The 2 main safeties  like on the  3rd gen S&W service pistol.

The De cocker and mag dis.

I thought the  safeties were meant to keep the LE  safe from gun grabs.


Not so much for ND!


Hate of the Mag disconnect - Never in my 30 sum years of carrying handguns have I had a need to single feed my pistol.
So the hate for the mag. dis. amazes me.


You train with a service pistol that has safe guards and then it becomes muscle memory. Well for me it does. ( 1911 then 5906/6906 to P30S)


Don't get me wrong I've carried a few handguns without safeties.  M19 , M13, P229.
And haven't had any problems with using them.

Its just that I think in case of a gun grab the  safeguards might give me more time to draw my bug. Rather than a gun grab when packing my P229.

I guess I just don't get why so many are against them.?

Hate of the Mag disconnect - Never in my 30 sum years of carrying handguns have I had a need to single feed my pistol.


So the hate for the mag. dis. amazes me.



The possibility of doing a tactical magazine reload and having to put a round out after taking out the mag in the gun, and not being able to do so before another magazine is inserted is enough reason for me not to like it.



Will it ever happen probably not, but it could happen, so no.  I took the mag safety out of my HP for just that reason.

The safety lever on a 5906 is an "administrative safety"

You use it when handling the gun.  Like putting the gun in the locker when taking a prisoner from the Sally port into the lockup, or any other handling.


That way nobody fingerfucks the trigger until ready to back in the holster.


I wouldn't recommend carrying a third gen smith auto on safe.  That's not what it's for.


The mag safety is as you say it is, but not a replacement for retention training.


Your best bet is always a good holster, and limiting handling the gun needlessly.

The mag safety inhibits dry fire practice and is just a PITA when cleaning/servicing.

When I dry fire, I strongly prefer to have no ammo in the room and no mag in the gun. The no mag in the gun part is not an option with the mag safety.

Pop the spring out of a spare mag and clearly mark it as dummy load if you are already going to those lengths

That canard has been floating around since Skeeter Skelton came up  with it 40 years ago in Shooting Times. As much as I liked Skeeter's writing, this aside always annoyed me.  It's nonsense.

In some limited circumstances, the mag safety can save a life.

Many years ago, when I first got into LE, we had a Sgt at the PD I work for who went to check on a report of someone trying to pry open the coin containers at a local laundrymat. Found them prying open the boxes and confronted them and got into a scuffle with one of them. In the course of the scuffle, the guy disarmed the Sgt, who was carrying a S&W M5906. Sgt managed to dump the mag and the scuffle ended with the Sgt on the ground, staring up at the asshole pulling the trigger over and over, trying to shoot the Sgt. Backup arrived and the asshole and partner were taken into custody. We weren't allowed to carry backups at that time, that policy changed after this call.

Many mistakes were made which resulted in the Sgt being disarmed. For the record, those mistakes were never rectified, but that's for another post. However, the mag safety saved the Sgt's life that day.

Myself, I really don't care about mag safeties one way or another. I honestly can't see a time where I may have to change mags and needing to shoot during that one fraction of a second when the first mag is out and before another is slammed home. However, I understand why many don't like them. None of my guns have them, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker if they did, provided the safety did not effect the trigger (Browning Hi Power). Likewise, I wouldn't recommend deactivating one if it did. Its all about personal preference and what you feel comfortable with.

Bub75

excellent point about proper holster.for OC

totally agree I always carried my 5906 and 6906  with safety off.     I just use the slide safety for incase of  a grab  and use mag dis  (if possible.)

I'd be careful about relying on the mag safety in a S&W 3rd Gen and earlier auto. If the trigger has almost any amount of pressure on it when you drop the mag, the gun will still fire. We took one of the then-issue 5906s out to the range after the Sgt's incident and tried it and found this out. He was doubly lucky that the guy hadn't started pulling the trigger or his mag drop wouldn't have worked and he'd have been shot. Mag safeties are not a proper replacement for retention training or safe weapons handling practices, it just worked out perfectly for him (and a few others I have read about) that time.

Bub75

Mag Dis and safety are just option one has when using a 3rd gen S&W.

I've carried handguns without these features. And one should know how to retaining there side arm.


BTW
I haven't had that problem with 5906 or 6906.  


I carry a P30S if S&W brought back the 3rd gen to the public I would trade off for a 5906.
I think its the softest shooting 9mm service pistol to be had.  CZ steel frame might even be softer but I never shot one.

I wholeheartedly agree about knowing about weapon retention and training. The Sgt I wrote about didn't, which resulted in his gun getting taken away. Amazingly enouch, he didn't see the need for training after this incident, either. He said that the mag safety worked once, it would work again if it happened again. While I wouldn't want to rely on it, a mag safety in a gun can (under limited circumstances) save lives and I never got the hate for them.

Just as a side note, the same Sgt that had his gun taken away also used a spare gun in the safe to qualify with so he wouldn't get his gun dirty and have to clean it. This was only discovered when I had to use the spare 5906 when I had to send my Glock 21 back to Glock for the update in the mid '90's. The spare 5906 was so disgustingly dirty and dry that I was absolutely amazed that it still ran. Took me a couple days to get it cleaned up and fit to carry again. He never understood why this was wrong, even when we tried explaining to him that, if he never shoots his gun, how will he know that it works? The crap that cops, who you'd think would know better, can come up with absolutely amazes me sometimes.

Bub75

I use to think all Mil and LE would be master shooters when I was younger.
Shooting with LE I found a different  story.


When I carried the M5906 I didn't have much love for it. until I started shooting other pistols.

It isn't as nice as a Beretta  or Sig or HK . Slide to frame fit could be  a lot better.

The accuracy is fair. And not near as good as the above pistols.

I liked the safeguards. But the main thing was the ergo and recoil. that heavy steel 9mm soaked it up.


Now I'm a pussy when shooting my 26oz P30S using 147gr!! .  after 4 boxes I was  so glad I ran out of 147 lawman and moved to 124 gr lawman.
The 124 standard pressure loads   TO ME are softer shooting than the 147gr loads.
I also can shoot a lot of 124gr making practice more fun for me and my hands.

I used to think the same thing regarding LE and shooting. REALLY got my eyes opened when I got into it! For example, I was a 1911 nut when I went through Police Academy. When the Chief offered me my first job, I asked if I could carry a 1911 and he shrugged and said that was fine. Lo and behold, when I went to the PD to sign papers, I was told that SAO was forbidden by policy, so no 1911 for me. You would have thought that the Chief would have known that, but it turns out that this Chief (who, thankfully, retired a LONG time ago) hated guns and told me, directly to my face when he found out that I was a "gun nut" that, if he had his way, no one would be carrying and we'd be like the British Bobbies- nightstick only and no guns under any circumstances. Lots of related derp, especially out of the firearms instructor. Absolutely unbelievable. In fact, this same Chief carried an old .32cal pre-WWII German pocket auto as his only gun, even when on duty, because he didn't like how heavy "more modern guns" were and reasoned that, because he never answered calls, only arrived for backup, that any shooting would be over before he got there anyway, so why carry more? It was his badge of office, just like the European cops carrying the .32cal Walther PP and the like. Totally, completely clueless and didn't care enough to realize how clueless he actually was.

I never got the distaste for the S&W 3rd Gen guns, either. I carried my G21 because I LOVED .45 and the G21 was the only hi-cap .45 at the time, aside from the Para Ordinance guns, but remember, no SAO at my Dept. The few weeks that I carried the 5906 were eye opening. VERY reliable, good accuracy and the stainless frame really soaked up recoil. The only real complaint I had was the weight, but it was the weight that made the gun such a pussycat to shoot. I liked the 5906 so much that I bought a 6906, and later a 4516, for off duty carry and loved them, too. On the rare occasions that I have money for guns, I always look for a 5906.

Bub75