S&W Lock Issues
Tam has a lengthy read on the alleged failing S&W internal locks.
My opinion: unnecessary. When it comes to weapons, keep it simple. A firearm should do two things: 1) Go bang when I pull the trigger. 2) Don’t go bang when I’m not pulling the trigger. Mechanically, that’s it. Adding another mechanical device adds one more thing that could fail. Not a fan. It’s also why I’m not a fan of manual safeties: just one more thing to fail.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I think they’re unnecessary, too.
Unfortunately, several state legislatures have been convinced otherwise. Wonder why your car meets California emissions?
Look for them to be added to more and more guns every year. (Glock already has them; but since they’re a module that fits in the hollow backstrap, it’s easier for them to make it optional. Springfield armory could do likewise with its ILS, but that would require them keeping two different types of MSH on hand for each different pistol model. Since so many 1911 owners toss the MSH for an aftermarket one of their preference anyway, Springfield probably considered it was a moot point.)
May 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Ya know, I knew I wasn’t that into 1911s but having to google up MSH proved it.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:43 am
How come interchangeable backstraps on newfangled plastic guns are such a big Do-whoop. My guns have had them for almost 100 years. :p
May 9th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Are you talking about the mag safety? Or is this a something different? I really think glock and SIG have their internal safeties down – at the cost of massive trigger creep though…but at least the glocks are great for low cost, reliable, quality protection. If I couldn’t have afforded my 1911, I would have stayed with glock.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Smith & Wesson’s, Brady Center approved, integral lock is redundant. All my modern guns already require a “key” to enable them to fire. It’s called a cartridge.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am
On what?
May 9th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Well, maybe just the one safety, for semiautos – the one on every such handgun (and many long guns) since the late Nineties (er, 1890s).
Has there been any follow-up on the pilot whose gun discharged in the cockpit? Last I heard, the trigger lock got caught on something as he was (for the umpteenth time per flight, as required) putting it in the lockbox. Irony?
May 9th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
oops .
May 9th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
A safety on a gun will never replace the brain of the gunowner. If that doesn’t work, the safety is. at best useless, at worst, dangerous.