For safety purposes, Colt Single Action Army revolvers and their clones leave hammers down on empty chambers. Their safety - that is, ability to be handled safely when hammers are cocked and will fall on chambered cartridge - is significantly lower unless the user pays closer attention to the revolver.

Modern single action, single action/double action, and double action only revolvers are significantly safer to handle because their hammers will not fall on a chambered cartridge unless trigger manipulation causes it to happen. This designed feature is 100 percent reliable unless solid steel parts fail that prevent primer of chambered cartridge from being struck by firing pin. The hammer may fall or be jarred off full cock, but hammer fall will not hit the primer of cartridge in chamber. And such parts failures I have never seen, heard of, or read about. I am not referring to human error, rather to mechanisms' designs only. The only modern exception to such designed safety in modern revolvers of which I am aware is Freedom Arms Model 83.

Are similarly effective safety designs universal for semiautomatic pistols that have been designed within the past 75 years? I refer to pistols using hammers and those using strikers. And I refer to these pistols having hammers or strikers cocked over live cartridge in chamber.

Any pistol or revolver is only as safe as the person holding it. As with Col Cooper I prefer the Colt 1911 and have for the past 40 + years

Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands. Jeff Cooper

The safest auto I know is the HK P7. Striker fired , squeeze to fire .

Most of the semi-auto pistols being made today incorporate a striker or firing pin block of some sort. Presumably the firing pin can only contact the primer if the trigger is pulled. Even with that there still seems to be some circumstances that will generate an AD if the pistol is dropped or mishandled.
C.G.B.

Depends on the pistol you are looking at. The Colt 1911 Series 80 was an attempt to improve it's safety and added a plunger to block the firing pin making it drop safe. The series 70 is not technically drop safe.

The Taurus PT111 is not drop safe and has no block for the firing pin/striker.

Glock's and XD's have firing pin blocks and in the case of the XD an additional grip safety.

So, YMMV depending on the design.

Jeremy

I love the statement
"This designed feature is 100 percent reliable unless solid steel parts fail"

Well if there is a possibility of failure than it's not 100% reliable. I'm not being knit picky here but think about how that argument would hold up in court. Nothing is 100% reliable ever.

As to how safe a handgun is, semiauto or otherwise, safe as in how? inadvertent improper manipulation? or a drop test in the least stable state i.e. loaded chamber hammer back? I trust every pistol I own or have owned. I have 1911's, Sig 228's, H&K USP, and a High Standard Military 107 I have also owned a few revolvers (don't currently own any) an M9 Beretta, a Glock 20, and i've shot many others. That said even though i trust the weapon to do what it should do I practice standard safe gun handling practices. and keep weapons in the safest condition possible for the job at hand.

Only as safe as the person who is handling the gun was the key to safety..I carried a Colt 1911 or a Browning HI POwer most of my adult life on a daily bases without any issues...Safe by design is an oxymoron..Anything designed by man is prone to failure.

I would make an educated guess that the safest handgun would be the Smith and Wesson double action revolver, hands down..and I might add they have a safety bar and you can drop them on the hammer and on a loaded chamber and they will not go off, unless you drop one cocked on a loaded chamber, then they might, but not always.

I have personally witnessed a Glock drop and fire. A fellow officer was wearing an off duty fobus holster. As he walked past his car, it accidently caught on the mirror and broke the holster. The gun fell from his hip and went off. Luckily the bullet struck under the car and did not hit anyone. We called Glock and they told us it was impossible for that to happen. Upon inspection, when the gun fell the part that was supposed to keep from firing without pulling the trigger broke. The break looked fresh and we assumed it was from the fall. Another reason not to fully trust a safety that anyone says is 100% reliable. Glock refused to believe us even after sending them photos.

quote:

Glock refused to believe us even after sending them photos.

I sure would like to see those pictures.

Do you remember where on firing pin block it broke at.

The Col SAA came around when people sill had functional brains. Everything has to be made idiot proof these days.

We will see the day when a drunk is texting and he wipes out a family in the cross walk. Mercedes Benz will be successfully held liable because the auto avoidance system did'nt work

quote:

The Col SAA came around when people sill had functional brains. Everything has to be made idiot proof these days.

They came about when they didn't have the knowledge to fit it.

So functional it was a five shooter instead of a six shooter.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Do you remember where on firing pin block it broke at.

As I recall it broke where the shaft connected to the bottom of the safety. I do not remember if it broke there or at the top below where the safety is engaged. I remember when the armorer stripped the gun, the safety came out in two pieces once the extractor was removed. It was a Gen 2 Glock.