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Swenson Safeties


Calamity Jane

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As many of you know I'm building an Open gun. I wanted Swenson safeties but my gunsmith suggested that a Brazo's thumb shield applied to the Ed Brown wide ambi safeties would be better. I went with his suggestion, but now I'm having doubts. Which is better? The production of my gun has not started yet so I've got time to change my mind.

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Jane,

If you've still got Max's number or email you may consider contacting him. The safety he had on his Limited gun was his own creation and he's trying to market them right now. I'm sure you remember but I had to use his gun on a stage or two and it's far and away the best safety I've ever used. Just my .02. As for your question I like the Swensons but I am positive that you won't go wrong with your gunsmith's idea.

As many of you know I'm building an Open gun. I wanted Swenson safeties but my gunsmith suggested that a Brazo's thumb shield applied to the Ed Brown wide ambi safeties would be better. I went with his suggestion, but now I'm having doubts. Which is better? The production of my gun has not started yet so I've got time to change my mind.
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Ingi Londrigan told me that Brazos feels Swenson castings are hit or miss. Often parts have large voids in the metal and can't be used or cause issues with breakage. The old Swenson's were good and the the new ones aren't so good.

I'd prefer the Brazos shield + Ed Brown because the parts are manufactured better.

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There is a thread around here that is a year or two old that said the Swenson's were pretty crappy. I don't know if I started that thread, but I know that the Swenson's I got from Brownells at the time went back to them. I might have been able to clean them up, but it would have been a lot of work.

Since then, Dan Bedell has been putting them on guns...and I think Knuckles has been too. I don't know if they are better now than before, or if Dan and Matt are just going the extra mile and cleaning them up a lot.

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I love mine. I have them on my open gun and some day I'll get another set to put on my limited gun so it has the same feel. They are a PITA to work with. The casting sucks and needs to be cleaned up a lot. They also require a lot of trimming to work with the S*I frame. Someone else will be doing all of that for you of course.

The Brazos shield won't help you on weak hand shots. The Swenson will. The paddle on the Swenson is a lot wider than the Ed Brown as well. I'm curious to what Max is coming out with.

Good luck.

Dan and Matt are just going the extra mile and cleaning them up a lot.

I think Dan is loosing his ass charging 60 bucks extra for the f'in things. I spent an hour cleaning mine up and making them small enough to fit the frame. Brian still had a lot of work left to do when he got them. I'm still buying another set. ;)

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I don't like the brazos shield / ed brown combo. Dosen't fit my hand as well as the swensons, and I couldn't get used to feeling my thumb slide down the shield as opposed to the whole safety moving.

They're not exactly well made as they are very hard to fit most of the time. Probably part of the reason the smith would steer you to the brazos shield. I hate fitting them and it can take a long time to get them perfect, but it's worth it.

My $.03 is to get them. ;)

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Hello: Why not just Tig on a shield on a Ed Brown safety? Thanks Eric

That would violate Swenson's patent.. until it expires later this year.

Probably won't get hammered doing it yourself, but a smith doing it might get a nastygram from some lawyers.

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I have a pair of pre-broken Swensons if anyone is interested. Why wait for the inevitable? ;)

If you're going to do anything at all, do the Brazos shields. Bob now has left and right shields, so you get the bennies shooting with either hand.

Edited by EricW
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I used to use the ed browns with a shield welded on but they never came out looking very good except the ones Dan did looked pretty good. It got to be a pretty big hassle welding them so we went with swensons. Yes they could be better and are a pain to fit. We charge 100.00 extra for swensons. I still prefer the swensons myself. You just have to have a gunsmith that knows what they are doing with them.

Yes the patent runs out soon and I have talked to a couple people who are looking at making some shielded safeties. Will have to wait & see these when(if) they come out. I mold would be very expensive to make and machining them would be very expensive, lots of time involved.

I dont care for the looks or feel of the Krebs shield, at least I believe it was Krebs who came up with that design many years ago. It moves the thumb out too far and it makes the safety pad feel to thin.

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I have the Brazos shield and Ed Brown safeties on both my open guns and like the combination very much. I did have to taper/contour the right hand side safety where it was digging into the bone at the base of my first finger, but good now. Just my .02!

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I bought an Edge with swenson's on it and I hated them... I have Brown wide ambi on my other STI and I love them. I had my Swenson's replaced today by a set of browns that I had Mike Caylor install.

There were a few things about them I did not like, first, I could not get them damn things off, I kid you not, they were TIGHT... Every time I hit the mag release, my right index knuckle would knock them on safe. The fit and finish was not very good on them, and I felt it spread my hand a little too wide. I keep my thumb on the pad, but I never get torn up by the slide, and I don't feel like I need the shield.

My $.02

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I have a pair of pre-broken Swensons if anyone is interested. Why wait for the inevitable? ;)

If you're going to do anything at all, do the Brazos shields. Bob now has left and right shields, so you get the bennies shooting with either hand.

+1

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Yes the patent runs out soon and I have talked to a couple people who are looking at making some shielded safeties. Will have to wait & see these when(if) they come out. I mold would be very expensive to make and machining them would be very expensive, lots of time involved.

Hey Chuck that sounds great. If that works out what about getting a quote to make a shielded single safety (left side only) for the steel gun folks that don't need ambis. IMO there is a need for a shielded single safety. I have a couple or 3 of the very old Swenson shielded single safeties on some steel guns and 1911's with Marvel 22 units on them and I would not part with them at all.

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A properly fit set of Swensons, that started as a good casting, and are finished and contoured to your hand and knuckles are just sheer heaven. However... getting to that point can be a PITA.. The ones that Rusty Kidd did on my Viper are just the bee's knees...

I'm looking forward to some additional options, too...

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I've put both styles on our guns but the swensons seem to be what most of our customers want that are looking for a thumbshield. they do require quite a bit of time to fit them correctly and most of the breakage is due to improper fitting. also if you look at the posts on the swensons that go through the frame you will see that they are not square to the rest of the safety, what I do to correct this is heat the post and the area where it meets the rest of the safety until it's red hot and while in a vise I straighten the posts so they are square to the safety. If you try this procedure be very careful and patient since if you snap the post off it tends to be an expensive mistake. :o I haven't snapped one off yet ;) I believe Matt "monkey boy" Cheely witnessed this procedure while sleeping in his cage under my workbench :lol:

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Another aspect to using Krebs style thumb shields is that the frame must have slot machined in it to accept the shield. I then drill and tap a small machine screw in the lower corner of the shield and through the frame to get a solid fit. I used to just bed the shield in some epoxy but found that the oils we use will eventually cause the shield to come loose from the epoxy. this allows the shield to wiggle a little. If the shields are installed properly then they are just as much work as the swensons. I have found that using the Les Baer ambi safetys out of brownells were a great combination with the shields. Although minor contouring of the strong side safety paddle gave the best feel. But they are available in stainless so its easy to work on them and then polish them out.

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  • 1 month later...

The Swenson Patent expires in about 1 year. I expect this will create a ripple in the market. So who's going to fire up their machinery and start cranking out some quality?

This is something I think of every time I see a post about European copies of American designs. There are instances where companies spend a million bucks designing something and they deserve first crack at recovering their costs. Then there's cases of a good idea that costs $1 to make, so for 20 years they crank out pure crap that no one can legally improve upon. OK, so the Swensons of old weren't crap, but his spawn surely believes it's OK to sell crap.

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Swensons safety's are junk. If you want shields on the safety's get SVi new safetys and trim and weld in a shield. Or if you get a good set of eb browns, do the same.I have seen the Bul m5 safetys modified with shields on them and they didnt look to bad. I wouldnt waste my time on swensons.

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The Swenson Patent expires in about 1 year. I expect this will create a ripple in the market. So who's going to fire up their machinery and start cranking out some quality?

The Swensen patent expires 20 years from file date (unless they were morons and chose 17 from grant date, which it appears they didn't). By my math that's March 24th, 2007.

Rumor has it some CNC's are already being programmed...

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The Swenson Patent expires in about 1 year. I expect this will create a ripple in the market. So who's going to fire up their machinery and start cranking out some quality?

The Swensen patent expires 20 years from file date (unless they were morons and chose 17 from grant date, which it appears they didn't). By my math that's March 24th, 2007.

Rumor has it some CNC's are already being programmed...

Oh? Well that's great! I assumed it was 20 years from the date issued... I can hear the metal chips hitting the floor already.

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Saying a Swenson is "junk" is going a little too far, in my opinion. Unfinished, need a lot of work out of the package, semi-ugly, yes, definitely. With the appropriate amount of work cleaning up the castings, they work just fine. By the time you buy a safety, weld on shields, and dress it all down, they cost as much or more as fitting a Swenson and cleaning it up does...

The prospect of newer, better manufactured safeties, however, is pretty darn cool... ;)

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