doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Automatic safeties

Well 2-pipes, you have just been Absolutely Totally Amazed. I never forget to reset the safety in the field. Just like I can use a two trigger gun and then a single trigger gun. A SxS(mostly) and then a pump. If one doesn't have a good understanding of their equipment, they probably should not be using a gun. This is one of the few things you and I disagree on. I also suspect you do not shoot much skeet, trap or other clay target games. Am I wrong, there?
Much like the people who claim they shoot skeet and call for the bird with the safety on and/or put the safety on before loading the gun on the target range. They do not do very much of it.

I'm not as adaptable as some and the one gun I had with an auto safety was a constant annoyance as I was always checking to see what state the safety was in. Safety's a function of the user's brain, not doo-dads and switches, and my soft brain appreciates consistency of operation.

After getting into clay bird shooting with an O/U, when waterfowling with an auto I found my thumb moving toward the safety for an instant then my finger woke up and found the button, but the bird-focus was gone.

Jim Legg, I try to change my clay target shooting in September to safety-on, and make the click when the target is in the air.

You guys mention pumps/autos; how about no rifle I've owned had an auto safety.

I have both and handle a gun under the Ronald Regan theory of international relations: trust but verify. I usually carry a gun open in the field anyway, pump or double. When shooting clays they really are a PIA but, unfortunately, I don't do that much these days. For a field gun, I would have to say I prefer them but it's not a big thing either way. On many doubles they are easy to de-activate but I'm not sure about the one in question.

If some old fart at your club was inclined to discretely place your manual safety on, or to sometimes remove (and hide) the bolt handle on your 391 you'd soon learn not to be distracted by an autosafety.......or any other distraction.

You know this guy - he's the one who tosses an empty in your field of view just before you call "pull". When you miss a target he laughs like the witch in "The Wizard of Oz". Don't tell me you guys don't know this person.

Sadly, our's passed on recently - I really miss him.

Sam

Pipes,
Put me in this camp too. I have shot many, many thousands of clay birds with guns with safety off always. I have also shot thousands of birds in the field. But, I NEVER forget a safety in the field. I not only shoot single and double triggers, but I shoot a release/pull for Trapshooting and International Bunker. I can go from a modern tournament gun to a 100 year old gun with automatic safety and double triggers in successive rounds with no problem.
But, I was taught and always stressed to myself the basics. Where is the muzzle, where is the safety, check the shells in the chamber, etc. I have done these checks continually for so long, it is almost compulsive behavior. I would be very uncomfortable not doing it.
Jake

Auto safeties on break open guns, non auto safeties on pumps & autos. Just the way I learned them, and that makes it safer for everyone.

The only break open I had with non auto safety was a 20 ga Superpose ... I fixed it.

Watching a demo of two guns and a loader aka 'two gun tango' the presenter said the 'gun' always operates the safety. The loader is not supposed to work the safety. Implication was that the gun is expected to put it on safe, which is what was done, but he did not say that, exactly. The gun is sometimes passed to the loader after a single shot, so it would dump the unfired shell if opened and passed muzzles up as they demonstrated. Shooters are in a line, the loader is behind, and the space is limited, so passing guns muzzles up through the line appeared to be the only practical safe way. Other circumstances would probably allow the guns to be loaded and passed diffently.