A Glock is more like carrying a .45 Colt model 1911, hammer back on a chambered round, with the safety off.
Both the Glock and the 1911 with the safety off are "perfectly safe," so long as nothing touches the trigger.
But as long as humans are humans, they will make mistakes....
That's why John Browning put a safety on side of the 1911, and not on top of the trigger.....
Right....
When carrying the 1911...in unhappy places, we ALWAYS racked to charge the chamber, thumb safety UP to the ENGAGED position and hammer pulled to full cock position, in THAT ORDER!
One need only pull the piece - bring the thumb down to a natural position and start firing..8 man stopping rounds.
It was as natural and safe as brushing your teeth...
Never witnessed or heard of any Marine having an accidental discharge.
I've never bought any Semi-Autos that were NOT based on the 1911 scheme....with Thumb and Grip safety.....too damned old to get fail/safe reliable and comfortable with a new platform....
Purely personal opinion and biased at that - but I think KIMBER produces the best affordable line of 1911s on the market..
Semper Fi
If you think that's bad, check out an S&W 990L.
It is a Walther P99 QA derivative, with a very tight trigger, no safety (ok), and no decocker. It is fun to shoot, but I wouldn't dare carry it. It struck me as really dangerous. Compared to it, the Glock is a paragon of safety, with the trigger safety and a longer pull.
I'm not a fan of Glock pistols for that reason, and the fact that there is no external hammer.
When holstering a semi-auto, I like to press my thumb on the back of the hammer "just in case" the trigger catches on a piece of clothing or the holster.
Even though the DA/SA trigger on Sigs/H&Ks, etc... is tougher to master than something like a Glock (which has the same trigger pull for each round fired), the heavy DA pull on the first round does sort of function like a safety.
And if you need to make a precision shot, it's simply a matter of cocking the hammer to get to a nice 3-4 pound trigger.
A bunch of our bang list friends have responded to my call for info on .45 handguns for concealed carry. A couple of people I respect suggested a Glock 23 in .40 but this is exactly the situation I'm worried about with a Glock.
Obviously thousands of people carry these things every day without any incidents, but it's still something I'm thinking about in the back of my mind.
You're the only person who didn't respond to my FR-mail, so what do you think?
PS, my dad likes your book, good luck with the next one. I know that's what you've been busy with!
regards!
"A Glock is more like carrying a .45 Colt model 1911, hammer back on a chambered round, with the safety off."
Actually its less safe than quoted above because the 1911 still has the grip safety.