Posted: 5/12/2009 1:16:41 PM EDT
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I have had 1911's for a few years now, love them and they will always be my favorite.
I have a question though that I can't seem to think of a reasonable answer to: why do 1911 hammers have checkering on them? As a single action pistol, I have no reason to ever cock the hammer manually, the slide always does that for you. Its not like you would chamber a round, then drop the hammer down and carry it that way. Its always "Cocked and Locked" am I right? You'd never have to pull the hammer back on chambered 1911, so what gives with the checkering? Just tradition? Just for show? what gives? |
| I know in the military there are times that we manually cock our pistols depending on what we are doing with shooting drills and qualifications. I have never shot the 1911 in the Marine Corps so I dont know how much of it is tradition but I do like to play with my hammer from time to time when I am handling my guns. The serrations give a more positive control when doing that. |
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Just curious, why do you carry that way? how do you safely drop the hammer? Hard to do with a larger beavertail grip safety.
ETA: not trying to be critical here, just trying to get an idea of how others carry. I have always carried with the hammer cocked and the safety locked. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Its not like you would chamber a round, then drop the hammer down and carry it that way. Really?  Odd, that's exactly how *I* carry my 1911s...................... Not flaming or anything. But why would you do this. I see manually dropping the hammer as the only way to have a ND with a 1911 style pistol. |
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Aside from the ND concern, why would you do that? What possible reason is there to drop the hammer on a chambered 1911?
This is like the Isreali's carrying a firearm with no round in the chamber. Here, wait...let me chamber a round real quick - ok, now I'm ready to fight... |
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aids in double strike capability? What is this? FTF, bad primer it gives you a second chance to pull the hammer back and then hit it again in hopes that it will go bang. Does anyone in the military still train that way, or is the solution always tap-rack-bang now? |
1911 hammers were made back in the day where condition 2 was a preferred method of carry. This remained a popular option decades later until time had confirmed that 1911s were utterly reliable and safe in condition 1 and condition 2 fell out of favor with everybody except 1911 newbies and Bobcole.  Today the serrations or checkering remain out of tradition more than anything.
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| I have a holster that I ordered from Cabela's years ago that I wear when I go hunting. It's an old time-looking one that the strap will only close unless the hammer is down. I don't carry the pistol cocked while hunting anyway since my primary is at the ready,so... |
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Just curious, why do you carry that way? how do you safely drop the hammer? Hard to do with a larger beavertail grip safety. I carry that way simply because it's what *I* prefer. No real logical reason behind it other than perhaps I cut my teeth on a SA .22 wheel gun & became attuned to cocking the hammer as a practice/reflex. As for "how do you drop the hammer?", I simply firmly grasp the hammer & make sure my index finger in between the hammer & the frame when I pull the trigger & then GENTLY manually lower the hammer. Beavertail safety has proven to be absolutely no issue with me, FWIW. |
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Not flaming or anything. But why would you do this. I see manually dropping the hammer as the only way to have a ND with a 1911 style pistol. I do this because I want to.
I also don't have ND's as I pay attention to WTF I'm doing when I do that. I don't do it when I'm watching tv, on the phone or otherwise screwing around. Guns are GD dangerous & I give them the respect they most certainly deserve. It also doesn't hurt that I have thousands of rds fired in IPSC matches, IMO. |
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Aside from the ND concern, why would you do that? What possible reason is there to drop the hammer on a chambered 1911? This is like the Isreali's carrying a firearm with no round in the chamber. A) I do it because that's how *I* wish to carry. No, it's certainly not for everyone/anyone to do. B) No, it's not even remotely the same, sir. 
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This remained a popular option decades later until time had confirmed that 1911s were utterly reliable and safe in condition 1 and condition 2 fell out of favor with everybody except 1911 newbies and Bobcole. Welcome back! 
You still carrying that 2" 1911? 
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Although probably not the original intent, pre-cocking the hammer makes it easier to rack the slide for the weaker folks too. On a 1911, it's not suggested one cocks the hammer without racking the slide. Doing so doesn't allow the disconnector to do its job & this can ruin (eventually) a nice 1911 trigger. On a semi w/o a disconnector, it's probably no big deal, IMO. Pulpsmack can chime in on this as well.................... |
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As has been stated, manually cocking the hammer is not the wisest thing to do if you have a precise trigger setup. One advantage of having an external hammer is that you can do so, though, should a primer fail to go off the first time around. Around 90% of the time a second strike will work, so being able to accomplish this is far better and faster than manually ejecting the round.
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Its not like you would chamber a round, then drop the hammer down and carry it that way. Really?
Odd, that's exactly how *I* carry my 1911s...................... Not flaming or anything. But why would you do this. I see manually dropping the hammer as the only way to have a ND with a 1911 style pistol. this, IMO dropping hammer = bad idea |
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Since this is my thread, I think I will sum it up for everyone, then all can move on with their lives.
1. 1911's kick ass. 2. Glocks are plastic hand grenades. 3. 99.99% of the population seem to agree that 1911's should be carried in condition 1. 4. 00.01% of the population think that dropping the hammer on a chambered 1911 is the way to go. 5. 1911's have hammer serrations mostly out of tradition and for the possible need for a double strike. 6. Hammer serrations are also handy for limp-wristed folks who need to just buy a glock. Nothing more to see here, move along folks. 
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Just curious, why do you carry that way? how do you safely drop the hammer? Hard to do with a larger beavertail grip safety. ETA: not trying to be critical here, just trying to get an idea of how others carry. I have always carried with the hammer cocked and the safety locked. If you have a Springfield it actually tells you in the owner's manual to use one hand to pull the trigger while the other grips the hammer in order to slowly guide it down. That is how you safely drop the hammer. |
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Just curious, why do you carry that way? how do you safely drop the hammer? Hard to do with a larger beavertail grip safety. ETA: not trying to be critical here, just trying to get an idea of how others carry. I have always carried with the hammer cocked and the safety locked. If you have a Springfield it actually tells you in the owner's manual to use one hand to pull the trigger while the other grips the hammer in order to slowly guide it down. That is how you safely drop the hammer. It's not hard to "safely" drop the hammer...it's just dangerous if you goof up... and we all goof up once in awhile... |
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Although probably not the original intent, pre-cocking the hammer makes it easier to rack the slide for the weaker folks too. On a 1911, it's not suggested one cocks the hammer without racking the slide. Doing so doesn't allow the disconnector to do its job & this can ruin (eventually) a nice 1911 trigger. On a semi w/o a disconnector, it's probably no big deal, IMO. Pulpsmack can chime in on this as well.................... How many times do you have to do this before it ruins a trigger? I do this, or used to now that I know this, when ever I would practice dry firing. |