1911 autohammer cock
Several years ago I met a gentleman that had a Kimber 1911 that I believe was in 10mm. He showed me something that I always thought was a good idea but never had seen before or since.
As I remember it, when the hammer was down in the safe mode, the slide safety was up and engaged. When he deactivated the slide safety the hammer automatically cocked and was ready to fire.
I cant remember if this was a factory thing or an aftermarket feature. Any ideas? I would like to have one of my 1911's fitted with this feature. thanks.
As I remember it, when the hammer was down in the safe mode, the slide safety was up and engaged. When he deactivated the slide safety the hammer automatically cocked and was ready to fire.
I cant remember if this was a factory thing or an aftermarket feature. Any ideas? I would like to have one of my 1911's fitted with this feature. thanks.
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There was a well known gunsmith in N.J. I know his first name was Austin but the last name was spelled weird something like Beleat He mad those units but were very limited on how many he made. It was a neat I talked to him there were some legal pat. issues 0 -
Austin Behlert I believe. Currently Cylinder&Slide produces their Safety Fast Shooting System...Brownell's carries the kit for gunsmith installation or DIY.
The pistol has an inertia style firing pin, with the hammer down the firing pin is still not in contact with the primer of the cartridge in the chamber. This is referring to the Colt designed 1911s,70 & 80 series.0 -
telohf,
First and most importantly, I want to stress safety. If your handgun is a 1911, 1911A1, or a series 70, the only safe way to carry it with the hammer down, is with an unloaded chamber. To do otherwise, provides the chance of a bump and fire. Even with the safety engaged. Even with the added safety features of the series 80 type guns, I still prefer cocked and locked over hammer down on a live chamber.
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The addition of extra small parts to an already successful handgun model, is in my opinion, a bad idea. You know if you wanted to eliminate the mainspring bottom plunger/pin retainer one could bend the mainspring bottom coil straight and cross the center and thus eliminate this part. The fewer unnecessary parts the fewer the possible malfunctions. tsr1965 is right. Cylinder&Slide has a kit available if you can stand the way the hammer looks. For better clarification, thumb safety. I think, I seen a rather interesting cut of the slide to allow the thumb safety to be engaged with the slide in the lock-back position and totally engaged when from the lock-back to chamber cycle. I believe it was done by Novac. 0 -
Maybe I am stupid...but if I am carrying any auto pistol...I feel perfectly safe by carrying with the chamber empty...and "racking" one in if needed...would appreciate any comments on this concept. Thanks!!! 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Michibay
Maybe I am stupid...but if I am carrying any auto pistol...I feel perfectly safe by carrying with the chamber empty...and "racking" one in if needed...would appreciate any comments on this concept. Thanks!!!
Run into the right perp, on the wrong day, and he will show you how perfectly safe you are while he is fixing your stupid at the same time.
Thats not quite like saying that you would carry double action revolver with the cylinder empty, but you would feel safe with a speed loader...but almost. When JMB designed the 1911, it was designed to be cocked and locked. Even a condition of any handgun accepted to the SOCOM unit, it has to have a mode in whiched it can be carried cocked and locked like the 1911.
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quote:Originally posted by tsr1965
telohf,
First and most importantly, I want to stress safety. If your handgun is a 1911, 1911A1, or a series 70, the only safe way to carry it with the hammer down, is with an unloaded chamber. To do otherwise, provides the chance of a bump and fire. Even with the safety engaged. Even with the added safety features of the series 80 type guns, I still prefer cocked and locked over hammer down on a live chamber.
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With the Safety Fast system the hammer is blocked from the firing pin, so it is just as safe as one cocked and locked.
When you engage the thumb safety it lowers the hammer. When you flick it off the hammer comes back in the fire position.0 -
To address these things:
-As mentioned, "hammer down" on a live round is not a safe way to carry many (though not all) ordinary 1911 pistols, because unless the gun in question has a trigger activated firing pin block safety in place dropping the gun this way could make it go off.
-The approved safe way to carry a 1911 pistol is "cocked and locked": Safety engaged, hammer cocked, live round in chamber. Carrying that way is perfectly safe. . .the gun will not go off unless you both disengage the manual safety and pull the trigger. Its arguably safer than a stock so-called "safe action" Glock, which has no external safety and comes out of the box with a light 5.5lb trigger, basically the same as a stock 1911!
-While I suppose there is nothing intrinsically wrong with converting a single-action 1911 pistol into what amounts to one with a decocking safety, its not clear what this does for you, except for provide the visual appearance of an uncocked gun!
When the safety is engaged, the gun won't fire. . .same as an "ordinary" 1911. When the safety is off, the gun WILL fire. . .same as an ordinary 1911!
Personally, I think I'd rather just start off with a gun designed from the ground up with a double-action/decocking type action. There are at least several such good systems available out there: Sig, CZ, Smith, Ruger, etc, and at least those will give me a double-action pull. . .something that arguably DOES provide extra safety, because it helps reduce the chance of a "startle" discharge, or other discharge if something were to get inside your trigger guard by mistake.
-Carrying hammer down with an empty chamber is colloquially known as "Israeli Carry". Without getting into all the historical details about how this came about, suffice it to say that current doctrine is that members of the Israeli police or military who are on duty and expecting trouble **DO NOT** carry this way. They carry live round in chamber, with either hammer down (if a DA gun) or safety engaged (if SA) just like everyone else.
Even assuming you practice a smooth draw and slide rack to the point where you can do it quickly and instinctively, you simply can't count on having both hands free when trouble comes. Pistol is supposed to be operable with one hand. . .that's one of its biggest advantages. IMO "Israeli Carry" is more of a historical artifact than a viable way of carrying a gun for most people.
-Again, in my opinion, you don't have to like/favor carrying "cocked and locked", but there are other alternatives to carrying with an empty chamber! Personally, I'm not a big fan of "cocked and locked" carry, myself. If you don't like carrying that way, I think the better alternative is to carry a gun with a traditional double-action, either a revolver, or a DA semi-auto.
With either a revolver or a traditional DA auto, if you feel like you need to, you can convert to an SA trigger pull just by manually cocking the hammer, which is analogous to flipping a manual safety.0 -
Originally posted by beantownshootah
To address these things:
-As mentioned, "hammer down" on a live round is not a safe way to carry many (though not all) ordinary 1911 pistols, because unless the gun in question has a trigger activated firing pin block safety in place dropping the gun this way could make it go off.
Hammer up or down would make no difference (UNLESS see in blue above)if approximately 20ft lbs of force can be generated to overcome the firing pin return spring and drive the pin forward beyond the breech face to strike the primer with enough force to have the round fire.
On the 1911 pistols without the fp block and the thumb safety on..cocked and locked...a sharp blow to the hammer can still shear the nose of the sear and allow the hammer to strike the firing pin and fire the round in the chamber. And no, the "half-cock" notch did not catch the sear and the bullet missed me by 5 feet.0 -
Glock has a external trigger safety. It is external. Glock has a firing pin block that is only deactivated by the trigger draw bar only after the trigger safety is deactivated. In the modern combat pistol concept inertia seems long forgotten. Most people I know don't replace their firing pin springs even when they should. The 80's series 1911 is known to have a real problem when the firing pin spring tires beyond that of the firing pin block. A firing pin is the most reliable when it has weight. A heavy slide with a 15lb recoil spring allowing for full slide travel is better than the same slide with a 22lb recoil spring. The point is, a slight tap of a mallet drives a nail only so far. Dropping the same from a greater distance and allowing the inertia to take effect can drive it home. Opinions vary like idealism but in the real world hammers can snag and bite. The Glock compresses the striker spring and snaps it home like a sling-shot utilizing both inertia and spring force in the most positive way unlike the 1911. There's only 3 things to be concerned with, for carry. 1.)Cambering(racking the slide) 2.)Pull trigger as needed. 3.) Reload. Just that simple. Why complicate a life or death situation? Please stop hating on Glock. They've done everything right as far as what a combat pistol should be to the extreme that "I can't believe it's plastic" well plastic seems cheap. You know the hole in the grip allows for the connecter to clean it's self, in most other pistols the junk grinds up the mainspring function. If you like the 1911 hammer kit, try it. Hammers are a + for the intimidation factor though. 0
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