Warts And All

Forgotten Weapons covering the French version of the Beretta 92 reminded me of a conscious decision.

There's guns I collect because I want to experience that gun.

I have decided that those guns will remain unaltered.

Well, mostly.  The Hi-Power got new stocks while retaining the magazine safety because the plastic stocks were ghastly and mismatched.

But my Beretta M9 keeps the safety-decocker of the FS rather than the just decocker of the G because my issue gun wasn't a G.

The decocker only is objectively better than the safety in that if I accidentally pull it down while racking the slide, I have not just disabled my pistol by putting it on safe unintentionally.

I've never done it, but I've seen it at matches.

This holds true of any pistol with a slide mounted safety.  S&W, I am looking at you.

Magazine safeties used to be something I scrupulously removed.

Now I keep them.

I remind myself that I bought the gun to experience it and the experience includes the magazine safety.

I also, for the most part, don't carry the nostalgia guns or intend to use them for anything serious.

The retro M16 clones stay locked up when we're hunkered down for hurricanes, for example, while the more modern versions of the AR are loaded.