1911 safety vs any other guns

knightrider

How does a safety work? Generally it is a bar that either holds the trigger so that it does not fire or holds the hammer so that it does not fire if the trigger is pulled. So what makes people so worried around 1911s? As far as I can tell it has two systems rolled into one gun, as long as everything is working. Comments?

Hawk Carse

The thumb safety on a 1911 holds the sear into the full cock notch on the hammer. The grip safety on a 1911 blocks the trigger bar from moving the sear out of engagement, if the thumb safety is not engaged.

The very sight of a gun with the hammer cocked scares a lot of people, no matter what kind of safety it has. Some of them think nothing of carrying a bolt action rifle or pump shotgun cocked because there is no visible hammer.

n/a

quote:Originally posted by Hawk Carse
The thumb safety on a 1911 holds the sear into the full cock notch on the hammer. The grip safety on a 1911 blocks the trigger bar from moving the sear out of engagement, if the thumb safety is not engaged.

The very sight of a gun with the hammer cocked scares a lot of people, no matter what kind of safety it has. Some of them think nothing of carrying a bolt action rifle or pump shotgun cocked because there is no visible hammer.
I fully agree with Hawk.

The 1911 is safe to carry cocked and locked. But I also believe in all the safety I can get. That is why when I carry my 1911's I use a hold in strap that goes between the hammer and slide, so if the hammer ever did happen to fall the strap would keep the gun from dischargeing.

All my 1911 holsters have a strap that will do this.

knightrider

I guess it is just a mental thing, like seeing a revolver cocked vs a 1911 cocked. I generally do the same thing * r done does. By have it cocked, locked, and with the strap in place to keep the hammer from striking the pin in the highly unlikely event that the safeties fail, but one one can be too careful. Thanks for the post.

n/a

quote:Originally posted by knightrider
I guess it is just a mental thing, like seeing a revolver cocked vs a 1911 cocked. I generally do the same thing * r done does. By have it cocked, locked, and with the strap in place to keep the hammer from striking the pin in the highly unlikely event that the safeties fail, but one one can be too careful. Thanks for the post.
Actually rather than a mental thing, I believe it is an uneducated thing.

When I first got into 1911's (and it was not that long ago) I also thought it was unsafe to carry cocked and locked. But after a bit of education on how the 1911 functioned I learned that it is safe to carry this way, and people have done so for almost 100 years.

This I believe is also the problem with most anti-gunners is they are not educated in guns (safety and the function).

PC800

When I was a cop, we had transitioned from revolvers to Glock 17s. But then a funny thing happened: the new recruits came in and they did not know how to operate anything EXCEPT a Glock. We arrested a couple guys one night, they were all carrying illegally. One of them had a cocked and locked 1911 and one of the new officers just about shot me trying to figure out how to unload it. He was right behind me messing with it, and as I turned around I saw he was trying to unload it waving it all over the place. And I noticed the thumb safety was off, so I grabbed the slide and pointed to the ground. Then I yelled at him:)

goldeneagle76

I agree, I carry my 1911 with an Uncle Mike's holster that has the strap across the back. I too used to think it was "unsafe" until I actually got educated and familiarized with the function of a 1911.