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Auto Safety Question- Why disable?

3K views 30 replies 19 participants last post by  MRPOWER 
#1 ·
I just bought/traded for a mint Beretta 686 White Onyx here on Shotgunworld- What a sweet gun- Lucky me!!
Anyway, the Auto Safety has been disabled (I understand on new Berettas the safety comes on automatically when you open the gun, like Rugers do)
-I wondered why shooters would prefer to have that safety feature disabled?
-Also, the hollow in the butt stock was cramed tight with plastic grocery bags. Any ideas why? (No, the bags were not filled with illegal drugs :)
 
#3 ·
Depends on what you are using the gun for...

When hunting, I don't want an automatic safety because I'd much rather control that feature myself.

For clays guns, I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't have a safety at all. Having the safety on when you call for a bird mean s a lost bird.

The plastic bags... I'm at a loss, the only thing I can think of is that they may have been in there to keep a recoil reducer from moving around.
 
#4 ·
Raven1 said:
-I wondered why shooters would prefer to have that safety feature disabled?
Mainly for target shooting. The gun is either loaded but open or loaded and closed ready to fire on the shooting position and open and empty everywhere else during target shooting, a safety is never employed, many single barrel trap guns like the BT99 don't even have a safety.

In trap competition, you get two failures to fire/round, third time is a lost target, no one wants to forget the safety and have a failure to fire cost them targets. Also, in a 200 or 300 target day, operating the safety is tedious.

I don't use a break gun much for hunting but any I have or did use were manual safety, I control the safety and don't need the automatic feature. I would also not want to start rellying on the gun to put itself on "safe", I prefere to be vigilent to check it frequently, myself, in the field.
 
#5 ·
Like Claydust, I would rather control the safety myself. I bought a Beretta field model O/U to shoot skeet and thumbing the safety off for every shot was a pain. I soon had the auto feature deactivated. I sold that gun and bought a competition model for skeet and it doesn't have the auto safety. I have also bought 2 more field models one had a manual safety and the other I again had the auto feature deactivated. I think the auto safety feature was dreamed up by a company attorney who was thinking of product liability suits. Personally, I hate the feature and believe anyone who owns a gun should be cognizant of the safety rather than relying on it taking place without any fore thought.
 
#6 ·
For bird hunting the safety can be either automatic or not; it is up to individual preference as long as the hunter knows how to properly use what he has. The place that the automatic safety is said to be really not a good idea is for dangerous game hunters using double rifles. They don't want the possibility of reloading and trying to fire with a safety that has re-set!
 
#9 ·
Not sure why the lack of an auto safety feature on a O/U bothers people. People do not complain because automatics and pumps do not have an "auto safety" feature. So why does it seem essential or important to have it on a O/U?

The main reason for disabling the auto safety feature is for target shooting. You only have the gun loaded and closed when you are ready to shoot, and it is nice not to have to fiddle with the safety.
 
#10 ·
I look at the auto safety issue as another move by the government to protect us from ourselves. Seems the only time we are worthy and responsible adults is tax paying time...

I use my shotgun for sporting clays/skeet and 5 stand, I don't hunt and feel a mechanical safety is useless. My gun is broken open when im not firing it..thats safe. A mechanical safety can and will fail, you shouldn't learn to depend on it to save yourself or someone else.
 
#11 ·
Damn automatic safties! Just 3 hours ago I was in a shoot-off with 2 buddies who use O/Us. I use sxs and this time was using a 20 ga sxs AyA. They were using 12 ga O/U Browning Clitories.

I wooda creamed them but for the auto safety which I kept forgetting about.

That's why some guns don't have safties or have had them disabled.

Oh, well. However from a safety standpoint I actually prefer auto safties. I would rather miss a bird or a clay - that's a good trade-off for a slight increase in safety

Frank
 
#12 ·
Pumpster said:
Damn automatic safties! Just 3 hours ago I was in a shoot-off with 2 buddies who use O/Us. I use sxs and this time was using a 20 ga sxs AyA. They were using 12 ga O/U Browning Clitories.

I wooda creamed them but for the auto safety which I kept forgetting about.
OK, so you found one advantage of having an auto safety....using it as a crutch! LOL
 
#13 ·
Bill M. said:
Not sure why the lack of an auto safety feature on a O/U bothers people. People do not complain because automatics and pumps do not have an "auto safety" feature. So why does it seem essential or important to have it on a O/U?
I'm with you; it seems pretty darn dumb to have this annoying "feature" in the first place. Make that very dumb.

Sure, where is the auto-reset cross-bolt safety? Auto-reset tang safety on a high-powered rifle? Auto-reset on a Browning Hi-Power? We all need to be smarter than the thing we are operating.
 
#14 ·
Pumpster hit it on the head-

What you get used to is what you expect and depend on.
If you are used to an automatic safety
(which I am, after shooting a Ruger O/U for years)
then you want your new O/U to be that way as well,
to avoid an accident.
You don't have to shoot your foot, or your friend,
very many times to ruin your duck season.

I am paying a gunsmith to fix the disabled auto-safety on my Beretta. Who knows what that precaution may prevent.
 
#16 ·
Bobshouse said:
Pumpster said:
Damn automatic safties! Just 3 hours ago I was in a shoot-off with 2 buddies who use O/Us. I use sxs and this time was using a 20 ga sxs AyA. They were using 12 ga O/U Browning Clitories.

I wooda creamed them but for the auto safety which I kept forgetting about.
OK, so you found one advantage of having an auto safety....using it as a crutch! LOL
I'm not sure what you mean by "crutch" but yes, anything that improves or increases the odds towards the 'safety' side of gun use has my support.

I have used a hell of a lot of guns in a hell of a lot of situations and I'll accept any crutch offered!

Frank
 
#17 ·
Raven1 said:
I am paying a gunsmith to fix the disabled auto-safety on my Beretta. Who knows what that precaution may prevent.
Ok, if that's what your used to and want, can't knock a man for doing what he feels is right...but that still doesn't explain the plastic bags in the stock. :D

There wasn't anything else in there except plastic bags? I can see the reasoning behind keeping the recoil reducer from flopping back and forth, but if there wasnt one in there, that couldn't of been the reason. Still has me scratching my head...
 
#18 ·
Pumpster said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "crutch" but yes, anything that improves or increases the odds towards the 'safety' side of gun use has my support.
I believe he means "crutch" as an excuse for not winning a shoot.

As far as the safety issue, IMHO, I would rely on safe gun handling, not on a mechaical device; the gun should never be pointed at someone else or the shooter's body parts when being closed.
 
#20 ·
Kinda sorta. A crutch is anything used to justify the outcome. In Pumpsters post he stated "I wooda creamed them but for the auto safety which I kept forgetting about." So he is stating that he would have beat them if he would of remembered to take off the safety...an excuse that justifies his loss of the event.

Nothing derogatory intended...kinda like saying "I wouldn't of been late if I'd been here on time."
 
#23 ·
Their are shooters & hunters that do not care to shoot or hunt beside someone that has a mechanical safety on their gun, as they do not trust a mechnical device. But by the same token their are shooters & hunters that do not care to shoot or hunt beside some who has a manual safety because they do not trust the person. I have a automatic safety on my RIZZINI o/u & my AyA SxS. My Browning, Remington & Savage have manual safety's. I have no problem with either. Yes I will look at my safety's now & then to make sure they are in the position I want them to be.
 
#24 ·
If I follow this correctly, we disable the auto-safety because we don't trust a mechanical lever to turn the safety on; but we do trust the safety (even though it is mechanical) as long as nothing mechanical turns it on.
That makes perfect sense...........

What about the white bags in the stock?

A guy would have to oil a phillips screwdriver and pull the butt-pad to get at them, so using them as an easy source of empty hull bags is out-
There is no recoil reducer in the gun, so reducing the recoil reducer is out-
What the blazes are they for?
 
#25 ·
Raven1 said:
If I follow this correctly, we disable the auto-safety because we don't trust a mechanical lever to turn the safety on; but we do trust the safety (even though it is mechanical) as long as nothing mechanical turns it on.
That makes perfect sense...........
You got it. More moving components = more prone to failure.

Also, an automatic safety can be a barrier to developing the instinctive habit of putting on the safety when needed. Without this habit you to miss it if the automatic system fails or if you use a firearm without an automatic safety.

An automatic safety is not needed and a PITA when shooting skeet, trap, etc.
 
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