CHAN93%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Alvin M. Chan) (06/12/91)
A couple of possible situations where a mag safety could be a bad hindrance
are in the military and police (assuming personnel are properly trained)
(my rule of thumb with autoloaders (rifle, shotgun, handgun etc) EVERY TIME
I pick one up: pop out mag, rack the slide or bolt back and peek in the
chamber.)
Military - tunnel rats - say you just emptied your mag taking out some
of the enemy, you're probably pretty deaf from shooting in such
a confining area. You won't be able to hear anyone coming around
corners, but they/he/she may hear you pop out your mag, and at
that time move and/or spray around the corner. Your only cues
would be visual and instinct. You'd need at least that one shot
in the chamber to keep the enemy from trying to peep and/or shoot
around the corner or pop up from a barricade. If they have some
sort of gunport to shoot through, you're in big trouble anyways.
Using an assault rifle with taped together mags would provide
a quick mag change, but you sacrifice speed of movt and bringing
the weapon to bear on target in tight corridors.
Police - house clearing; serving warrants; chasing down suspects -
same situation as above, just substitute 'enemy' with 'suspect' or
'perpetrator'.
The above type of situations (especially tunnel rat, serving warrants) also
have the added danger of booby traps, civilians too stupid or hysterical to
get out of the way (especially in chasing down ppl). These add more factors
to occupy an officer or soldier's mind, and could slow down mag changes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I understand that one could practice quick mag changes with smooth movts,
but reality always has more variables. Plus if you are running around,
and your adrenalin is rushing, practice sometimes goes right out the door
the first time one must utilize this practice. (grrrr awkward sentence)
Smooth mag changes also need the shooter to have the mag already in one
hand, right?, not right? IMHO I don't want to sacrifice a firm two handed
shooting grip for a one handed grip, with mag in the other hand. The problem
with this is having to grab a mag that is somewhere 'conveniently' placed
on my web gear.
enough of my diatribe! time to spell check....
- Alvpetert@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Toth) (06/13/91)
In article <35504@mimsy.umd.edu> CHAN93%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Alvin M. Chan) writes:
#A couple of possible situations where a mag safety could be a bad hindrance
#are in the military and police (assuming personnel are properly trained)
#[...good stuff deleted...]
Another nice feature for those making a living while armed would be a gun
that stays open when there is no new round available, even with the mag out.
The only ones i know use the follower, so they will close when fired with
the clip out.
Peter Tothhagen%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu (06/21/91)
What about a situation in which someone grabs your firearm and a struggle between you and that person follows. If you are able to drop the mag and the bad guy gains control of the weapon they will not be able to shoot you with the round in the chamber, but then again if you manage to retain your weapon you cannot fire.
phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) (06/22/91)
hagen%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu writes:
#What about a situation in which someone grabs your firearm and a struggle
#between you and that person follows. If you are able to drop the mag
#and the bad guy gains control of the weapon they will not be able to shoot
#you with the round in the chamber, but then again if you
#manage to retain your weapon you cannot fire.
Then, it sounds to me like the mag safety is a neutral.
--
/***************************************************************************\
/ Phil Howard -- KA9WGN -- phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu | Guns don't aim guns at \
\ Lietuva laisva -- Brivu Latviju -- Eesti vabaks | people; CRIMINALS do!! /
\***************************************************************************/gordonh@milton.u.washington.edu (Gordon Hayes) (06/25/91)
hagen%triton.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu writes:
#What about a situation in which someone grabs your firearm and a struggle
#between you and that person follows. If you are able to drop the mag
#and the bad guy gains control of the weapon they will not be able to shoot
#you with the round in the chamber, but then again if you
#manage to retain your weapon you cannot fire.
Check out the glock, maybe they couldn't even fire it at you...
Then again, if they can get it from you, either it shouldn't have
been out, or you probably won't be able to drop the mag anyway.
not something I would worry about though.
--
Gordon Hayes, MCIS, University of Washington
gordonh@milton.u.washington.edu
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"