The best safety is keep you finger off the trigger until you have the pistol out of the holster . Drawing a 1911 with the thumb safety off is no different than drawing a Glock or XD from the holster. Finger off the trigger will keep you from accidental gunshot in the leg or foot. End of argument .
Mas Ayoob and every other trainer of note says you are FOS.
Here�s the thing�
For those who teach a pistol course, they will typically teach the shooter to thumb the safety off when the gun is clear of leather and pointing forward. When is open to debate. Some say immediately after the gun is forward, to accommodate a speed rock. Others say only after the two hands have been joined together so as to avoid putting holes in your weak hand (don�t think for a minute it doesn�t happen; even to professionals). Then there are those who use their trigger finger as the safety, and thumb the manual safety off the second they have enough thumb on the lever to switch it off.
It really doesn�t matter which one you do, as long as you understand what�s at stake. With the light pull of the 1911 the second you touch that trigger in a gunfight, it�s going off; so your training better allow for getting your other hand the hell out of the way.
The reason why shooting schools teach you to wait until the last minute to disengage the safety is because they have to teach to the lowest denominator and assume you�re an idiot. I used to thumb the safety off while the gun was coming out of the holster until I went to ESI and took Farnam�s course. At that point I saw that while I was safe in my procedure doing it the other way, there was a better way of doing things.
There�s also better ways of gently letting people know their procedure can be improved upon.
