When I do carry my 1911, I have one chambered (rack the slide) and then drop the hammer. If needed all I have to do is pull the hammer back. I grew up with single action revolvers so this method is really no different than that.
Single Action with a Decocker
- Thread starter Rothdel
- Start date
Every single time I lower the hammer....
The tool I most often use to do this is called "my thumb and trigger finger"
Could someone make a "decocker" and put it in an SA pistol? Sure. Has someone, somewhere, done it? I don't know, probably.
But it seem like a rather moot point to me. Now, lots of people will be quick to jump in about how dangerous it is to lower the hammer by hand...
And, I will freely admit there is an element of risk, if you do it wrong.
But is a mechanical system which drops the hammer with a switch, button, or lever REALLY "safer"??? Remember, anything (and everything) mechanical CAN break. And, when something breaks, it rarely tells you, in advance that it has.
I know of one pistol, with a decocker/safety, which broke, in just the right way, that the pistol would fire, when the safety was put ON, BUT, ONLY when the gun was held in the normal (level) shooting position. If it was tilted, the gun would NOT fire when the safety was put on.
A freak occurance? yep. But it DID happen so its not impossible it could happen again, to someone else.
IF you don't point the pistol in a safe direction when you decock it (no matter HOW you decock it) then you are not being safe with the pistol, and if it fires and injures anything or any one, it IS your fault. Doesn't matter if its your thumb slipping or a freak mechanical failure of the built in system, its still YOUR fault. Period.
I'm sure you meant easing down the hammer, not dropping it.
There is a crucial difference between doing it on a 1911 and on a single action revolver. The chamber in a SA revolver should be empty.
-TL
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Forgive my ignorance as to the exact whens but doesn't this effectively overcome later design changes to the 1911 and render it no longer drop safe? This may not matter to a good number of people as current drop safety standards seem to be pretty ridiculous.
"If I dropped this gun from 72 feet at exactly this angle and it hit right here while being loaded with this grain ammunition onto uneven concrete it MIGHT fire thus its not drop safe" seems to be only a slight exaggeration to current "drop safety" standards.
Not dropping a firearm seems a reasonable enough solution.
Brownstone322
New member
Yeah, but a Smith & Wesson 4566 isn't a 1911, nor is it single-action; it's S&W's third-generation DA/SA automatic, which changes the discussion. Lots of DA/SA autos have decockers, such as the Beretta 92 family, SIG Sauer 226/228/229 family and some of the CZ 75 family.
The original poster asked about a single-action pistol with a decocker, which I personally had never heard of and don't see much purpose for.
The original poster asked about a single-action pistol with a decocker, which I personally had never heard of and don't see much purpose for.
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Brownstone322
My first 1911 was a Colt Combat Commander in 45ACP . Bought it new for $ 147 . Then sold it to a friend 3 years later for what I paid for it , don't think I fired 50 rounds through it , that was back in the 70's now I kick myself for selling it . The S&W 4566-1 reminded me of the commander only in SS with a square trigger guard & the decocker, I always considered it a 1911. What determines a firearm a 1911.
Chris
My first 1911 was a Colt Combat Commander in 45ACP . Bought it new for $ 147 . Then sold it to a friend 3 years later for what I paid for it , don't think I fired 50 rounds through it , that was back in the 70's now I kick myself for selling it . The S&W 4566-1 reminded me of the commander only in SS with a square trigger guard & the decocker, I always considered it a 1911. What determines a firearm a 1911.
Chris
Other than what the maker stamps on it as a name? Depends on how specific you want to get.
The only actual 1911s are the government contract guns, made before the change to the 1911A1. Colt commercial guns of the same era are not 1911s, they are "Government Models" and are so marked.
Now in common usage 1911A1 pattern or 1911 style is often shortened to just "1911s", but if you are talking about what makes a gun a 1911 style or pattern gun, it is how closely it follows the main design features of the 1911/A1
People will argue about how far from Browning's design you can go, and still be considered a "1911". Personally I think if it uses a different trigger system and or a cam instead of the link to tilt the barrel, it is outside what I would consider a 1911.
The 1911 has the grip safety, so no I do not believe it would fire if you dropped it. ( I have not tried it) One draw back to the grip safety, you need to use both hands to ease the hammer down.
Grip safety doesn't make a 1911 drop safe.
One can decock it with with one hand if he knows the trick. You need to pull the hammer all the way back with your thumb so that the hammer spur depresses the grip safety. Pull the trigger with the trigger finger at this point will release the hammer. Then ease down the hammer while trigger is pulled. This works fine with normal grip safety. It becomes rather difficult with beaver tail.
I dislike beaver tail anyway.
-TL
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themalicious0ne
New member
The Beretta 850 is a single action and was designed to be carried while "decocked". It doesnt have a decocker but it has a tip up barrel thus removing the need to decock a chambered round, but rather chamber a round without cocking at all. It was later designed with a safety but no decocker.
Evidently you do not understand how the 1911/1911A1 firing system works. Model 70 (no firing pin blocking device) means the firing pin is free floating with nothing other than the firing pin spring holding it back from the breech face. So hence the possibility of a drop fire does exist. Even with the thumb safety applied a drop fire is a possibility.