Basically every shoulder rifle made after 1900 has a manual safety. Some are better than others, some barely work. But they are not the main focus of this article. Pistol manual of arms is much more interesting. The first repeating pistols had no safety at all. Cap and ball revolvers had safety notches between the chambers on the cylinder where you could lower the hammer and eliminate the chance of an ND, cartridge revolvers dispensed with this feature as being unnecessary, believing the half-cock notch was good enough. It wasn't, which is what led to the load-one skip-one technique for loading 6 shot revolvers to 5 rounds and lowering the hammer on an empty chamber to achieve what the previous cap and ball revolvers did with 6 loaded rounds. The introduction of the double action revolver necessitated the invention of new internal safeties such as the rebounding hammer, where after the hammer strikes it will bounce backwards a short distance and not rest all the way forward. This mechanism would also not allow the hammer to move past this point without the trigger being to the rear. This allowed the new generation of double action cartridge revolvers to be carried safely with 6 rounds loaded and the only thing between you and a kill being the double action trigger. This was nearly universally considered to be a safe and effective way to carry, which is why the practice continued for 80 years. Around this same time, enter the semi-automatic pistol. These jawns would recock the hammer after every shot, meaning that if you wanted to stop firing, or even after just loading the pistol, you would have a gun that was in a condition where the only thing between you and a kill is a very light and easy trigger pull, easy enough that a drop on the ground or a small touch to the trigger from a piece of clothing or gear would cause the gun to fire. This was not considered safe even at the time. | Therefore, a manual safety was added to most automatic pistol designs (and automatic revolvers :3). The pistols were either meant to be carried after engaging this manual safety with the hammer cocked, or by manually lowering the hammer, where the hammer would need to be manually cocked before the first shot, effectively behaving as a manual safety. The Luger pistol, Mauser pistol, and later M1911 were all meant to be carried with one in the chamber and the safety on. Speaking of the 1911, there were additional safeties fitted to these pistols as technology and the acceptance of the guns progressed. The cavalry demanded that the new 1911 pistol be equipped with a grip safety, ensuring the trigger could not be pulled if there was not a human hand gripping the pistol, ostensibly to make it more drop safe if it were to fall out of a holster and pull the trigger through inertia. Automatic pistols at this point also lacked firing pin block safeties, meaning if they were to fall on the ground with the muzzle down, the firing pin itself would have enough inertia to travel forwards and strike the primer and set it off, regardless of whether the trigger mechanism was pulled. For these reasons, even after the installation of the grip safety and the presence of the manual safety, the Army carried their 1911s without a round in the chamber. In the 1930s the Walther PPK and P38 were introduced, bringing with them a new double action/single action trigger mechanism, and a decocking mechanism. The trigger would start in double action like a revolver, and after firing the first shot the hammer would be recocked for all subsequent rounds to be fired in single action. To facilitate carrying the pistols in this configuration without needing to manually lower the hammer, the decocking lever would be used, which after loading would be flipped to lower the hammer without firing the round in the chamber. | Just like with the previous revolvers, this was considered a safe way to carry, as the double action trigger was obstructive enough to prevent accidental actuation. This style continued use until around 2000. There were also double action only pistols which were just DA/SA designs where the hammer would decock after every shot, for cops too stupid to even work a decocker. Speaking of cops too stupid to use a decocker, the Glock pistol gained traction around this time. It was not the first striker fired pistol, far from it, but it popularized the use of the mechanism as an alternative to DA/SA guns. There was no decocking mechanism, or manual safety on the Glock pistol, similar to DAO pistols. The trigger was lighter than a pure double action, but still heavier and longer than a single action pistol. Not only this, but the striker itself was only brought to a half-cocked position after each shot. Cocked the rest of the way by the trigger pull. This means that even if the striker were allowed to slip off of the sear, it wouldn't have enough energy to set off the primer. The trigger itself is also equipped with a device known scientifically as a “trigger-dingus”, which prevents the trigger from moving rearwards if it is not deliberately pulled by a finger. The dingus stops inertia alone from being able to pull the trigger. The Glock lacks a manual safety, but contains 4 safety mechanisms. This did not completely prevent negligent discharges though, FBI agents in testing had at least 2 cases of “Glock leg” where they were retarded enough to shoot themselves when reholstering. The Sig P320 is an extension of this idea, however, its striker is fully cocked for a nicer trigger pull, and it lacks a trigger dingus. Not only did the P320 have problems with drop safety (which could have been entirely prevented with a dingus), but users, mostly police, notice the pattern, are alleging the P320 goes off by itself. The Army who adopted theirs with a manual safety, does not have this problem. |
