My opinion on slide mounted safeties/decockers

Plain and simple, I don’t like slide mounted safeties/decockers because…

1. They can cut my hand and make my grip slippery with blood.

2. They can be swiped into the “safe” condition when doing the overhand technique of manipulating the slide.

3. They can be swiped into the decocked condition which can be distracting and affect my accuracy and ultimately leave me vulnerable to being shot due to missing my target.

Here is how I came up with my opinions.

Many moons ago while in the military, I used to carry the Beretta M9 (9mm) handgun on my chest in a cross draw rig. I currently carry the S&W4006TSW tactical (40cal) as my dept. issued duty weapon.

If you don’t already know, both these guns have one huge feature in common…they both have slide mounted safeties and decokcers. (the safety is also the decocker combined) After a few years of past experience and current experience carrying this gun I have developed a first hand opinion on slide mounted safeties & decockers. For this topic I will refer slide mounted safeties/decockers as SMS’s to keep life simple.

If you ever ran your handgun through a demanding course of fire where you are forced to run, shoot from cover, from your back, shoot on the move, navigate through doors and rooms and hallways ect ect, and deal with malfunctions…all under stress and adrenaline…you may know what I am about to say?

When I experienced a malfunction, I did what was drilled into me for years, which is “tap, rack, bang!” Of course there are variations of the wording of this method now but you get the point. And no matter what level of malfunction there is, it usually involves manipulating or “racking” the slide with an “over the top” or “over hand” technique.

This is a part of my DNA now and I can’t remove it without some type of psychological brainwashing, lol. One time on the range after hours and hours of performing this “overhand” technique I noticed a warm wet feeling on my support hand. It was blood.

I had gripped that slide and rear sight with enough force to rip open the skin on my palm. Not so much a problem on my Beretta M9 but on the sights of the S&W4006. They are large, sharp and adjustable. Btw, I am also not a fan of adjustable sights on a fighting handgun but that’s a whole other topic.

Now this may not be a big deal since I will not die of blood loss obviously and in a real gun fight, adrenaline won’t allow me to feel the low level pain of a cut palm. The real problem is that my grip could get compromised due to the slickness of my blood. If this affects my shot placement then I could actually die from missing a critical shot on the bad guy who in turn takes advantage of my disadvantage.

At the end of the day, accuracy wins the day even though it’s popular to say “speed is life” on the battlefield.

So as you can see a small seemingly insignificant issue can turn into a real life and death issue in a split second due to a slippery grip.

Another big reason why I am not a fan of of SMS’s is not 100% the guns fault but a training issue. It is possible to do the “over hand” technique and accidentally swipe the safety into the “ON” position.

How is this possible? Well some hands are bigger (or in my case fatter) than others and my palm or fingers or both can push down on the SMS lever, actually pushing it all the way into the safe position.

This is obviously possible because the SMS lever is mounted high and pushing it “DOWN” is the safe position, whereas if it where mounted low on the frame and the action to put it on safe where “UP” (like on a 1911 or HK USP and others) it becomes almost impossible to accidentally swipe your gun into a safe/no fire condition. 

On my S&W4006 if I did this in a life and death gun fight…I would obviously put myself in danger. I’d have to have the presence of mind to recognize my mistake, take my focus off the threat (or threats) refocus on my gun to identify my problem, fix it by flicking the safety “OFF”, refocus back out onto the threat and get back into the fight.

For some, this whole process might only take a second or 2 to recognize and fix? But as you know, 1 or 2 seconds is all it takes to loose in a gun fight. Again, this is where that old saying “speed is life”. Accuracy won’t matter if your gun is on safe!!!

Now on some models, like the HK USP if you accidentally swipe the frame mounted safety/decocker lever all the way down past safe, all you will do is decock the gun and be forced to shoot the next round in double action mode. That’s the mode that requires a heavy trigger pull. This can be distracting and throw off your accuracy but at least you are still in the fight.

Now keep in mind many folks never experience what I did. And even folks with big or fat hands may not experience what I did. This is just my personal experience.

If you have a gun with a slide mounted safety/decocker and you are effective and accurate with it, don’t change your setup. You have found what works for you, and in the end that’s what you really need in a defensive/fighting handgun. You just need a gun that fits you and that you shoot accurately with.

Stay safe.

Why I like Mossberg shotguns vs Remington shotguns for self defense

The question of which shotgun to choose for home defense is an age old question. It cannot really be answered. There is no right or wrong answer. All I can do is clearly explain why I choose the Mossberg pump shotguns for home defense and let you decide if it makes sense to you?

So here are some of the reasons why I like Mossberg pump action shotguns vs Remingtons

1. Mossbergs have dual extractors vs a single extractor. In this case 2 is better than one. When you have a sticky shell or a weak casing lip on a single extractor shotgun, the brass lip of the shell can bend or rip and the shell will not extract and the gun will experience a double feed since the shell is still in the chamber. With dual extractors its basic physics. If one fails, there is a back up. In the world of self defense, back ups are always welcomed.

2. Mossbergs have a non-spring loaded shell elevator vs Remingtons spring loaded shell elevator. When you load a Mossberg, the shell elevator retracts up and out of the way of the load gate and chamber giving the shooter a wide open space to load shells into the magazine tube. There is nothing to cause any issues when loading.

When loading a Remington shotgun, it has a spring loaded shell elevator. You have to push the shell elevator down with the shell you are trying to load, and shove the shell into the mag  tube and pull your thumb out while the shell elevator is pushing against yout thumb the whole time. 

With practice this is a non issue but when loaded under stress or adrenaline your fine motor skills are deminished and inserting a shell into the mag can get sloppy. If you get too sloppy the spring loaded shell elevator can snag the tip of your thumb and pinch you, causing pain. Or scrape off some skin and cause pain and bleeding. 

If you are wearing gloves the material of your glove can get snagged in between the shell elevator and the reciever and leave you vulnerable if you are in a fight for your life and now you have to deal with a trapped hand.

Also, if you ever get sloppy and drop a shell into a Mossberg receiver when loading (assuming the gun is flipped upside down with the load gate facing up), the shell will hopefully fall inside the load gate. All you have to do is push it into the magazine if it didnt fall on the ground.

If you get sloppy loading a Remington with its spring loaded shell elevator, the shell will bounce off the elevator and fall to the ground every single time.

3. Mossberg "tang" safeties are ambidextrous. Since the Mossberg safety button is located on the top rear section of the reciever and not forward or rear of the trigger, this makes it easy for a shooter to transition from left to right sidded shooting and still have easy access to the safety without releasing their master firing grip.

This feature also allows for example, a right handed shooter can hand off his weapon to a left handed shooter with very little confusion or discomfort or muscle memory issues between both shooters since both shooters have equal advantage to the same safety.

On a Remington shotgun (and many other shotguns for that matter) the safety button is a cross bolt design located behind the trigger and it has to be pushed in from right to left. This is fine for a righty but kind of awkward for a lefty. A lefty has to either use their right hand to disengage the safety or release their master shooting grip and reach under the trigger guard with their left hand and push the safety button from right to left.

Also with the Mossberg's tang safety, the shooter can clearly see the safey button condition without moving his head of the shooting position. All he has to do is glance down and he will either see a red dot (red your dead) or a white dot. 

With a Remington you have to move your head off to the side so you can see if the safety button is pushed in on the right side or you see red on the left side.

Note: Mossbergs arent perfect. The down side with the Mossberg's tang safety is that it is not ergonomically friendly when you attach a pistol grip buttstock. A pistol grip will force the shooter to completely remove his hand from the pistol grip to reach the tang safety wat up on the top of the gun. With a standard rifle type buttstock th eshooters thumb is already gripping over the tang area which is why tang safeties are so fast on standard buttstocks.

4. Mossbergs have aluminum receivers with black anodize finish or parkerized finish. Aluminum is lighter than steel. Is it better? Yes no maybe so. Most like to argue that steel is stronger than aluminum but if thats the case then maybe we shouldnt use aluminum on jet landing gear? Or maybe we shouldnt use aluminum on F1 racing engine blocks or suspension parts that are subjected to constant heat and pressure. The M16/M4 uses a an aluminum receiver and it has been working just fine in combat for over 40+ years now. I think its clear aluminum receivers are just as good as steel if not better in many cases.

5. Mossberg has been the choice of the United Sates Marine Corps for 40+ years. Its the only pump shotgun to pass the military qualification tests for combat service as far as I know. Keep in mind I have been out of the service for 20 years so I could be wrong?

Are Mossbergs better than a Remington? No absolutely not. I love Remingtons. I have a Remington Police Magnum at my disposal at work. I'd trust my life to a Remington any day. 

I have owned Remington shotguns and they served me flawlessly. Their fit and finish is very refined compared to Mossbergs but because of the features mentioned in this article, I simply prefer Mossbergs for self defense. 

That is my personal choice and I in no way am claiming my choice is the best choice for all shooters.

I suggest that any shooter take the time to learn what features they want, need and desire before they make a decision on what pump shotgun they should chose for home defense. Many people blindly buy shotguns based on what is popular vs what is needed for the job.