Cocked and Locked ?

I use Condition 3 for my nightstand gun

If you're using the gun as a nighstand gun, I'd put it on condition 3, just because you're less apt to wipe the safety and start blasting away, half-awake.

I don't like C3 for a carry pistol, because the act of racking the slide would immediately escalate the situation. But then again, some would say, why draw if you're not going to shoot -- wouldn't drawing escalate enough?
 
I'll add my voice to the chorus. DO NOT USE condition 2. If you practice enough to be comfortable with Condition 1 do so. If not, stick with Condition 3. You are not giving up anything in terms of speed of presentation and getting the pistol into action.
 
norielX:

I recommend against keeping your nightstand gun and your CCW gun in different conditions; I think you should keep both in the same condition. If your CCW gun is in condition 1 and you train that way, but your nightstand gun is in condition 3, then there's a real good chance that at 0-dark-thirty when you need your nightstand gun, that you'll react as you trained and forget to charge the chamber.

In this case, I think the KISS principle applies.

My nightstand gun is in a quick-access lockbox. I believe (and hope) that I'll be fully awake by the time I open the lockbox.

M1911
 
My nightstand gun is my carry gun and it stays cocked and locked. I strongly agree with the points already made about the inadvisability of training to do two different things when you pick up the gun (either cock it or rack it instead of just flick off the safety), and also possibly not having two hands available. A couple of other thoughts about Conditions 2 and 3. Starting from Condition 2 you preclude getting a firm full firing grip as you begin to move the gun because your thumb is out of place. You wouldn't want to do this when drawing from a holster, so why do it here? As for Condition 3, if you have ever racked the slide and had the round hang up and not go smoothly into the chamber, you know that this is possible. Two words on that: Murphy's Law. With Condition 1 you will always get at least one round off. Also, Condition 3 requires racking the slide, with an attendant distinctive noise. If the guy's downstairs, I may not want to give away both my location and the fact that I am armed. If you try to do it quietly, we're back to the possibility of causing a malfunction.
 
C&L - Only Way to Go

Charlie B - my intro to the 1911 was at Ft. Dix back in 1970. Spent a half day learning about it, only to shoot 1 mag. Then they sent me off to VN and I never touched a 1911 while there. S*it burning became my specialty because of my big, wiseass mouth.

Anyway, I took up the 1911 when I got out as a result of an incident. My new wife and I were walking in the woods and my hair stood up on the back of my neck. (Just the like old days humpin' in the boonies.) We backtracked and afterwards I vowed never to go into the woods unarmed again.

I carry a 1911 or a HK USP.45 Compact, both cocked and locked. My USP sits next to my bed C&L. The kids are out on their own or in college so I don't have to worry about them. I've taken some professional training and practiced quite a bit. My pistol is as familiar to me as is my underwear. I also have the mindset to protect myself and my family against all odds. Something the punks haven't developed. My wife has a Model 60 in her nightstand but also likes the Glock 26.

For a trained person, 1911 C&L is the only way to go.
 
My Colt .45 pistol is always condition 1, cocked and locked in the holster for CCW. Cocked and locked in the holster when its in the nightstand. Forget condition 2. Either condition 3 ALL the time or condition 1 ALL the time, whatever you're comfortable with. Remember, this gun was redesigned long ago, (by the addition of a grip safety), so that soldiers could carry it in condition 0, Chambered, cocked & locked. for instant readiness. I once took my dad's old combat commander, chambered a primed empty case and (cocked & UN-locked), threw it tumbling and rolling across the carpeted floor 8 to 10 times to see if it would drop the hammer and pop the primer.....It never did. That gun is SAFE (as the person holding it). I've been a condition 1 man ever since. Happy Shooting
 
Cocked and locked...ALL THE TIME!!!
Don't jump from one to the other and NEVER LOWER THE HAMMER ON A LOADED CHAMBER...:eek:
 
Whoops, mis-typed that about condition 0, supposed to be cocked & UN-locked. ONLY for soldiers though, where stressing and missing / fumbling the safety could get them killed.
 
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