The best way to carry a 1911

Y

Yowza

New member
I'm not exactly new to handguns in general, but I'm not all that experienced either. I recently bought a Springfield Compact .45 to carry (I had fired a friend's old Colt government model and really liked it).

Anyway, this gun being a single action, I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to carry it. Is it safe to carry with the hammer down on a chambered round, or maybe with the hammer in the half cocked position? I feel a little leery about carrying cocked and locked even though the safety requires a decent amount of force to deactivate. I'll be carrying in a Smartcarry so I definitely don't want any ADs (not that I would want them no matter how I'm carrying!)

Anyway, any comments from any experienced people out there would be much appreciated.

Rick
 
Half cock carry is the least safest carry mode, hammer down on a live round is safer than half cock, Cocked & Locked is probably the safest way to carry with a round in the chamber, and the safest way to carry would be empty chamber and racking the slide upon presentation. ANY carry with a round in the chamber assume you have practiced a lot with an empty weapon and are completely comfortable with that mode of carry.
 
Carry it cocked and locked like John Browning designed it to be carried. I carry this way all day every day and there has never been a problem.

Do not ever carry it hammer down on a loaded chamber. This requires the very unsafe practice of lowering the hammer on a live round which is dangerous. Also the pistol is not ready to fire until the hammer is manually cocked back. The half cock notch is likewise a bad idea -- it offers no real advantage, but is much slower than cocked and locked in the draw.

If you are super uneasy about the look of the cocked hammer while carrying, you can carry with no round chambered. This will require a rack of the slide upon drawing the pistol, and you also give up a round.

One thing that might put your mind at ease is to try carrying cocked but no round chambered but keep the safety on. After carrying a couple of days like this and verifying that the safety was not swipped off while going through your normal daily routine, it can help you overcome the initial uneasiness of carrying cocked and locked.
 
I second h_tolley's recommendations. Especially the last paragraph.

Try carrying without a chambered round, but with the gun cocked and locked to get used to it. You should find that it will stay safed. Do it for a week, or two weeks as long as it takes you to get comfortable with the idea.

Shake
 
Condition One -- Cocked and Locked -- is the PROVEN and EFFECTIVE carry mode for 1911A1s, with many decades of demonstrated safety and efficacy!
 
If you are really uncomfortable with cocked and locked, you can install a "Safety fast shooting" kit (SFS) onto your gun. This allows you to carry hammer down, but still have the fast 1st shot without the added hassle of racking the slide or trying to cock the hammer. The gun was designed for condition 1, so you should get used to it or find another design.
 
The only safe ways to carry your gun are condition 1 (chamber loaded, cocked and locked) or condition 3 (chamber empty, hammer down).

The Series 70 action has no firing pin safety, so if you carry hammer down on a loaded chamber, a sharp rap on the back of the hammer could result in a discharge.

I don't recommend carrying at half-cock either. As others have mentioned, it is unsafe. Furthermore, it is far more fumble prone to draw, manually cock, and then fire, than it is to draw, remove the safety, and fire. If you are manually cocking with your strong-hand thumb, then you have a weak grip on the gun. And manually cocking with your strong-hand thumb is tough when the gun has a beavertail safety.

I don't recommend condition 3 because the only way to draw and chamber a round quickly requires two hands. And you might not have two hands when TSHTF. Your weak hand might be occupied opening a door, pushing your loved one to cover, fending off the perp, etc. Yes, there are ways to chamber a round using one hand, but they aren't fast and aren't terribly safe either.

Carry condition 1 or carry a different gun.

M1911
 
Thanks for all the replies and advice. I'm going to try carrying it for a while without a round in the chamber and see how it works out. I'm not necessarily uncomfortable with carrying it in the normal manner, at least not in a normal holster. But I'm just not too sure yet about the Smartcarry. It's great for concealment and access really isn't bad either, but I have some concern about the possibility of the safety being flipped off without my noticing.

Thanks everyone
 
I don't know what a Smart Carry device is so I can not comment on using one.

If the trigger is not pulled there is no chance for the hammer to fall if the safety does get wiped off.

It would take a serious blow on the hammer of a non-"Series 80" 1911 to shear the hammer hooks or break the sear tip and have the hammer fall.

Besides carrying the pistol around the house for a week or so unlaoded with the safety on to prove that the safety will not wipe off, try carrying it for a couple of days in the same condition but with the safety off. He hammer will not fall unless you pull the trigger.

Don't carry a 1911 with the hammer down on a loaded chamber or with the hammer at "half cock". The latter was never designed to be a carry position but it was/is a secondary safety notch to catch the hammer if the full cock notche should fail.
 
You now, if the 1911's hammer was internal, we wouldnt have this problem. A cocked and locked 1911 looks like it ought to be unsafe to a lot of people.

Glocks (and I am not bashing them here, I luv em) have about the same trigger pull weight as a lot of 1911s, but since they have no hammer showing, people dont worry about having a round chambered as much. A 1911 has at least one, and maybe two, more safeties than a Glock, depending on what you think that thing on a Glocks trigger is.

All that being said, I carry 1911s and Glocks unchambered.
 
Cocked and locked or look for a different gun.You may also want to consider getting a descent leather or kydex holster and gun belt.While the Smartcarry is great for extreme concealment situations, I would not recommend it as your main method of carry.You would also probably feel safer carrying your 1911 in a holster specifically molded to the 1911.
 
1911 history tid bit.

John Browning's first 1911 design, that he submitted to the military, didn't possess the manual saftey today's gun have. Yes its true, John designed it with only and grip saftey and declared that was good enough. The Army, however were scared and had John add the thumb saftey. They early recruits were taught to carry their guns hammer down on an empty chamber. They would rack the slide if they needed the side arm.

If anyone wants more 1911 info check out the 1911 forum that's where I got the above info then backed it up with a little "history of the gun" on the History channel.

Cocked and locked is the best means of carry today.
 
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