First off, the OP already HAS his 1911A1 (ok waiting on delivery..) so, remarks about which other guns he should get that are better, and for what, simply don't matter, or add anything useful.
Yes, but the Military usage of the 1911 on horseback bears LITTLE resemblance to CCWing the gun today.
I will agree on that, certainly. But CCWing the gun today also bears LITTLE resemblance to the on the hip, open carry (in a flap holster) that the gun was made for. The 1911 was built to be a service pistol. Not a CCW. OF course, you can CCW a 1911, many people have, and do. You just have to accept the fact that there are limitations, and there are other guns better suited to CCW.
They carried the gun in condition 3 (empty chamber) and only charged the gun when needed. They NEVER intended the gun to be carried regularly with a round in the chamber (safety or no)
Actually, it seems that they did at one time intend for the gun to be carried, chamber loaded, hammer down.
There are two main points to consider here, #1) that we are talking here about ARMY rules (include Navy & Marines as well), and the Army has a different approach to risk assessment than you or I do.
#2) the Army went through its own learning curve with the 1911. The previous service pistols had been revolvers (SA and later DA) and they understood revolvers pretty well. They didn't understand semi autos to the same degree, until after some years of first hand experience with them in the hands of the troops.
Training on the pistol in the military has never been what could be called through for the non police troops. A few minutes of instruction and a range session was about all most ever got, and many, not even that.
Lowering the hammer on a live round can be done quite safely by nearly all individuals, BUT when you apply it to the masses as policy, you ARE going to have accidents, especially when less than ideal conditions are applied, as well.
Also, there is the fact that the majority of the military is composed of young men, some even still in their teens, and absent the immediate presence of superiors (hopefully older and wiser) some of them ARE going to screw around with their weapon. Which is likely to produce more AD/ND accidents than those actual accidents such as slipping while lowering the hammer on a live round. And those who were screwing around aren't likely to admit it wasn't an "accident" because they were screwing around.
The Military changed the carry policy to chamber empty not for the safety of the user, but for the safety of the Military overall, to reduce the number of "accidents" that were happening because there was a live round in the chamber.
Remember, they were looking at what is going to work best (outside of immediate combat) for a large group of users. NOT what was or is the best method of carry for personal defense.
The 1911 has .020" of sear engagement..
I just checked one of mine, and its .030", but, so what?? Due to the shape of the parts and the angles of contact, what usually happens if the cocked hammer receives a blow strong enough to break the sear nose, the hammer pin shears, and the hammer flies out of the gun.
One can postulate a freak accident that will fire any gun, even a Glock. Personally, I'm fine a gun that normally is safe in to common accidents, even if you can get it to go off under extremely uncommon conditions.
Other, newer gun designs might be mechanically safer, after all, they should be, having had all the years of 1911 use to study.
None of them are any safer than the user, however, and while the 1911 has been superseded in
service use by other designs I think it still entirely adequate for personal carry. That being said, there are other designs today that are superior in some ways. I used to carry a 1911, until I got a Sig P220. Same ammo, same capacity, smaller and lighter. Better for me to carry. I didn't get it because of the DA/SA thing, I just learned to live with.
Nothing wrong with a 1911A1 style gun, even in GI configuration (other than the sights
). If you're a lefty, get the safety lever on both sides.
If the gun isn't what you want or need it to be, get it modified or get a different gun, its really that simple.
