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3 Gun Safety for 2011


Flatland Shooter

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This was taken from another thread earlier this year. I didn't want to hijack that thread so decided to start my own.

warpspeed, on 21 Aug 2015 - 4:05 PM, said:snapback.png

The only issue I see for 3 gun is putting the safety on when you abandon a handgun. Since there is no safety on the Glock, dropping it in the box is OK but if the thumb safety on a 1911/2011 isn't engaged or worse, gets bumped to the off position, you are off to Dairy Queen.

Food for thought.......

I'm in the process of building a 2011 pistol for 3 gun. The few times I've shot my Glock 34 in matches it was nice to know that once its in the bucket, the safety is on. No fear of a DQ for leaving the gun loaded with a safety disengaged.

I wanted that for my new gun.

So the final part for my build is a thumb safety that if the slide is in battery and I let go of the gun, the safety will be engaged. The benefits of a Glock with the trigger of a 1911.

Lone Star Innovations makes one but I've not seen where anyone has made any mention of this safety. I think others may be interested. So here is my review.

Attached are photos of an LSI (Lone Star Innovations) "automatic" 1911/2011 thumb safety. Its a wide paddle ambi safety without a groove or detent for the plunger. Installed with a little bit longer plunger spring, the safety will go to safe by simply removing your thumb.

Another feature of this safety I like is how it is adjusted to engage the sear. Instead of the trial and error of filing on the safety, LSI has drilled and tapped the safety for a tiny set screw. Install the safety the same as a conventional thumb safety (the gun is assembled with the grip safety left off),. To fit the safety to the sear, screw the set screw down to contact the sear. Function check to assure it will lock the sear on safe and clear the sear on fire. If OK, pull out the safety, clean the threads with Loctite primer and red Loctite the screw into position. Reassemble to verify the screw is at the correct position and allow it to set.

For those that have ever got carried away when fitting a thumb safety ( and ruined it) or ever decided to move a thumb safety to a different gun, the set screw idea is great.

So far the only negative to this safety is "ambi" is a must. Real tough to shoot with your left hand if you can't hold down the safety.

Took it to the range. It will take a while to get used to the safety engaging automatically, but I do like it.

Bill

post-7462-0-22832400-1449019461_thumb.jp

post-7462-0-66170500-1449019484_thumb.jp

post-7462-0-37127600-1449019512_thumb.jp

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Interesting.

If it were to slide into a dump bucket what keeps it "On" as it slides to the bottom of the bucket, i.e. how much force is required to make the safety go into the fire position.

I'm not sure I would drive 400+ miles to shoot a 2 or 3 day match and bet that cost that it would be a sure thing just throwing it in a dump bucket like a Glock.

Edited by RPatton
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Maybe with the stock spring, but with the longer spring when the safety is engaged, it stays up.

I played with it on the living room carpet sliding the gun at different angles and different speeds and it worked every time.

I suppose if you dumped the pistol into the bucket grip first there may be a problem, but you would be looking at a different set of problems.

Bill

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I'd be interested. I ride the safety on my 1911, and switch to a striker fired gun for 3Gun just to keep my self "safe."

I did the same but my shooting started getting too sloppy so I went back to the 2011. This is definitely something worth looking into.

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I think an operational grip safety should count as the safety being on...

I never though about that technicality. It provides about the same if not more safety than the little blade in the middle of a striker pistol's trigger...

And even with the Glock trigger safety I have never seen one checked to see that it worked either. It's a Glock it's good regardless. I can say I have seen them with a non operational safety as they set the pretravel out if a Glock with just a set screw in the front of the housing and the trigger dosent even go out far enough to catch te safety. That or there is a light striker spring and heavy trigger spring that won't reset it out the far. Usually home Jobs

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How often do we test the a thumb safety actually works? It's not as if you couldn't make that happen with too much file.

When I ran the chrono stage at the Texas Open a few years ago, checking the safety was part if the job. I've also had my guns checked at several major matches, always at the chrono stage.

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isn't the 19112011 grip safety an automatic safety once you remove your shooting hand?

Only if you don't purposely disable it, which some people do. It is however NOT the primary safety in any rule set I know of.

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Any safety will do... If you are coming into a 2011 from a glock all the dry fire practice you should be doing to get into the new gun will get your gun handeling where it needs to be. People worrying about a safety really have a lot more to worry about than that, their gun handeling is shit.

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"Great option for 3 gunners, I had never heard of this. What are my chances of convincing Infinity to integrate this into a new build that they haven't started working on?"

"zero"

If you get one with the set screw adjustment, its simple enough that you can switch out the Infinity safety to the LSI safety yourself.

Then you could always use the Infinity safety for USPSA and the LSI automatic safety for 3 gun or Steel Challenge.

Bill

Edited by Flatland Shooter
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