Originally Posted by
SethB
Centurion, it isn't that simple.
The safety on the Kalashnikov is located on the right side of the reciever. It almost has to be manipulated with the weak hand. Some people can reach it with the tip of their index finger, but in order to be able to press it down you have to bend the sheet metal tab (also called the safety) away from the reciever. Another option that some have used is a small piece of string, so when you pull your finger down from the reciever to the trigger the string will pull the safety along. I've never used that one, but it came highly reccomended by an old Marine/NYPD cop.
The HK safety is too short for most people to reach it. I have large hands, and I can't do it.
The end result is that people leave the safety off. I've met people who think they are too cool for safeties, and besides the fact that no one is, the biggest danger remains hooking the trigger on your gear, a branch, whatever. If you dig around there is a story about a kid, maybe 11, who took a face full of 00 buck because a SWAT cop snagged the trigger of his Benelli on his kit.
As for the rest of the controls, in most cases they can be dealt with.
I don't know much about fighting, but I do shoot occasionally. Also, I've carried and shot a 1911 long enough (though I now carry a Glock 19) to know that a manual safety is no impediment at all, if it can be easily manipulated. The safety on a 1911 sits directly underneath your thumb, if you use the Modern Technique.
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