Removing the safety on S&W SW22 Victory

Hello - often I would experience a failure to fire with the S&W Victory, only to find out the safety was flicked up [turned on] accidentally.  So I just opened it up and removed it [the safety].  Gun seems to function check fine without it.  Just wondering if anyone has tried this before, and if there's something I should know before taking it to the range.  Btw, I only use this gun for bullseye, it's not a carry piece or anything like that (that's not even allowed in Canada, but thought I should mention).

Bad news. It is not legal for Bullseye with the safety removed.

LenV wrote:Bad news. It is not legal for Bullseye with the safety removed.

I understand.  However, I'm not participating in any formal competitions yet (just club-organized evenings), so the legality aspect is not an issue at the moment.

I PM’d you the fix

James Hensler wrote:I PM’d you the fix

Why not let all the viewers and Victory owners on this forum know the "fix " ?

Super glue? Readily reversible when/if needed.

Yes the answer is gorilla superglue. One drop. If an official ask you to put the safety on because someone bitched about it a flat head screw driver will break it free.

I'm the OP.  So, here's everything I've done about the safety of SW22 so far:

1) Standard grips - a drop of glue right under the lever.  That's how I was using it for a while, and it worked just fine for a long time.  

2) Volquartsen wood grips - bought these, however couldn't glue the safety lever to it anymore because they have a cutout right there.  The only place to glue it would've been to the frame, which I didn't want to do (hence starting this thread).

3) Removed the safety completely - gun continued to function just fine.  However, I don't feel good about that solution, there's side-to-side play in the hammer.  Again - it worked fine for the short run I used it, but was not something I felt comfortable with.

4) See photo below - a paper clip wire protruding upwards, completely blocks off the safety from being able to be pushed up.  The other end goes around the pin, then one loop around the lever.  That was a pretty good solution, however if you have to service the gun, you need to remove the wire and create a new one like that.  

5) Alternative to 4 would be to bend up the stock spring end to protrude up, just like in 4.  I feel that would be the best solution, but I don't want to try it since I have only one of those (and being in Canada, it will be difficult to buy a spare).  But if I ever get a spare, that's what I'll do.

I did not know you have aftermarket grips. Personally if it was me I would remove the safety and install shims or spacers to take up the slack on the hammer. I would not mention it again and in all my years of shooting matches I have never had an official function test my pistols.

James Hensler wrote:I did not know you have aftermarket grips. Personally if it was me I would remove the safety and install shims or spacers to take up the slack on the hammer. I would not mention it again and in all my years of shooting matches I have never had an official function test my pistols.

At Perry last year when I had my triggers weighed for the EIC's they tested safeties. Same thing when I shot a match a Quantico last year as well.

I wonder what the logic behind having a functional safety for bullseye is. It's certainly not something that is being used as part of the procedures, then why is it even in the rules?

chiz1180 wrote:

James Hensler wrote:I did not know you have aftermarket grips. Personally if it was me I would remove the safety and install shims or spacers to take up the slack on the hammer. I would not mention it again and in all my years of shooting matches I have never had an official function test my pistols.

At Perry last year when I had my triggers weighed for the EIC's they tested safeties. Same thing when I shot a match a Quantico last year as well.

Last year at Perry my 45 was chosen to test trigger weight but they never checked for safety. I have never seen anyone’s checked for that. Some pistols don’t even have safeties. Not saying I doubt what you are saying but since 1988 I just haven’t seen it

My answer was to REMOVE the plastic part of the safety that your thumb touches.  Using a diagonal pliers, just cut as shown in pic.  Then, a few seconds on a grinder to smooth it and its done. When I reinstall the safety in the gun, there is NO NEED to reinstall the safety spring.  It stays in the down (off) position. 

I have shot 200+ rounds and have had zero issues.  Of course, your thumb will never EVER engage the safety unexpectedly again!

Here are the pics for my last post.

Safety's at camp perry.  I was scoring a military gentleman at perry.  Air Force officer.  He had a series 80 45 that he was using we went down to score and when we came back the CRO was standing at his position and asked when everyone was back if he could look at his gun.  Officer gave it to him and he looked at the slide and it had all the 80 stuff missing.  they disqualified the gun for missing safety parts.  CRO was very nice and offered to get him on another line.  We got him a spare and he finished out he relay.  He had been issued the gun so he had no idea that something was not right.  He was not happy with the armorer that gave it to him
so they do check at times.

I would have challenged the CRO. When the series 80 first came out quite a few shooter were using it without the firing pin block. How do you check to see if the firing pin blocker works? Furthermore I would assume the .22 conversion is allowed on the series 80 frame. Actually I don't think the conversion will work on a series 80 frame unless parts were removed from the frame. I think the series 80 was discontinued because of lack in sales. Competition shooter didn't want them. Yes NRA rules are that all safetys incorporated by the manufacture must work. Back then gunsmiths were removing it if requested, later a signed request was needed. Finally it would not be done, trigger job was done without the blocker parts then parts put back in. It was up to the owner to remove the parts probably due to the Kart Lawsuit.
 I'm thinking the .22 conversions might be made so they will not shoot on a series 80 frame with the blocker parts in. Kart got sued years ago because his .22 conversion I assume fired on a complete 80 frame without trigger being pulled. A dummy was cycling live ammo on his bed in a motel before a match. Gun fired and shot him in the leg. Kart lost and also lost his home, shop and .22 conversion patent. If my memory is correct Marvel bought the patent.

My Marvel is on a Series 80 frame and functions fine with all of the 80 parts intact.

Then I would assume if the rules are strictly applied the .22 conversion should not be allowed. However I know quite a few shooters that use the series 80 for competition that has the blocker removed. I use a 1911 with a one piece main spring housing and grip safety, the grip safety don't move so it don't work! CRO told me during warm-up match I couldn't use it in the remaining matches, I challenged the ruling to the HRA Rules Committee, CRO was overruled and I continued to use the gun for remaining matches and years afterward. Being the gun was not an out of the box 1911 but a custom built gun the rule did not apply. Plus the gun at the time was a Long Slide.