And now for my personal opinion:

I really adamantly don't like magazine disconnects.

First and foremost I think they are highly annoying.
I've been shooting for most of my life (22 out of 28 years) and consider myself an experienced and safe shooter.
I follow the weapon safety rules instilled in me when I began shooting, and re-instilled (with force and repetition) in the Corps.
One of which is never put your finger on the trigger until you intend to fire.

However I do like to dry fire quite a bit to practice my trigger pull, especially since I have several different handguns.
And unfortunately the 2 newest pistols I bought have magazine disconnects.

I like to keep my mags loaded, not so much for defense (and I don't cc) but just for convenience because I go to the range frequently and spontaneously.
Now with a pistol that has a magazine disconnect I have to keep an unloaded (or unload a) magazine so that I can safely dry fire that pistol.
Also I am not a huge fan of dry firing with a mag inserted in general just because that adds an extra element of potential danger.

Another annoyance with this feature is for competition shooting. I have not yet gotten into competition shooting (but hope to eventually), but I have heard reports of how magazine disconnects are a real hassle in some competitions because of the clearing rules they have. They have had to adopt new clearing procedures that take longer just to accommodate magazine disconnects.

In addition; more importantly than being annoying, I think that magazine disconnects are also a safety hazard.

I think that magazine disconnects can make stupid shooters lazier and more complacent.
And they are especially potentially dangerous for new shooters.

Let’s say you have a new shooter who just gets average shooting instruction from a friend who isn't that experienced of a shooter himself. This person goes out and the first gun they buy has a magazine disconnect. While they have learned the weapon safety rules to some extent (but they haven't had them imprinted in their brain like some of us have) they now have a pistol that has taught them that when the magazine is removed the weapon won't fire. And since they are not really that familiar with fire arms in general they may very well assume that most fire arms are like this one that they have.

Now eventually they will handle, and probably shoot, a pistol that does not have a magazine disconnect. What if they assume that the weapon won't fire without the mag in and so are careless once they eject the mag and still have a round in the chamber? They may end up shooting themselves or someone else, or at the least have an ND.

Now this is obviously a hypothetical situation, but I can pretty much guarantee that it will happen.
There are stupid shooters out there who rely on their weapons safety features rather than their own intelligence and just do stupid things.

As I like to say, “you can’t fix stupid”. (I’m sure I came up with that saying and didn’t take it from anyone).

No matter how many “safety” features are put on a gun, stupid people will find a way to screw up and hurt or kill someone.
And this “safety” feature just allows those stupid shooters too be just a little bit more lazy, stupid and complacent.

Another safety issue that I have is somewhat of a combination of the last to reasons.

I have taught and am teaching many people to shoot. I've taught my mom, friends, friends’ kids and a few girlfriends how to shoot.
I drill into them the weapon safety rules starting early on and continuously.
But just as I dry fire weapons to practice trigger pull, I have them do the same.
I enforce that this is only for training, that the magazine will be removed and that you will check, double check, then triple check that the weapon is clear before you dry fire the weapon. I do not want a magazine to be in the weapon when someone I am teaching is practicing dry firing, that scares me.

Also I teach that "you and you alone" are the only safety that you will rely on. I do not like weapon safeties and I like my Glock and M&P for both my personal shooting and for teaching others. I do not coddle anyone when I'm teaching them and I tell them to never trust a safety. Even the weapons I have that have safeties I tell them to not rely on them, sure go ahead and put the safety on and/or de-cock the weapon, but never rely on the safety for anything.
As such I am not a big fan of the ever increasing amount of safeties that are being put on fire arms.
Once again, you can’t fix stupid.

The final reason that I dislike magazine safeties is for tactical purposes.

In the Marines I learned a few different types of reloads.

The most widely known is probably the speed reload. This is when you’re magazine is empty, the bolts locked to the rear, and you’re just trying to get the easiest to reach mag out and loaded asap and then send the bolt home.

The other type of reload is called a tactical reload. This is not as fast as the speed reload, and is used before your mag is empty and when you know you only have a few rounds left and you’re not actively engaged at the moment and have the time to replace your low mag with a full one.
In this instance you will still have a round in the chamber while you’ve ejected the magazine and are inserting the new magazine.

Now if while you have the low magazine ejected and have not inserted the new mag all of a sudden a target appears, you will want to be able to fire that one round that is in the chamber right then and there. In fact there’s a chance your life may depend on being able to fire that round.
In this situation if your weapon has a magazine disconnect, You Are Screwed.

I know that this situation is highly unlikely, but on the outside chance that somehow I am faced with this situation I would want my weapon to fire.

I guess in large part this thread is just my personal rant against magazine disconnects.

But I do think that I have valid points.

I've only heard one decent argument for magazine disconnects.
That was that if you have a fire arm and are somehow disarmed and the enemy takes your weapon, you might have had the opportunity to eject the magazine (thereby rendering the weapon un-fireable) before you were disarmed.

This is only a partially decent argument, and there are holes in it too, but I guess it is a plausable hypothetical where a mag disconnect may actually be a good thing.

But other than that I can't really think of a good reason to have this feature on a fire arm.
It seems to me to just be something that was put on fire arms by manufactures to placate liberal law makers by increasing the number of safety featers on their fire arms.

But I would like to hear other peoples opinions about magazine disconnects.
Maybe just maybe, someone might be able to make me think differently about them.
And if everyone agrees I will just feel vindicated in my intense dislike of this feature.

easiest way to disable the magazine disconnect is insert a magazine.

The more parts you add to any machine, the more opportunities you create for the machine to fail. I like simple.

RON WHITE....." You can't fix stupid"...you did steal it.......

I find them annoying and unneeded.

Doesn't bother me.....

I prefer guns without one, one of the local officers back home took a knife in a text book Tueller drill gone bad when his mag had become partially released during his shift.

Originally Posted by berettabone

RON WHITE....." You can't fix stupid"...you did steal it.......

I am almost postive that Ron stole it from me...

You ought to get some of that action, then.......

Originally Posted by bcd02

I am almost postive that Ron stole it from me...