Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Thumb Safety on Striker Fire Carry?

Not sure I see any benefit to having a thumb safety on a striker fire daily concealed carry.

What say ya?

I have them on both of my striker fired pistols. I installed them after I bought them. The only semi auto I own that doesn't have a manual safety is my SIG P220.

Tits on a boar hog.

No need.

No way.

Don't see a need.

What ever you’re comfortable with.

Peer pressure isn’t just in middle school.

True, its personal choice

I won't own a semi-auto without one.

Depends on the trigger, and depends on how it will be carried. And then there's the XD line, in which case the answer is definitely no.

Depends on how it is carried. In a holster that covers the trigger I'm fine with a Glock style system. But for nightstand duty, glovebox carry or in my sleeping bag when camping I want a manual safety.

I've used 1911's for over 40 years so that style safety is 2nd nature for me. I've come to appreciate that style safety on the Sig and Smith M&P pistols I own. I could never get used to the backwards safety on most DA/SA pistols.

This^^^^^^For me, there’s no one answer to the question as posed. With systems such as the Glock, where the striker needs to be drawn further back before it can be released there’s no earthly reason to have a thumb safety. If you had a system where the striker was completely cocked and held only by the sear, that would be different. I’m not familiar with such a system in a pistol, but I have a shotgun like that.

The only pistols I have that are striker fired are my Glocks and my Sig 365 and I see no reason for a thumb safety on either.

None of the videos we see of someone shooting themselves with striker fired pistols had the safety on

True that!

Like tits on a boar hog.

Think I heard that before.

..and you hear it again: tits on a boar hog.

If'n you can't remember to keep your booger hook off the trigger when you're pullin' the thing out, you're not going to be capable of remembering to flip the safety down to fire it in a high-stress situation.

This is an argument that will never go away. I guess it all depends on how you practice because I see hundreds of competition shooters draw & fire a gun that had a safety and just a fraction of a second earlier & they never, ever forget to take it off. And they are extremely fast & accurate. So I guess it comes down to how you train & practice. I'm not really sure, I know for me I won't carry a gun hot that doesn't have a safety, I'll live with the consequences I guess. Almost every semi auto I own has a safety, most are 1911's, 3-4 are S&W M&P's with a manual safety & I can get it off very fast so I carry them hot. Without a safety, I won't carry hot, just me.

It's a dumb argument. I don't know anyone who would carry a HiPower cocked with the safety off. I wouldn't have a problem carrying a 1911 that way because it has a grip safety. The XD is single action with no thumb safety, but has a grip safety - and I've never heard of anyone being nervous about carrying that with one in the chamber. The Sig 320 I've tried (also SA) should probably have a thumb safety IMO if it's carried outside of a holster. Why anyone thinks it's a yes or no answer is a mystery to me - unless they're just plain ignorant.

When you have a gun that operates like a double-action revolver, requiring a long and deliberate pull of the trigger to fire then why have a safety? I realize the XD (which I own and like very much) is technically a single-action, but it wouldn't be hard at all to convince someone unfamiliar with it that it operates just like a Glock. It carries just like a Glock and fires just like a Glock (only better, IMO).

I think a lot of us overestimate ourselves when it comes to carrying something like a 1911 cocked-and-locked. It's the only way to carry one IMO, but without a lot of drilling and training there's no guarantee that in a high-stress situation you'll have the muscle memory in place to flip that safety lever down in order to fire and that could cost you or I our lives. I think that might be doubly true for those of us who like to carry different guns of different types. The one thing I can confidently say is that I---and most anyone else, for that matter---won't ever forget to pull the trigger. Just as a safety is not necessary on a Smith Model 36, it is not necessary on a Glock 17 nor is it necessary on an XD9, or any other pistol with similar trigger operation. Simpler is better.

JMO.