If not cocked and locked, I prefer to carry my BHP cond III, w/ the hammer at half cock and the safery locked. It's easier and faster for me to sweep the safety and rack the slide than to do thumb acrobatics to run the hammer manually. I do this if I'm doing something like hiking where I think a lot of movement might disengage the safety, also if I toss it on the carseat , I've had a bad experience w/ a Cond III gun w/ an unlocked slide, if you hit the brakes or oyher sudden movements, said gun may go flying and cycle itself when it hits something. Then its cocked and unlocked and you don't control the muzzle. Leave it like this to if its lying about the house too( I live alone). On my person though, cocked and locked is the way to go. On the manual warning, bear in mind that the U.S. military frowned heavily upon C&L carry w/ the 1911 for nearly 80 years, its a rule for people that are not proficient w/ their weapons.