I have very limited use of 1911’s over the years. Never taken a class with one. Owned a couple, never fired them much. Definitely under 2k rds in decades of shooting. Obviously never carried one.
But sometimes i take interest. The other day i was handling a few at a store. With a smooth, OG style grip safety when i took a two-hand grip, strong thumb on top of the safety, i was NOT depressing the grip safety enough. No hammer drop. (Right handed)
If i moved my thumb left to rest on my support thumb, no problem.
I tried a gun with a very large button / raised grip safety and i was depressing that with thumb on safety grip about 3/4 of the time.
That tells me that firing a 1911 would require me to change how i hold the pistol compared to my other handguns.
It also seemed like this would not be an issue at all firing one-handed, which was certainly the doctrine taught in the early 20th century.
No?
No question the 1911 greatly predates modern pistol techniques. I never used to have any problem with it (when I was a 1911 booger eater), but I didn’t know crap about aggressive pistol shooting and recoil control.
I used to hold the pistol with my firing hand’s thumb down like I’d just swept the safety off and simply cup my support hand around that grip. Worked ok, but now that I’m shooting a lot more aggressively, the modern thumbs up grip is way better.
A lot of guys will pin the Grip Safety to prevent this. And you can tune the engagement of the grip safety too.
Remember, Browning designed the 1911 to replace the SAA. It’s a cavalryman’s pistol designed to be fired from the back of a charging warhorse. (WTF, autocorrect?!)
Speaking for myself as a southpaw using trigger finger to work slide release and mag catch, the only thing I need for a One Hand 1911 is an ambi safety. Reverse the ejection would be nice, but that’s just expensive luxury.
We had a buddy show up Sunday who shoots with us once per year or so. He had some single stack 1911 in 45. I popped off a “clips” worth of ammo. Pretty fun to drive a classic car every so often.
My Corn pone understanding is that at the time of the design the Army was still Horseback and transitioning or trying to transition to a more mechanical means of transport.
The massive amount of safeties is more related to the relaibility of Horses than the relaibility of their riders. You certainly didn’t want to accidently shoot your Horse in the back of the head druing a full gallop gunfight.
A lot of old timers used to tie off the grip safety.
I’ve got a fancy BBQ 1911 in my safe, fun gun and reliable and the grip safety is tied back.
I started with 1911s and took courses, competed etc with a 1911 for a decade, so I apply that high, thumb over safety, etc grip to all pistols, and so wouldn’t notice/experience what you did. My transition from 1911 to modern double stack plastic wonder pistols was when the M&P came out, which had 1911 ergos and 1911 ish safety, and with an Apex trigger job, and no grip safety, a great pistol for someone who was so used to 1911s. One handed shooting is just practice and reproducing that same high grip from the draw that disconnects the grip safety. I can say in all that time, I never had a gun fail to go bang due to the grip safety failing to disengage. It’s interesting to note that the new hybrid 1911 based pistols, which are double stack 9mm with 1911 pattern designs, like the Wilson SFX9, SFT9, various 2011’s, etc, don’t have grip safeties. It’s also interesting to note original Browning design didn’t have a grip safety and he added it at the request of the Army for “reasons.”
Well I think the grip safety thing was almost certainly for Horse Back.
Perhaps the last thing before pulling the trigger while on Horseback was a strong squeeze of the grip and then a squeeze of the trigger.
Shooting a pistol off of the back of a Horse requires that you be able to safely drop the pistol ( with lanyard) and grab both reigns at any time that 1600 lbs of animal decides it doesn’t like being shot at or someone shooting from it’s back.
I know it is awfully romantic to think of the Cavalry Charge and all that smoke an fire, but in actuality the one Guy who lived through the entore demise of the 7th Cavalry with Custer had a Lame Horse suddenly turn in to a Triple Crown Winner when it’s flank was skimmed by an Indian Bullet.
That Horse left and with two bullets in him, he couldn’t stop it.
I started shooting 1911s over 40 years ago. I’ve never had one fail to disengage bump or no bump. Now i do have meaty paws. I was shooting with an instructor who can shoot anything and commented he had to focus to disengage the safety. I noticed he had no extra flesh in his palms. So maybe hand shape and how much flesh in the palm is why?
i use thumb over safety and never noticed a negative when using that for other guns (M&P, Walther, Glock, etc.). Early on, before I rode the safety, I did catch myself bumping the safety on when shooting a string. Lesson learned.
Usually an original style grip safety isn’t too hard to trip. Beavertails that allow a higher grip are a different story which is why most types have at least on option of a built up pad at the bottom of the grip safety to ensure it gets pressed in enough.
All(almost all) require fitting and can be cut down to the point of requiring a minimal amount of engagement to clear the trigger all the way to totally eliminating any trigger blocking.
I honestly can’t recall ever having an issue with the grip safety on any 1911. Of course, that is the pistol I cut my teeth on. Started shooting Dad’s as a kid. Been running 1911’s for damn near 50 years.
I can’t picture how it could be that you are having an issue (not that I am doubting you). It’s just second nature for me, I don’t even think about it. Maybe a 1911 shooter could spot the problem if they watched in person. They might be able to spot where the issue is with your grip.
Another point of context, the 1911 was designed for small hands in riding gloves - horse cavalrymen could be no taller than 5’6” and no more than 120lb because that was the biggest man a cavalry horse could have mounted and still carry all the gear.
Get your mind out of the gutter… I didn’t even get as far as a kiss goodbye when we broke up. But yeah, since a few of her posse were Cowboy Action shooters and/or Civil War cavalry reenactors they passed along a few things about the needs of combat on horseback. Most medieval European knights were pipsqueaks by today’s standards… even the biggest horse there is can only support so much man and armor, and platemail is DAMN heavy.
Curious as to what make and model. I have no problems with mine with my thump riding the safety. The grip safety may be fubar, or your hand/grip not fitting the gun.
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But yeah, since a few of her posse were Cowboy Action shooters and/or Civil War cavalry reenactors they passed along a few things about the needs of combat on horseback. Most medieval European knights were pipsqueaks by today’s standards… even the biggest horse there is can only support so much man and armor, and platemail is DAMN heavy.