Cocked & Locked: The Best Way to Carry a 1911
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One of the most heated arguments involving handguns is the proper carry method of the 1911 semi-automatic pistol, or any other single-action semi-auto. I’ve found that those who carry single-action pistols are relentless in their convictions, either adamantly for carrying them “cocked-and-locked" or carrying on an empty chamber.
What say ye...
What say ye...
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Texas Rangers get new Duty Guns: SIG SAUER P320
The Texas Department of Public Safety will acquire 4,000 SIG SAUER P320 pistols for service use throughout the TXDPS Highway Patrol and Texas Rangers.
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The Hi Power has a different trigger and connector design...apples and oranges. Birds can fly but that doesn't mean you should try it.
Do you walk around with a cocked revolver in your holster?
This topic should be influenced by the record of encounters where the defender will likely find himself. If we are talking about a civilian defender in the U.S., There are some clear consensus among CCW trainers. Because they've looked at large numbers of shootings for a given gadget and level of training/practice. Firearms and self-defense instructors seem largely to agree with this.
Only polished EXPERTS can accomplish changes to the condition of carry in that brief moment, that is, the draw to first hit. This is the moment when violent encounters are decided. So the live-or-die, outcome is decided in this moment and by this skill set MOST of the time. Carry on an empty chamber IF you are an EXPERT with polished skills and you have little option. EVERYONE else, condition ONE; cocked and locked.
And the new crop of youthful trainers doesn't recommend manipulating a safety either. But then they don't often carry 1911 anyway. Not all but nearly everyone that I see carries a variation of GLOCK type trigger. I was blessed to have a considerable number of hours being taught 1911, and it's hard to "unlearn" what has been so practiced. I would have to repeat those many hours of training to change. So for me, 1911 is a grooved, overlearned, myelinated skill set. My shortest path to best performance is sticking with this. People not so trained might benefit from the manual of arms available with the new wonder guns.
The Gunsite Ranch shows video after video of people trying to rack the slide and inducing a malfunction or taking enough time to lose a fight for survival. I recently saw videos of officers thinking their gun would go bang; and the bad guys gun went bang first. Gruesome results. I've carried in a country where carrying with an empty chamber was mandated (but fortunately not well enforced). Persons in that culture, though, are experts, practiced, and quite fast using that method.
In the USA, if a civilian defender; then cocked and locked on a charged chamber is adamantly, and unanimously recommended in the classes I've attended. And it looks to me that they have done their homework by reviewing the plethora of video recordings of violent encounters. I can't recall anyone recommending an empty chamber regardless of the type of gun. So check with your instructor and do what you feel is best to keep people safe from harm.
John Moses Browning ADDED grip safety to his finished design at the requirement of the US government. The grip safety appears to not be recommended by most instructors that I hear from.Texas Rangers get new Duty Guns: SIG SAUER P320
The Texas Department of Public Safety will acquire 4,000 SIG SAUER P320 pistols for service use throughout the TXDPS Highway Patrol and Texas Rangers.
I thought the grip safety was added so those still on horseback could reholster safer. I was taught the 7yd rule before the auto transition, get the belly out of the way in a speed rock with a revolver and a larger person could still cut/kill you if you didn't move and sucked at point shooting. Cocked and locked is just quicker and 10ths of a second matter when it comes to me liking to see my loved ones again.
You didn't. The Military/Ordnance Dept. requested the thumb safety back then and yes the 1911 was initially for mounted troops.
Ok thanks, thought Swift was answering my post. This old age sheet sucks relying on an old brain remembrance. What really sucks is I've had 2 pretty good head hits and one broke my skull, kind of sucks at times but sometimes I can't remember.....Oh,I'm back now. Here, hold my beer.....
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James, I wouldn't carry a 1911 with the thumb safety off, I was referring to the grip safety which the hi-power doesn't have. I personally don't think the grip safety is necessarily a good thing. My Kahr and my Sig229 don't have any safety at all, but they are double action for the first shot on the Sig and all double action for the Kahr. I have not disabled the grip safety on any of my 1911s, I don't see it as an issue one way or the other.
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So I know I am definitely in the minority here, but I plan on carrying my 1911 with a loaded magazine and empty chamber, uncocked.
I am completely new to the 1911. I have a coworker that has shot competitively for many years and has agreed to teach me how to handle my new gun safely. He asked today how I should carry and I confidently informed him of how I planned to carry with an empty chamber and was promptly informed that the correct way was locked and cooked with the TS on safe.
My conditions are a bit different from most here though.
I don't usually carry around town, it's when I am out in the hills quad riding, hiking and camping that I am carrying. Usually it's my Ruger .22 wheel gun in my front pants pocket, readily available should the need arise.
Until I get a proper holster for it I will carry it in my inside vest pocket. With all the jostling involved with quad riding I could easily knock the safety off accidentally in my pocket so for now it will be carried with an empty chamber, unlocked. If I need to shoot quickly my revolver will still be my go to gun.
This will probably change after I am properly trained in the use of the 1911 and get a good shoulder holster or chest rig for it, so I thought I had better voice my newbie plans now so I can look back on them later and laugh at my previous take on this subject.
Happy Trails!
: )B
I am completely new to the 1911. I have a coworker that has shot competitively for many years and has agreed to teach me how to handle my new gun safely. He asked today how I should carry and I confidently informed him of how I planned to carry with an empty chamber and was promptly informed that the correct way was locked and cooked with the TS on safe.
My conditions are a bit different from most here though.
I don't usually carry around town, it's when I am out in the hills quad riding, hiking and camping that I am carrying. Usually it's my Ruger .22 wheel gun in my front pants pocket, readily available should the need arise.
Until I get a proper holster for it I will carry it in my inside vest pocket. With all the jostling involved with quad riding I could easily knock the safety off accidentally in my pocket so for now it will be carried with an empty chamber, unlocked. If I need to shoot quickly my revolver will still be my go to gun.
This will probably change after I am properly trained in the use of the 1911 and get a good shoulder holster or chest rig for it, so I thought I had better voice my newbie plans now so I can look back on them later and laugh at my previous take on this subject.
Happy Trails!
: )B
Any firearm is better than no firearm, but…what are you plannng to do with a .22? Especially if you encounter a large animal? Depending on where you are located that 22 won’t faze a bear or large cat. as for two legged adversaries, it’s marginal at best. Not saying go with a 1911, as it could be too much Gun for you, but far better on larger game should the need arise.
I love .22 for practicing, introducing new shooters to pistol, and pest control up to about the squirrel-sized game. However, using a .22 for personal defense is limited to the effectiveness of a very long Hat-Pin. People will certainly die from .22 gunshot... but it can take a VERY long time. So they are not reliable for immediately changing the behavior of bad actors. .22 vs. .1911 reminds me of comparing a man with .30 carbine to an Abrahms Tank. The effectiveness of a 1911 doesn't lend itself to comparison to any .22. Speed, Power, and Accuracy are what will protect you on the worst day of your life.
Please do yourself a favor and go to a shooting school where the trainer employs 1911s on steel targets; when first I witnessed such a thing in person, my mouth hung open, and my eyeballs popped out. I had no idea what a man with 1911 was capable of. And I was changed at that moment, forever. This after carrying for work for over 20 years.
My revelation came at the Gunsite Ranch in the late '80s. But I remember it vividly due to the destructive drama that was beyond my imagination. And I was a security professional and an avid shooter; who was simply unaware of gunfight reality.
First learn, then decide.
best to you
Please do yourself a favor and go to a shooting school where the trainer employs 1911s on steel targets; when first I witnessed such a thing in person, my mouth hung open, and my eyeballs popped out. I had no idea what a man with 1911 was capable of. And I was changed at that moment, forever. This after carrying for work for over 20 years.
My revelation came at the Gunsite Ranch in the late '80s. But I remember it vividly due to the destructive drama that was beyond my imagination. And I was a security professional and an avid shooter; who was simply unaware of gunfight reality.
First learn, then decide.
best to you
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I just carry a pump action shotgun. One rack of the action and people scatter. Works great if an establishment has a really long line and I dont feel like waiting.
Definitely get the training you outlined and any other training you might require to learn the 1911 system. Until then leave it in the box. DO NOT LEARN a bunch of mythical **** THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO UNLEARN. This "double-mindedness" could very well defeat your CC and I've seen it get cops killed. Don't waste time postulating, wondering, imagining, and worrying. It's difficult to unlearn bad ****. And in THAT moment, you don't have any time to think, you will do what you have PREVIOUSLY learned and practiced. Keep that mental space blank until you fill it with the good stuff. Feel me?
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??
So you take the time to load the firearm when it's needed at t=0 ?
This thread is still going?
Best way, con-1.
If not con-1, then con-3 for a 1911. If con-3, then the practice mode changes a bit, because handling con-1 is way different than con-3.
K9EZ, not sure why my post was in that reply.
1911KID mentioned C3, that's also known as Israeli. Carrying a handgun as my primary weapon- after trying to diffuse the situation fails- C1 only (I have been C0 but I do not recommend it). C3 you need to add the time of racking the slide, and it's too much time. Up close like most defensive uses time is your enemy, you need to rocknroll on proprioception. In loose terms it's muscle memory and how martial arts are tought, you repeat a move until you're sick of it then you repeat with another move. Then you combine those 2 and the 1st is an automatic response, now you learn more....eventually a situation makes you automatically respond without thinking about it.
Practice with your gun that way safely, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Proprioception can take 1000 times to ingrained, but it becomes automatic. Do your draw, now include taking the safety off. When my muzzle starts rolling up the safety is off for anything up close and needing a response, if I'm in a cover situation I'm on the safety and it comes off plenty fast enough. In situation between those I taught my self a long time ago have the safety off on the roll up and fingernail is pressing on the inside of the trigger guard, it prevents an ND while under stress.
Once you become comfortable practicing add stress to find any flaws in your technique.
1911KID mentioned C3, that's also known as Israeli. Carrying a handgun as my primary weapon- after trying to diffuse the situation fails- C1 only (I have been C0 but I do not recommend it). C3 you need to add the time of racking the slide, and it's too much time. Up close like most defensive uses time is your enemy, you need to rocknroll on proprioception. In loose terms it's muscle memory and how martial arts are tought, you repeat a move until you're sick of it then you repeat with another move. Then you combine those 2 and the 1st is an automatic response, now you learn more....eventually a situation makes you automatically respond without thinking about it.
Practice with your gun that way safely, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Proprioception can take 1000 times to ingrained, but it becomes automatic. Do your draw, now include taking the safety off. When my muzzle starts rolling up the safety is off for anything up close and needing a response, if I'm in a cover situation I'm on the safety and it comes off plenty fast enough. In situation between those I taught my self a long time ago have the safety off on the roll up and fingernail is pressing on the inside of the trigger guard, it prevents an ND while under stress.
Once you become comfortable practicing add stress to find any flaws in your technique.
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