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Views: 1699 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-07-04 Origin: Site
As the name suggests, shooters manually engage or disengage the safety through their actions. First, the most common type of manual safety is the thumb safety. Second, moving the safety lever up or down to the desired position engages or disengages the safety. Finally, the shooting hand thumb operates the safety.
A thumb safety is usually located toward the rear of the handgun frame or back of the slide. Pictured above is the thumb safety on the slide of my Walther PK380 handgun. Additionally, I’ve provided a view of the thumb safety on a 1911 located on the frame. Finally, my other article offers tips on identifying the status of your safety.
A decocker, or decocking lever, is a mechanical device that lowers the hammer of a pistol onto a live cartridge without discharging the round. Therefore, a decocker is not a safety but a mechanical feature designed to perform one specific action.
Decocking levers are usually found on DA/SA pistols. However, the decocking lever does not necessarily prevent the firearm from discharging on a double action trigger.
Some handgun models, like the Sig P226 for example, have a decocker that is not a safety. Even after dropping the hammer, the double action trigger can still discharge a round. Alternatively, models like the Bereta PX4 Storm have a decocker integrated into the safety. Thus, requiring the shooter to disengage the thumb safety before firing the gun.
Contrary to manual safeties, external passive safeties engage automatically and disengage when the shooter performs common actions. The passive safety on a handgun is usually located on the back strap of the grip or as part of the trigger.
My Springfield XDM, shown above, illustrates the locations of both a trigger safety and a grip safety. The grip safety protrudes from the back strap. Establishing a proper grip depresses the safety allowing the hammer or striker to function properly. I’ll get into the mechanics of how a grip safety works in another article.
Glock handguns are the most notorious version of a passive trigger safety. Therefore I’ve provided an example of the trigger safety on my Glock 45 in the image above. Located in the center of the actual trigger is the trigger safety which prevents the trigger from moving while engaged. However, the trigger finger naturally disengages this safety while shooting.
To learn more about how the trigger safety works on a Glock, you can check out the videos on the Glock website.
