My natural strong side is my right hand and eye, however all my 1911s have an ambidextrous thumb safety - all of which are the King’s 201A (except for my newest build). I have been carrying a 1911 for nearly forty years, beginning in 1983 when the USMC issued me my first one. In 1985 I was issued one of the early MEU(SOC) 1911s, which had the King’s 201A. I competed in IPSC for a number of years, in which many stages required weak-hand shooting, necessitating an ambidextrous safety. Also as a LEO I carried a 1911 (when allowed by department regs), again with a King’s 201A. As others have stated, I didn’t want to have to do any “stupid stuff“ to disengage the thumb safety should my strong-hand become disabled, or unavailable. One of the keys to success, whether it be in competition or an armed conflict, is practice; lots and lots of practice. And after years of practice, and thousands upon thousands of repetitions you develop “muscle memory“, and it has become so thoroughly engrained as part of my practice the location, size and shape of the paddles on a King’s 201A that it is automatic for me to disengage the thumb safety with 100% repeatability, left or right handed.
Unfortunately King’s went out-of-business more than a decade ago, so new, original 201A safeties are no longer available. I was told by the gentleman that purchased King’s, in addition to the remaining inventory, he also became the holder of the patents, including the one for the 201A. Unfortunately the new owner did not have the capability to manufacture any of the patented parts that he was now in control of. I have been told that several companies approached the new owner with offers to purchase the patents, but that he wanted far more than anyone was interested in paying.
When it came time to replace the factory single-side safety on my new Ruger Talo Night Watchman (in 2020), I scoured the internet trying to find an ambidextrous safety that as closely as possible duplicated the 201A - if not in mechanical design - at least matching the levers location, size and shape. I found a couple, but both had reviews that mentioned breakage, either internally or the weak-side lever. I found another, but it used a tab to secure the weak-side lever under the grip (as most do). I am not one that usually purchases a firearm based on appearance, but that tab is just ugly. I found a guy in KC that machines a copy of the 201A from bar-stock, but at $170 and zero reviews of his part, I kept searching. Finally I found an ambidextrous safety from Novak that the levers appeared to be virtually identical to the 201A. The reviews were mostly positive, the only negative comments were about how the weak-side paddle was secured to the cross-pin. The complaints were universal not in the weak-side lever working its way loose, or breaking off, but that it was a PITA to secure the lever via the included 1/16” diameter roll-pin. Well I was not going to install it myself, so that aspect really didn’t bother me. The gunsmith that was going to install it - along with a host of other parts, as well as refinishing the pistol - balked at using the part, not only because of the difficulty in installing it, but he said that whenever the gun was completely stripped for a thorough cleaning, it would be impossible to reuse the pin, and finding a replacement would be nearly impossible. I called the good folks at Novak and they sent me a baggie with about two dozen replacement pins (for free I should mention), after which my gunsmith could not muster any other objections.
My EDC custom Ruger .45 ACP Lightweight Commander type pistol (complete with Novak ambi safety:
