1911 Safety Question

laocmo

Seems to me about 50 years ago in ROTC class I learned the 1911 had three safety's, thumb, grip, and half cock notch. My old army field manual confirms this. And says when on half cock with the grip safety pushed and the trigger pulled the hammer should NOT fall that little 1/8 inch distance from half cock. My newer Springfield Armory MIL Spec says the hammer will indeed fall, but not enough to fire the gun. And indeed it does. Why the difference? They're both MIL Spec guns. Thanks

Colt Super

How about - SAs are NCs.

NOT Colts.

Doug

perry shooter

Are you sure you have original parts in your pistol When Colt and others put in series 80 type parts the hammer no longer has a safety style half cock notch but rather just a shelve type half cock .The design of the series 80 has a firing pin block. This can get you in BIG trouble if you swap in series 80 Hammer and the rest of the fire control parts are Pre series 80 style. To tell what hammer you have remove hammer and look at the hammer hooks the full cock should be .018 or longer at a 90 degree angle and the half cock on any pistol with out the firing pin block should have a half cock notch shaped like a hook. Doing a trigger job without knowing what you are doing like stoning the sear nose ETC can also give you safety issue.

EDIT Thanks Hawk C. [:0][:I][:o)]I guess the old adage you snooze you loss will apply to me[:(!][V]
You are correct I did not know this type of hammer is now "OEM" on some guns without firing pin block. Very interesting as NRA BULLS-EYE pistols are checked at the national matches and may be checked at any 2700 match. currently the series 80 colts and clones
with the firing pin block are allowed "IF the block is in place " but that same hammer is NOT legal and you will be thrown off the line if it is installed in a gun with out the firing pin block I know two people that were not allowed to shoot Caspian match pistols that had after market shelve type hammer notches. Thanks For the up date. I guess I show my age but this can be an accident waiting to happen in my opinion [:(!][V][xx(][:(]

Hawk Carse

Springfield has used the "safety stop" hammer without undercut half cock notch for several years now. It is meant to catch against the sear if the gun mysteriously falls off of full cock and prevent firing, but not tempt the user into carrying the gun other than cocked and locked or completely decocked.

Your Springfield is behaving perfectly normal for the make and model.

Just because they call it a "mil spec" does not mean it meets US Army military specifications.

Sorry, perry shooter, but you are not up to date on Brazilian imports. That IS the way they are being made.

laocmo

Thanks for the answers. The answers lead to another question. If the military felt the half cock notch was an important safety feature, why would SA and other makers feel the need to do away with it. After growing up with the MIL Spec true half cock notch feature present on my older 1911's, it is a little unnerving to see that hammer fall from the Springfield shelf even though it falls with too little energy to fire the cartridge. Is there any reason to replace the hammer with one with a true notch? Again thanks.

Larry

Blairweescot

Same reason the new automatic pistol I just bought actually has a key for your keyring that is used to 'lock out' the pistol- times have changed. Used to be that guns didn't have warning labels on them (imagine that, a firearm is dangerous! That's the last time I listen to Looney Toons!). My new one does, right on the frame


Times have changed, and so has "wisdom" on firearm safety. And I do use that term loosely