LHshooter Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 After years of shooting striker-fired pistols I just bought an MPA DS9 pistol and shot it for the first time yesterday. I had previously read that people use the thumb safety to help mitigate muzzle flip. When I was shooting, I sometimes (not frequently) pulled shots low and to the right(I know RH shooters will pull shots low left). I'm pretty certain it was not due to pushing the trigger since that never really ever happened to me with my other guns and this pistol has a great trigger. So, I'm wondering if I was pushing too hard on the thumb safety with my (left) firing hand thumb and thereby puling shots low right. Not sure if I should just place my thumb on the safety and not push or adjust my grip (support hand pressure??). This pistol shoots pretty flat. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeti Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) First, congrats on the new DS9! Dry fire and watch what your trigger press is doing or not doing. As someone that prefers thumb on safety technique, I would say it is not for everyone. My strong hand (RH) thumb pressure is firm, but not steering. Locked in once the safety is pressed as presentation is pushed forward to engage. New pistol and you just need to practice and see what works for you. Edited February 2 by Yeti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJH Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 It's probably your trigger finger. You have to teach it the difference in an 1/16 in travel vs 1/2 inch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perttime Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I think my thumb just rests on the safety lever. No conscious pressure anyway. I try not to put unnecessary pressures on the pistol. The muzzle will bounce but it will also come back down. And when there's no tensions in the grip, it will come back to the same place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Mitch Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I don’t use my thumbs when shooting. Thumb swipes off safety and then points forward while resting on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I do put some pressure there, but it's mostly an index point and keeps my firing hand knuckle from bumping the wrong side up if I get a bad grip. As a fellow left hander you need to be sure the offside safety (the side you use) bottoms out on the grip/frame of the pistol when you push it off, and isn't floating or you'll be learning to fit new safeties after the tang that holds both sides together snaps off. Likewise you don't want a lot of force required to disengage the safety since that torque runs through that little joint too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHshooter Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 43 minutes ago, shred said: As a fellow left hander you need to be sure the offside safety (the side you use) bottoms out on the grip/frame of the pistol when you push it off, and isn't floating or you'll be learning to fit new safeties after the tang that holds both sides together snaps off. Likewise you don't want a lot of force required to disengage the safety since that torque runs through that little joint too. Saw a video about that on the Atlas website I think. I have not operated the safety much yet since I've only had the pistol a week, but sometimes it feels like it does take some force to disengage, but never having had a 1911 I really can't tell. Maybe I should buy a spare safety now in preparation for having to replace it. BTW thanks for the replies. Gives me something to work on. Have a local idpa match tomorrow so I'll see how I do with this new pistol and dot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Yeah, you can tune the activation and deactivation force by carefully modifying the contours where the plunger interacts with the safety. Unless it's a two-thumbs to deactivate type thing, a few dozen times shouldn't hurt anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHshooter Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 2 hours ago, shred said: Yeah, you can tune the activation and deactivation force by carefully modifying the contours where the plunger interacts with the safety. Don't know 1911s well enough yet to attempt that task. I may be mistaken but I think Atlas makes a safety for LH shooters that is a mirror image of the standard one and has the "weak" portion on the left side of the grip, but I don't know if it only works with their pistols. If you buy an Atlas with a LH mag release they make the mag release in house and the grip is machined for it so maybe the grip is also machined for their " LH" ambi safety. I don't know for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHshooter Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 1 hour ago, Nile said: Without thumb pressure you cannot keep a consistent grip. It shows badly at 50 yards and not to bad at 25 yards. Thumb pressure takes a lot of focused practice to master. If you have inconsistent thumb/thumb pad (heel) pressure you will get shots at 1:00 and 2:00 at 50 yards. Many people mistake it for heeling, but in many cases it's when you relax the thumb heel and during recoil the pistol will rotate in the hand. All masters use their thumb I watch this guy on YouTube that routinely shoots steel plates out to 100 or 110 yards, just blows me away. We rarely have longer distance shots at my local matches and then in the last 2 weeks we had two. A uspsa match with 2 targets at 35 yds with 6 shots on each and then an idpa match with a target at 30 yds with 12 rounds. Lot of guys dropped a lot of points. I should probably try 50 yds to see if I make paper and practice more at 25 although I usually do good at that distance. I can routi nail the plate rack at that distance, even with my new pistol yesterday. 50 yds I don't know., with my eyes I don't even know if I will see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 57 minutes ago, LHshooter said: Don't know 1911s well enough yet to attempt that task. I may be mistaken but I think Atlas makes a safety for LH shooters that is a mirror image of the standard one and has the "weak" portion on the left side of the grip, but I don't know if it only works with their pistols. If you buy an Atlas with a LH mag release they make the mag release in house and the grip is machined for it so maybe the grip is also machined for their " LH" ambi safety. I don't know for sure. Unless they machine the slot in the frame to allow the internal safety lug to interact with the sear from the other side, I don't think that will help much. The regular ones work fine if not cranked on too hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddle Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I found out that training exercise, consciously stretch thumb towards the target beside the grip helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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