Magazine disconnect benefit

matt

matt

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I've never given the usefulness of a magazine disconnect much thought before a conversation I had in a gun shop today.

I never liked the idea because it crippled the gun if you didn't have a mag in, leaving "dead time". It seemed like something AG Reilly would like, and therefore I didn't [wink]. Also, I like to be able load one round for teaching new folks.

But today it was pointed out to me that if you got into a struggle with your pistol and were losing you could hit the mag release and the pistol is reduced to a club. This was a pretty compelling argument for the mag disconnect.

What do you folks think about this?
 
As in any encounter, personal preferences, skill, ablities and experiences will change the outcome for everyone.

Back in my LEO days, that was the prevalent thought. Most of us figured you could have the duty weapon cause our backups were going to be screwed in your ear.[wink]

However, since I no longer carry a backup, and am the recently new owner of a Glock, I have to be more alert to my weapon control.

No real answers here. Its one more thing to keep in mind. [thinking]

RJ
 
On the convese if you bump your mag release, or don't seat the mag properly suddenly you don't have a gun.

Nope I don't like them, and I'd rather not depend on a gun with it.

Arrr

-Weer'd Beard
 
The only gun I have with disconnect is my Ruger Mark III. Since it will (lord I hope and pray) never be used as a defensive handgun I don't really care about disarming it before it gets yanked out of my hands.

I don't personally like the disconnect. I think it's more likely that it will cause a problem for the owner when they desperately need the gun than the scenario the gunshop owner presented.
 
It may be a worthwhile safety device on a range where an instructor is teaching novices, but not on my carry piece, for the reasons stated above.

JT
 
I have both. and like both systems.

The best part about a disconnect is that it makes clearing the weapon very safe...pop the mag and it can't fire as you release the safety and work the slide.

Clearing a 1911 is always a little nerve wracking to me, having a cocked gun with the safety off while working the slide to eject the chambered round.
 
Pilgrim said:
The best part about a disconnect is that it makes clearing the weapon very safe...pop the mag and it can't fire as you release the safety and work the slide.
Click to expand...


Just want to note that a magazine disconnect is a mechanical safety, and like all mechanical safety's it can fail. I would not say it can't fire, but it should not fire.
 
What happens when the disconnect fails, though? And make no mistake - it's a mechanical device. It can and will fail, eventually.

I do not like relying on ANY safety other than good gun handling practices.

Period.

F'rinstance, I've got a CZ-52. There are documented cases where the decocking mechanism actually fired the weapon. The mechanical safety FAILED.

Whenever I use the decocker on my SW99s, I make sure the gun is pointed in a safe place (and usually under the mattress) so that in the event that the safety device fails, I am still safe.

As far as being able to render your gun useless should it be taken away, well, I'd rather train to avoid having it taken away than depend on a safety...

As the expression goes, someone might kill me with my own gun, but they're going to have to beat me to death with it because it ran empty...

Pilgrim said:
I have both. and like both systems.

The best part about a disconnect is that it makes clearing the weapon very safe...pop the mag and it can't fire as you release the safety and work the slide.
Clearing a 1911 is always a little nerve wracking to me, having a cocked gun with the safety off while working the slide to eject the chambered round.
Click to expand...
 
when the S&W Model 39 first came out a group of us looked at them as duty issue firearms to replace the revolvers. The Mag disconnect was considered to be a very good feature for a duty gun for the reasons stated previously.

I put my personal 39 through a lot and never had the disconnect fail because of the design. The argument that it could not fire without the magazine was also my concern. If during an altercation or during a foot chase a mag was lost, it would not fire the only round it had. (We were expressly ordered not to carry a BUG) With this in mind, we stayed with the revolvers.

Fast forward to today, I have a S&W M&P. When I had the trigger worked, I had the mag disconnect removed.

Regards,
 
For open carry, I think it would be a valuable asset, a backup gun would be a big plus to go with it. For concealed carry or home defense? I think it is a liability, I have had mags fail to insert and come loose often enough in competition, I wouldn't consider it without a backup gun on me.
 
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I have one gun that has the magazine dissconnect but has no decocker. It makes me crazy.

To clear the gun with rounds in the mag, you have to drop the mag, pull the slide to eject the chambered round, now the hammer is cocked and you can't pull the trigger without a magazine in, put the loaded (unless you now choose to peel the rounds out of it) magazine back in, point in safe direction, pull trigger, drop hammer, drop magazine again, remember there are rounds in the magazine, and now you can't pull the slide back again to verify an empty chamber or you will recock the hammer ..........

I like the Glock, no safety's except the shooter!
 
I just remember reading WWII stories as a kid, and how they dropped the magazine in a swamp, and had to load single-shot to defend themselves. Ain't gonna happen with one of these.

I also like the idea of a single shot for training or practice sometimes like when sighting in and you want to walk up each time to check a target or something.
 
There is zero benefit to a magazine safety. Maybe for the
extreme corner case of a LEO disabling a gun in a struggle (and
even then, only under a limited set of circumstances).

The FBI and other agencies hate the "feature" enough to demand that
they don't have it on any of their guns... that should say a lot by
itself.

The worst part about mag safeties is the seating thing... if you change
mags, and you dont seat it all the way, you end up with a brick instead
of at least a one shot derringer. The gun is also completely disabled
during a "hot reload".

And further, on the commercial market, I hate mag safeties because
they seem to introduce complacency with firearms. While it might
keep one idiot from causing an accident, the feature may also -cause-
accidents because someone is accustomed to having it on their
handgun, and then when they go to use someone elses, it's not
there.

-Mike
 
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LenS said:
I prefer quickly emptying the mag into the perp in that circumstance! YMMV
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more![wink]

Weer'd Beard said:
On the convese if you bump your mag release, or don't seat the mag properly suddenly you don't have a gun.

Nope I don't like them, and I'd rather not depend on a gun with it.

Arrr

-Weer'd Beard
Click to expand...


Yeah, this is the kind of thing that could really get you in trouble.

I definitely lean to the "no-disconnect" side of the argument.

Matt
 
drgrant said:
And further, on the commercial market, I hate mag safeties because
they seem to introduce complacency with firearms. While it might
keep one idiot from causing an accident, the feature may also -cause-
accidents because someone is accustomed to having it on their
handgun, and then when they go to use someone elses, it's not
there.
Click to expand...

Or simply causing a falce negative on verifying the gun is unloaded. Same thing with witness holes in the chamber. They can lead to mistakes verifying that the chamber is empty...next thing that happnes is an empty mag is slapped in and now you have a gun ready to fire.

The only way to verify a gun is safe is to visually or manually inspect the chamber for a round. The only way to not discharge a round is to not pull the trigger. Simple as that.

-Weer'd Beard
 
The only gun I have with a magazine disconnect is my Browning Ho-Power. I'm always amazed by the justification for this mechanical solution in search of a problem, based on an assailant attempting to grab the gun away from me. Holding the gun as I normally would, I find that my trigger finger can easily press the trigger, while I would have to either shift the gun in my hand or use my other hand in order to press the magazine release. I'm tempted to suspect that those using this justification have never actually attempted to execute the maneuver. It's always seemed a lot easier to me to use LenS approach: point the muzzle at the assailant and press the trigger repeatedly.

Ken
 
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