Originally Posted by
Ron3
My Beretta .25 m950's and M21A's are accurate.
You're wrong about the hammer. It never rests on the firing pin. It rests on the slide. The firing pin is kept rearward by a spring.
Thus, when the hammer is fully down & gun dropped on muzzle, the firing pin spring will prevent the firing pin from flying forward and striking the primer.
If the gun is dropped on the hammer, the hammer will transfer that force to the back of the slide, not the firing pin.
The gun is safest to carry hammer down.
The half-cock position exists in case one decided to cock the hammer manually and their thumb slips off. Also in case the gun is dropped while cocked and the sear slips, hopefully the h half-cock notch will catch it.
The manual safety is only a trigger block. They do not have a passive firing pin disconnector like most pistols do. Even so, they are pretty darn safe.