Mag Safety?

1484 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by wahoo95, Aug 4, 2007

Spade Cooley

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2007

I have a new M & P full size and do not understand Mag Safety. I'm not sure if my pistol has one or not. I'm still reading in the manual. Could someone explain it to this novice? Do they make two different models, on with and one without?

Does this mean that if the mag is not in the pistol, it will not fire?

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Landric

· #2 · Aug 3, 2007

Spade Cooley said:
I have a new M & P full size and do not understand Mag Safety. I'm not sure if my pistol has one or not. I'm still reading in the manual. Could someone explain it to this novice? Do they make two different models, on with and one without?

Does this mean that if the mag is not in the pistol, it will not fire?

Yep, that is what it means. With the magazine removed, even with a round in the chamber, the pistol is not supposed to fire. Of course, it is a mechanical device and could fail to function correctly, but assuming no mechanical failure, the pistol won't fire without the magazine.

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wahoo95

· #3 · Aug 3, 2007

Lock your slide back then remove your empty mag slowly while looking into the ejection port and you'll see the little lever lower as the mag is removed. That little lever is the mag safety....it disengages the trigger bar from contacting the sear when it is lowered due to no mag in the pistol. To really see how it functions, do the same thing with the slide off.

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PantherMan

· #4 · Aug 3, 2007

If yours does not have the mag safety there should be a warning on the ride side of the frame, just below the ejection port that says something like "Warning: can still fire even with the magazine removed".

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Spade Cooley

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 3, 2007

Thanks!

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Spade Cooley

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 4, 2007

I tore it down for a cleaning and lube last night and found out I have the pistol with the warning, no mag safety. I can't understand why they would make the pistol two ways. In a combat situation, I would prefer to have it still work if the mag was dropped. Does anyone know why someone would prefer to have it with a mag safety?

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wahoo95

· #7 · Aug 4, 2007

It's an additional safety which has several uses. First, it allows you to disable the pistol simply by removing the magazine....this is good for short term storage where the gun may be accessible by someone else. It allows you to keep the mag seperate and the gun be disabled. This is much better than the keyed locking mechanisms so commonly seen nowadays.

The Mag safety has also been marketed as a way for officers to disable their weapon if it's taken away from them in a struggle....they can eject the mag and the BG won't be able to fire it. I'm sure that's easier to say than do

Another thing it does it cut down on accidents by some of those "Darwin Award" winners by disabling the weapon once the mag is removed. One of the most common mistakes made by those not familiar/trained with a semi auto is to remove the mag and not clear the chamber.....OR rack the slide to clear the chamber before removing the mag thereby charging the chamber with a fresh round. They think the gun is unloaded.......they then pull the trigger and BOOM!!!

Most of the folks out there which are trained in handling firearms don't need many of the added safety mechanisms, however the majority of firearm owners are untrained/unskilled in their operation and need such mechanisms for an added measure of saftey. If you want proof of what I just stated, start taking not eof some of the questions asked on these forums. Hope this helps?

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