looking for new thumb safety

[Clint]

Hi everyone,
I have a SW1911PD and I love it. However... The ambi-safety is a pain. It is grooved and over-sized so it tends to eat at my thumb. I tried the “get used to it” approach and the “work around it” approach but either one affects my ability to use the firearm for self defense. It's not a problem at the range but when I dry fire/fast-draw drill at home the problem arises.

Now, when I looked a a Para-Ord gun I really liked the safety. It was smooth and had more of a forward slant (less bulk in the rear). So now I am thinking of getting a new safety.
Option one: I buy a whiz-bang ambi-safety and use a dremel tool :scared: to smooth and shape it. or...
Option two: I buy a new one that fits my needs. The trouble is many people sell safety's but the descriptions are sometimes lacking.
So can anyone help me point me in the right direction? Does anyone make a ambi-safety that is smooth (non-grooved), non-oversized and blued?

I am surprised that no one has yet made an ambi-safety based on the original JMB design. Or am have I just not seen it yet?

Thanks in advance.
Clint

[robot1911]

Why not just take a grinding wheel to shape it the way you want and then contour and smooth it out with the Dremel. That way you won't have to pay a 'smith to fit the new one to your gun...or fit it yourself.
You can use some cold blue after polishing it.

[Clint]

I could do that and may have to. But since I am going to buy a new safety anyway, I might as well pay the money for one as close to the desired end as possible. I'll exhaust option one before trying option two.

[John]

No grooves on the safety is not a good idea. You need to be sure that a good purchase is made on it when taking it off. You can always round off the corners so that it doesn't bother your thumb, but leave the grooves on the top surface alone.

You can call George Wedge at Para on Tuesday (April 3rd, he won't be in today and on Monday) and ask him to sell you a safety. Their safeties are rounded at the edges, I know that.

[Clint]

Thanks for the heads up with Para!
No grooves on the safety is not a good idea.True, however bad grooves is a problem (for me). When I throw the safety off my thumb wants to stay on the grooved paddle, often with my thumb too far back to engage the grip safety. (this may explain why that one Austrian foolishly put the safety on the trigger).

I need to either slide my thumb forward (for a thumb high grip) or let the thumb slide down (for a thumb down grip). But the aggressive grooving prevents my thumb from doing these things. In practice I can take the extra half second to "do it right" but that doesn't help me in a self-defense situation.

[Clint]

I just checked something on my safety. I took a plastic pen and ran it along the outside top edge of the thumb safety pad. A few shavings of plastic showed up.

Looks like a single sharp edge is causing all this trouble.