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Posted: 8/9/2018 7:45:49 PM EDT
[#1]
from a safety standpoint, I don't honestly care either way what people do with their grip safeties.
I had a customer once that was very picky about grip safeties on 1911s. He wouldn't pin them, but they needed to be 'fitted' so that it disengaged extremely early in its travel. I personally, despite baby hands, have never had a problem with the grip safety so it's never crossed my mind to pin it. |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 7:47:00 PM EDT
[#2]
I don't pin mine. I've never experienced a problem with the grip safety not being depressed. I don't even have to think about disengaging it.
You can actually alter the amount of movement required to disengage it, if you're having a problem, but in 7 years of retail gunsmithing, I never had anyone complain about that. |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 7:50:12 PM EDT
[#3]
I've never really noticed or even thought about the grip safety on mine. It just works and has never given me problems.
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Posted: 8/9/2018 8:00:24 PM EDT
[#4]
I did not defeat the grip safeties, even on my competition pistols... the Ed Brown grip safety with the memory grooves was most often installed on the single stacks, and was never a problem in around 250,000 rounds... the fatter grip of the Para required a blob of Devcon stainless putty
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:45:17 PM EDT
[#5]
My older brother used to pin all of his. I've given it some thought to. Must just be to cheap
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:51:45 PM EDT
[#6]
I'd only consider pinning the safety if I'd had failures from it failing to disengage during training, and even then, I'd look at other options first. The "memory hump" style for instance.
I love 1911's as machinery/tools, but think there are better options for daily carry these days. |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:58:59 PM EDT
[#7]
None of mine are pinned. Never had a problem. I could see it maybe being a problem on a GI style gun with arched msh and GI grip safety. That's probably why it was an issue in the '70s when that's what guys were running. Any purpose built 1911 today has a flat msh and the hump, whatever you wanna call it, on the grip safety.
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Posted: 8/9/2018 10:01:46 PM EDT
[#8]
None of mine are pinned, but if there was no flat MSH they all would be.
It's your hands OP. If you have problems getting on the grip safety, pin it. |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 10:50:05 PM EDT
[#9]
I've had grip safeties fail a couple times. Or should I say I failed to disengage them. I have a very high grip that seemed to cause it.
I've since made sure my grip safeties are disengaged with minimal travel. No issues since. I have no problems with pinned safeties if that's your thing. I'd rather capture it with rawhide though 
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Posted: 8/9/2018 11:53:00 PM EDT
[#10]
The idea of pinning the grip safety came from the (obviously rare) possibility of being forced to use the pistol with an injured hand or from an awkward hold.
I don't think there was much concern at all about mechanical failure of the grip safety at a crucial time; just the opposite: the grip safety working when you didn't want it to. I definitely think it's the minority opinion now. (I'm still doing it) |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 12:41:39 AM EDT
[#11]
Never been an issue for me, so I’ve never thought of pinning them. Any chance it could open you up to liability in a defensive shooting?
A good shoot should be a good shoot and all but I think my department (which does allow series 80 1911’s for off duty carry) wouldn’t be to happy if I pinned my grip safety. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 1:53:43 AM EDT
[#12]
If you pin your grip safety I don't think there is any reasonable way that could count against you in a defensive shooting.
Obviously a negligent discharge would be a different story. I'm putting a Cylinder&Slide SFS on this build. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 4:24:26 AM EDT
[#13]
I assume the pin gos through the frame? Why would you F up your frame like that? Just grind off the part inside that blocks the trigger. Even buy a cheap safety if you think you may want to restore it to original again.
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:22:56 AM EDT
[#14]
The pin goes into a small hole on the mainspring housing. It points straight up, and extends about 0.25"
The grip safety is engaged properly, and where the pin from the mainspring housing hits the grip safety is marked and drilled. The mainspring housing is slid into place and the pin keeps the grip safety depressed. Normal function is returned by removing the pin from the mainspring housing and reassembling the pistol. It's very clean and simple while still robust. Just like Ginger was. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:57:05 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I don't pin mine. I've never experienced a problem with the grip safety not being depressed. I don't even have to think about disengaging it. You can actually alter the amount of movement required to disengage it, if you're having a problem, but in 7 years of retail gunsmithing, I never had anyone complain about that. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 8:06:27 AM EDT
[#16]
Quoted:
Okay, so I'm going to date myself here. I got into 1911 pistols back in the 1970's from reading Jeff Cooper as a teen. Got away from 1911 pistols in the 90's as lighter auto-loading pistols came along, but now I'm building a polymer grip frame/aluminum receiver Commander. All of the 1911's that I have (that are intended for carry/self-defense) have the grip safety pinned. Opposite of many, the one I have for range use only has a functional grip safety. As I read more contemporary articles on the 1911 I see that pinning the grip safety has lost the popularity it once had (and to be clear I will pin the grip safety on my new build). Who's pro-pin and anti-pin? I'm hoping this doesn't stir some sh*t, and that's not why I posted. My opinion appears to be dated. I still think Ginger was hot (Gilligan's Island). I think we're missing the most important part though... what did you get to build a polymer frame!!!!???!!! I want an 80% kit to do a CCO sized gun but have no idea where to start. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 11:14:32 AM EDT
[#17]
I agree pinning ( or even crudely taped or tied down) was somewhat popular in the days prior to “modern” beaver tails with extra metal at the base to ease disengagement. I have never had issue with the GI profile grip safety, but some do.
If I was building from scratch, I think it was Novak that makes something called “the answer” which is a solid backstrap that completely eliminates the grip safety, and that is what I would use |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 12:19:31 PM EDT
[#18]
Never done it. Don’t know anyone that has done it. Don’t see the point. Never been an issue in shooting 1911s for forty years.
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Posted: 8/10/2018 12:42:33 PM EDT
[#19]
I ran a stock Wilson Combat grip safety on my Caspian for twenty + years. After last year's training at Gunsite, they taught to have the thumb on the safety, keeping it down in case of rough handling/ etc. That slight change of grip angle would sometimes not disengage the grip safety.
I had Robar swap it out with a Wilson that had a bump, and it's been 100% again. Wouldn't defeating a safety be a lawyers' wet dream if the piece were used defensively? |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 1:21:39 PM EDT
[#20]
I'm having the grip safety pinned on mine. If I get a modern high grip with thumb over the safety, I only deactivate the grip safety about 50% of the time. Not willing to give up leverage get a less effective grip, so I'm having it pinned.
But, I have big stupid hands. I shoot gen 4&5 glocks with the beavertail backstraps and still get slide bite. I can't even shoot one without. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 6:41:55 PM EDT
[#21]
The pistol I'm building uses a Limited 10 (L10) aluminum frame, fitted into an STI polymer grip frame (single stack).
The metallic "receiver" is only about 1 inch tall, and consists of the dust cover, rails, and where the safety/hammer/slide release attach. STI quit making the single stack grip frames, so this will have to hold me for awhile. Cooper used to refer to these type of pistols as "shoot a little, carry a lot". My goal is to make it as light as I can. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 6:58:35 PM EDT
[#22]
I don't pin grip safeties unless someone asks me to, usually for competition. There are a few ways to do it, the pin holes in the GS and MSH being a good one that doesn't modify the frame.
My newest Limited gun has a pinned (actually, designed nonfunctional) grip safety. On a carry 1911, if I had a problem disengaging a grip safety regularly, I would fix that problem with a speed bump safety and sensitized disengagement. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:22:27 PM EDT
[#23]
There used to somebody who made an integrated grip safety / main spring housing, that the safety didn't move or function, one piece. I thought it was pachmayr, but I can't find anything on Google. Anybody know who it was?
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:24:04 PM EDT
[#24]
I don't pin mine.
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:47:07 PM EDT
[#25]
File em inactive. Pretty much every time.
USPSA competition with my 1911 has shown me that my hands are such that I do not depress the grip safety frequently in inopportune moments. Need for a grip safety is marginal. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:56:07 PM EDT
[#26]
I started shooting 1911A1's on the Battalion Combat Pistol Team in 1978. I bought my first one later than year (fell in love with the big old ugly things, what can I say - what else can you shake so hard it rattles like a metal coffee can full of nuts and bolts but will feed/fire and knock down the pop ups at 50 meters all day long?)
I've carried them as a LEO, carried them off duty, carried them riding ATVs and carried them as my EDC concealed. Never had an issue with the grip safety. None of mine are pinned, nor will they be as long as they're mine. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 8:15:10 PM EDT
[#27]
I absolutely do not understand why any thinking human being would even consider disabling a simple, effective safety mechanism that literally requires zero thought and training to operate.
 It's as unobtrusive a safety feature as anything I can imagine. I've never once heard of one that malfunctioned and kept the weapon from firing when it was time to fire it. Let me guess...you don't wear your safety belt, either, since in a tiny fraction of serious auto accidents, it would be better to be thrown clear of the vehicle than to remain trapped inside. 
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Posted: 8/10/2018 8:18:12 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There used to somebody who made an integrated grip safety / main spring housing, that the safety didn't move or function, one piece. I thought it was pachmayr, but I can't find anything on Google. Anybody know who it was? They were pricey, IIRC. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 8:18:58 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I absolutely do not understand why any thinking human being would even consider disabling a simple, effective safety mechanism that literally requires zero thought and training to operate. It's as unobtrusive a safety feature as anything I can imagine. I've never once heard of one that malfunctioned and kept the weapon from firing when it was time to fire it. Let me guess...you don't wear your safety belt, either, since in a tiny fraction of serious auto accidents, it would be better to be thrown clear of the vehicle than to remain trapped inside. Avatar checks out. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 9:17:39 PM EDT
[#30]
Did I say anything that was untrue?
If you pin your grip safety...WHY? What's the point? And do you have the slightest shred of hard evidence to support the notion that it actually presents any benefit to you to do that? |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 9:30:37 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The idea of pinning the grip safety came from the (obviously rare) possibility of being forced to use the pistol with an injured hand or from an awkward hold. I don't think there was much concern at all about mechanical failure of the grip safety at a crucial time; just the opposite: the grip safety working when you didn't want it to. I definitely think it's the minority opinion now. (I'm still doing it) |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:08:29 PM EDT
[#32]
Yep, that was the potential scenario that disabling the grip safety was meant to avoid.
I don't need the grip safety to keep the weapon safe as long as I have a properly installed (high quality) thumb safety. If I don't need it, then why have it? And I have encountered professionals who've had to shoot with an injured hand (but to be honest none were shooting the 1911). |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:12:09 PM EDT
[#33]
That's disabling a safety feature for the most remote of all scenarios.
Might as well cut your seat belts out of your car and remove the doors, too, while you're at it. Oh, and remove the air bag, too, because it might break your glasses and cause eye damage or blunt impact trauma causing retinal detachment or concussion. I consider all of those scenarios to be silly and pointless. Just because one in a hundred million events might justify it...doesn't justify it by any RATIONAL analysis. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:14:13 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There used to somebody who made an integrated grip safety / main spring housing, that the safety didn't move or function, one piece. I thought it was pachmayr, but I can't find anything on Google. Anybody know who it was? It was mighty expensive for what it was, which doomed it, IMO. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:46:27 PM EDT
[#35]
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:49:37 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I absolutely do not understand why any thinking human being would even consider disabling a simple, effective safety mechanism that literally requires zero thought and training to operate. It's as unobtrusive a safety feature as anything I can imagine. I've never once heard of one that malfunctioned and kept the weapon from firing when it was time to fire it. Let me guess...you don't wear your safety belt, either, since in a tiny fraction of serious auto accidents, it would be better to be thrown clear of the vehicle than to remain trapped inside. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 10:51:48 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
That's disabling a safety feature for the most remote of all scenarios. Might as well cut your seat belts out of your car and remove the doors, too, while you're at it. Oh, and remove the air bag, too, because it might break your glasses and cause eye damage or blunt impact trauma causing retinal detachment or concussion. I consider all of those scenarios to be silly and pointless. Just because one in a hundred million events might justify it...doesn't justify it by any RATIONAL analysis. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 11:08:22 PM EDT
[#38]
Inner tube 1"
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Posted: 8/10/2018 11:11:27 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
That's disabling a safety feature for the most remote of all scenarios. Might as well cut your seat belts out of your car and remove the doors, too, while you're at it. Oh, and remove the air bag, too, because it might break your glasses and cause eye damage or blunt impact trauma causing retinal detachment or concussion. I consider all of those scenarios to be silly and pointless. Just because one in a hundred million events might justify it...doesn't justify it by any RATIONAL analysis. You are wrong. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 11:37:22 PM EDT
[#40]
No, I'm not wrong. And if your grip safety is not being reliably depressed in a shooting grip, then a gunsmith needs to fix what's wrong with the grip safety, not disable it.
This isn't something really stupid like a magazine disconnector safety. I can easily understand disabling THAT stupidity. But a grip safety should be completely reliable and if it's not, there's something wrong with it that needs fixing. Do you at least agree that if the grip safety works as intended 100.000000 percent of the time, and your shooting grip always engages it properly, that there'd be no need whatsoever to pin or disable it? If anything, I think a 1911 grip safety should have a little more swell to it so that its engagement is even more positive. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 2:08:38 AM EDT
[#41]
Anybody pin their thumb safety, or file it so it doesn't function?
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Posted: 8/11/2018 2:18:50 AM EDT
[#42]
I honestly didn't know pinning the grip safety was even a thing.
I don't see how the grip safety would fail to activate. It's never been an issue on any of my 1911s. I don't even think about it. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 9:28:36 AM EDT
[#43]
I defeated the grip safeties on my competition guns, though I didn't actually pin them. Just cut up a shock buff to sit on top of the MSH and hold the grip safety down. I did it just to see if I liked it enough to go through the trouble of pinning. Never bothered to do anything more permanent.
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Posted: 8/11/2018 4:34:31 PM EDT
[#44]
I agree. I think it’s stupid too. Just my opinion.
The guys saying they disable it for competition doesn’t make sense to me either. Unless they are just shooting club level little get together matches.... The last few major matches I’ve shot have required equipment checks where they also safety checked the competitors guns. As far as I can remember disabling a safety is a big rule violation and would get you DQ’d in a hurry! Safeties fail so why take one away? Grip and thumb safeties in 1911’s don’t work together sooo without the grip safety you could potentially have an AD. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 4:50:40 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I ran a stock Wilson Combat grip safety on my Caspian for twenty + years. After last year's training at Gunsite, they taught to have the thumb on the safety, keeping it down in case of rough handling/ etc. That slight change of grip angle would sometimes not disengage the grip safety. I had Robar swap it out with a Wilson that had a bump, and it's been 100% again. Wouldn't defeating a safety be a lawyers' wet dream if the piece were used defensively? I had the same problem, but I use a really high grip. Particularly after a long repetitive course. Tuned it a bit and no problems since. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 5:23:24 PM EDT
[#46]
MAYBE I could understand pinning the safety on a competition gun. I get the idea that simplicity contributes to reliability and a competition shooting environment is a special case.
But I do believe that you'd be a fool to do that to your everyday carry piece. If it came down to using it, can you just imagine the field day the hostile attorney would have with you if he got a chance to point out the fact that you'd disabled a SAFETY FEATURE on a gun that was used in an incident in which someone got shot? Regardless whether it was intentional or negligent...but if it was negligent, well, that'd be your ass! In competition I don't think that'd be much of an issue. Besides, if you don't have all firearms safety rules drilled into your head at the basic instinct level, you have no business shooting competitively. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 5:32:36 PM EDT
[#47]
Which brings us to the often maligned grip safety.
The grip safety was and is a drop safety…not a carry safety…made necessary by the heavy steel sliding trigger. It was discovered that should the pistol be dropped from the average height of a mounted trooper, it was highly likely that it would land muzzle up, and the mass of the trigger was often enough to roll the sear out of the hammer hooks far enough and for enough time to miss the half cock notch…resulting in a discharge directed upward at the horse or the rider…or other horses and riders in the immediate vicinity. They weren’t at all concerned with muzzle down discharges because if it happened on natural ground, the bullet would go harmlessly into the dirt, and if it happened on hard pavement, the bullet would stop the instant it struck the pavement. Muzzle up discharges worried them…and thus the reason for the grip safety. 
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Posted: 8/11/2018 7:17:23 PM EDT
[#48]
In the very few cases (and I mean very few) where the customized features of a pistol were at issue in a shooting involved scenarios where the decision to pull the trigger was the main question.
The "hair trigger" issue comes up when the jury is told that "Bob Smith" didn't mean to shoot "Tom Jones", but the trigger was so light that he had a ND from being nervous. It's never an issue in a righteous shooting. As for discharge of the pistol from dropping it (even from the height of mounted on a horse), the series 80 resolved that by adding the firing pin stop. I'd stipulate that pinning the grip safety is only meant for shooters intimately familiar with the 1911. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 7:28:35 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I agree. I think it’s stupid too. Just my opinion. The guys saying they disable it for competition doesn’t make sense to me either. Unless they are just shooting club level little get together matches.... The last few major matches I’ve shot have required equipment checks where they also safety checked the competitors guns. As far as I can remember disabling a safety is a big rule violation and would get you DQ’d in a hurry! Safeties fail so why take one away? Grip and thumb safeties in 1911’s don’t work together sooo without the grip safety you could potentially have an AD. For me it has less to do with deactivating the safety and more to do with immobilizing it. I just prefer for nothing to move when I'm drawing the gun. YMMV. |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 7:44:39 PM EDT
[#50]
Never even considered pinning the grip safety. I carried a 1911 for a while and didnt feel the need
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