When one bird is worth thousands of dollars, few serious competitors are willing to take the chance.
"IF" the gun is on safe until on its way to the shoulder it absolutely matters not how it was put there.
This thus applies only when a person is firing a string of shots Without the gun ever being placed in the safe configuration. I have absolutely no problem with this under proper conditions, but this is not the type of shooting I do. The only "Worth" to a bird I might shoot is whatever food value it has. I have seen dedicated trap guns which had no safety at all, no problem here either. I do shoot other types of guns which do not have auto safeties with no problems. My first "Shotgunning" occurred about 65 years ago with a single barrel hammer gun. About 61 years ago I acquired my first double, a hammerless which did have an auto safety. Every Hammerless double I have owned from that day to this except one has had an auto safety. I have never seen a viable reason for de-activating a single one of them. That one exception I still have but do not use, NOT because of the safety but because I do not trust its barrels.
