imported post
Jeffytune wrote:
When I carry my 1911A1, I carry in Condition 2, I feel quite comfortable to carry this was as i trained to drag my thumb over the hammer as I bring the pistol to the firing position.
15 years, no accidental discharges.
I am not saying the way you carry is right of wrong, you need to carry it the way you have trained for, and are most comfortable with.
First auto pistol I ever fired was a 1911A1 .45acp back in 1957.My 'instructor' was a former S/Sgt 'tanker' who'd seen much action in N. Africa and Europe. Long beforeI (or just about anyone else)ever heard of Jeff Cooper or his 'Conditions'. Three years later... I'm in the Navy, periodically standin' armed watches with... the 1911A1. OK... so prior to that... I (and others) haf'ta go to the range and qualify. But... I'm an AO workin' outt'a the armory. We 'owned' nearly every .45 on the station.
At NO TIME was 'Cocked and Locked' a method of carry. Cocked and Locked was used only if you ceased firing prior to expending the magazine. We carried one in the pipe on half-cock notch. First round was thumbing the hammer... same with any SA.
When John Browning invented that pistol, it replaced the SAA .45 for the Army. So... you have a generation of 'thumbers' by instinct. That thumb safety's even called the 'slide lock' 'cause that's what it does. The M1912/M1916 flap holsters were the original series holsters for the M1911A1 pistols. The M3 shoulder holster for the 1911 pistol has a rather long strap retainer with a spring lock/stud fastener. With the pistol 'cocked and locked'... the strapintersects the hammer and the slide. All 'thumbbreak' holsters will do the same. This causes the gun to 'hang' when drawing, particularly when the strap is wider than the space between the cocked hammer and slide. This is not a desirable situation.
Fast forward Vietnam... one in the pipe on half-cock notch. I have never heard of, or experienced an ND/AD when carried in this manner. This is the same method used with a Winchester .30-30 lever gun. 'Seems there are LOT"S of AD/ND's with Glocks... 'least one's ya hear about. (Yet the Glock guys will tell 1911 types how to carry.... Hmmm?)
Yes... you have one in the tube and must manually decock the thing. It's not that difficult with minimal manual dexterity. Hold the hammer, depress the grip safety and pull the trigger. Ease the hammer down, then back to 1/2 cock notch. In general parlance... this was known as the 1/4 cock notch due to the length of hammer travel. When John Browning invented this pistol... common sense had not yet been replaced by (gasp) absolute no-risk safety litigation.
At any rate... the hammer may be thumbed easy enuff... and the grip safety is still engaged. Or... you can hot dog it 'n fan the hammer with your left if you feel lucky.
Jeff Cooper made a lotta money sellin' books... but he did say:
Jeff Cooper's CommentariesPreviously Gunsite GossipVol. 1, No. 1 June 1993
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"Lowering the hammer with the thumb is always safe if the operator is safe. Of course, if you must assume that the operator is inept, then decocking with the thumb is not safe. We dinosaurs prefer to put our trust in our own abilities rather than in any reliability of a mechanism which can fail."
Then... there's this... fitting to OCDO:
"The society of late twentieth century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense- club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts, or revolvers on their hips, It is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy he dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today, discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it."
Samuel Francis
I suppose I have been fortunate to some extent in learning from boyhood to use weapons (including the sword), ride a horse and familiar with other useful mechanical skills. Routinely bearing arms is a natural as puttin' my boots on. I carry my 1911 in a manner as familiar to me as anything I can think of... and as ergonomically advantageous asI have found to be practical.