my current 4566s - two of them Performance Center 45CQBs are decock only. Regards 18DAI

Thanks 18, I appreciate it.

I understand the concept of “decock only.” Have a Beretta that is decock only. I prefer DAO, but for the DA/SA guns that decock it makes no difference to me if the decocker also functions as a safety. I do not carry it in “safe” mode. Feel like the odds of accidentally engaging the safety are low.

For those who prefer decock only to the point that you would modify the pistol, why? What is the concern? Accidentally engaging the safety? Forgetting to take off safe after decocking? More parts = more things to go wrong, etc…?

EDIT: I understand that sometimes it is just a preference. Everybody has them. In fact, at one point, I sold almost all of my DA/SA third generation pistols in favor of DAO only. I got over that recently.

Also, sorry OP. I may have inadvertently hijacked the thread. Not my intent. The post just got me thinking about it.

NCBeagle said:

I understand the concept of “decock only.” Have a Beretta that is decock only. I prefer DAO, but for the DA/SA guns that decock it makes no difference to me if the decocker also functions as a safety. I do not carry it in “safe” mode. Feel like the odds of accidentally engaging the safety are low.

For those who prefer decock only to the point that you would modify the pistol, why? What is the concern? Accidentally engaging the safety? Forgetting to take off safe after decocking? More parts = more things to go wrong, etc…?

EDIT: I understand that sometimes it is just a preference. Everybody has them. In fact, at one point, I sold almost all of my DA/SA third generation pistols in favor of DAO only. I got over that recently.

Also, sorry OP. I may have inadvertently hijacked the thread. Not my intent. The post just got me thinking about it.

Click to expand...

Here's a link I copied of a thread I started, it opened up a can of worms. In one particular post #44, I described my experience with the safety/ decocker.
As of today my 4516-1 is on its way back from BMCM , he fixed a few problems and changed the safety decocker to spring-loaded decocker only.
4516-1 vs 1911 ??

NCBeagle it has been a........few decades, but what I recall was it was a training issue, locally. I worked for an Agency that allowed you to choose your duty/off duty from an approved list - or take the issued G22 (on my last day I turned in my G22, unused, NIB ). Several other Agencies in my jurisdiction issued 3rd Gen 45s. A couple of others issued G21s.

As time progressed some officers transferred between different agencies. These were generally younger guys. Some where what we referred to as "Glock babies" ie - they had no firearms experience other than with Glocks. Some of these guys wound up in the firearms training section. Suddenly, there was great concern about inadvertent activation of the slide mounted safety of a 3rd Gen pistol.

I am sure that there was probably an incident......or two, by some ham fisted desk jockey, on the one way range, during annual "no officer left behind" qualifications, of a decocker being knocked on safe. But I personally never experienced it. Nor am I aware of it happening to any of the hundred or so officers I knew who carried 3rd Gen 45s during their careers.

But I do recall the NC University Police placing an order.......late 90s early 2000s?...for S&W 4566s, with decock only, Novak night sights and spurless hammers. My Agency piggy backed on that order. And so did several other Agencies that I know of.

It took some time to get use to the decock only feature. Especially those of us who had been trained to use the decock/safety as a decocker only. We only put the safety on for administrative handling of the pistol. Loading or unloading, or placing it in the lock box going into and out of the jail. In fact, if you were found with your gun in your holster, with the safety on, you got a rip for it.

Anyways, I got use to it - even though there are days when decocking a decock only 4566 that my thumb still sweeps up, out of habit. It is a feature. Some love it, some live with it. I am neutral on it. Training funds were drying up around the time of its implementation. Which probably contributed to the existance of this feature. Bottom line is know your pistol and be trained and proficient in its manipulation and use. Regards 18DAI

My Recon 45 is decock only. My 4566 is also.
Very late 3rd gen guns I have looked at are cut for the decock-only assembly, but we are talking about the last one or two years of production.

I always found this helpful to keep things straight.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

raven5 said:

I always found this helpful to keep things straight.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

That chart doesn’t cover decocker only, only frame mounted decocker. Decocker only was a feature where the slide mounted “safety” lever would spring back up in the fire position, resulting in decocking but no safety.

TNZ71 said:

That chart doesn’t cover decocker only, only frame mounted decocker. Decocker only was a feature where the slide mounted “safety” lever would spring back up in the fire position, resulting in deco king but no safety.

Click to expand...

I do have this list , but it also doesn't indicate that the 4516 is a safety/ decocker.
Or is that just a given assumption?
A bigger question for me is, can all of the first second and third gen pistols that have safety decocker be converted to decocker only ??

Doc1500 said:

I do have this list , but it also doesn't indicate that the 4516 is a safety/ decocker.
Or is that just a given assumption?
A bigger question for me is, can all of the first second and third gen pistols that have safety decocker be converted to decocker only ??

Click to expand...

As far as I can tell Decocker Only did NOT have a unique model number - they would be counted in the TDA models - for example 4006TSW can be found with safety/decock or decock only - so model numbers aren't an answer.

See Post #3 above as to conversion.

So I guess it was a crapshoot when you bought one back in the day as to whether you got one with a safety / decocker or decocker only. Makes me wonder how many are out there were shipped safety / decocker but have the cutout for decocker only spring?

I would also like to think that there was some sort of a production list as to how many had to cut out for decocker only.

My WVSP 4566TSW is a factory decock only gun.

I've never come across a "list" of models that were made with decock only. The decock only option didn't come about till many models were already well into production. Late 90s....early 2000s?

Decock only was not an option available when the 4516 no dash and 4516-1 were in production. IIRC, the 4516-2 was still in production when S&W came out with the option. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't publicized. Except maybe by the LE sales reps.

AFAIK any 3rd Gen pistol is elegible to be converted. Regards 18DAI

Slide mounted safeties are really hard for many of us to use; one of the genetic bugs I got from Mom was relatively small hands. The frame mounted safety like a 1911 is far more ergonomic. This is one of the factors that contributed to decockelr only variants in LE.