Zero is,
Round in the chamber, hammer cocked, safety off.
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IIRC condition TWO was reserved for revolvers. Full cylinder, Hammer down. I became a USN SAMI in 1993 and there was NEVER EVER a time when putting a 1911 into half cock with a round in the chamber was accepted. My FIL who made Chief two days after I was born SWORE by the half cock carry principle but could never give me a good reason why except most of the 1911’s he carried would fall to “Off Safe” due to gravity because they were so worn. On my first submarine I was put in charge of evaluating the boat’s small arms locker 3/4 of the 1911’s were physically UNSAFE to carry. With tears in my eyes I sent back, Remington Rand’s, Singer’s and Colt’s worth thousands in 1985 to Crane Armory to be overhauled or destroyed.
There is no condition Zero. It means you are about to be in or are already in a gun fight and who ever you are aiming at is 2.5 - 7 lbs from a bad day.
Cheers,
Craig6
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I love “cocked and locked”.
I’ve bought CZ P-01 Omega (great for lefties) recently, which can be setup with decocker or safety.
Decocker may works fine, but the gun shoots better for me with safety lever… probably because of my 1911 habit and no long DA pull existence.
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Primarily those who simply aren’t familiar with the 1911 at all and certainly that freak out factor is much higher with those who don’t carry at all who are already prone to freaking out at the mere sight of a firearm.
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My full frame was printing just a bit I guess in the restaurant today, because I was really taking the eyeball from one lady. She never said anything, and as usual I just ignored her. My daughter and I enjoyed our meal.
It was my altered condition one. Not a 1911, it was chambered and half cocked. The DA first pull is a good addition on that one I believe. It will DA fire from half cock. With a 1911 I usually carry typical condition one.
I figured our California member mentioned carrying condition 0 because the location prevented carrying…0.
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Dang it! Sorry about that, @Nancy! I was at a Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Instructor training all weekend and had terrible reception. I only skimmed the blog post before sharing it and missed that it didn’t describe all of the conditions.
Thanks for the assist, @45IPAC!
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@Dawn, no problem, I pretty much had it figured out already anyway. I just needed verification. I’m reading a book about the 1911 now, too, and it describes some of the conditions, I’m finding out. So I would have gotten the info somewhere. I appreciate you posting the article – I learned from it. All learning is good, as far as I’m concerned…
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Is there another way to carry a 1911 other than cocked and locked? If its not cocked and locked you really shouldn’t use it for Ccw , you are at a disadvantage otherwise.
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^Not with a round chambered, not safely anyhow.
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that’s fine for the range but I would be the last one to pull my gun out and the bad guy already has his , racking that round would be the las thing I would do. that gun has a grip safety and a manual frame safety and your finger safety , a revolver has your finger , a Glock has your finger and that doohickey on the trigger , my last count shows a. 1911 a. 3 safeties and two more than a revolver , I agree if you are on the range no problem , Ive carried this way for 21 years and happy to say all is safe , to each his own comfort wise , Im glad you carry and you are in the USCCA. Its always good to have friends , stay safe.
sincerely yours Mark
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Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not recommending it I’m merely answering the question.
There is only one safe way to carry a 1911 with a round in the chamber and that’s locked and cocked.
The only other safe way is to carry it without a round chambered.
There’s just not any other options that are safe.
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It’s no different than caring a chambered XDm-9
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I carry a Ruger LW Cmd.I keep it cocked and locked.Any other way could get you hurt.If you carry concieled,no one should see.
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a gun by its nature should be dangerous and is meant to kill ,when you have bullets in a gun it is dangerous. An unloaded gun is always deemed loaded and dangerous until proven otherwise and despite that you shouldn’t point an unloaded gun at anything you dont want to destroy. Every gun has it inherent characteristics which each one of us has to evaluate before purchasing training and carrying a weapon. you may feel safer with a six shooter with the hammer on an empty chamber or a fully unloaded gun with a magazine ready to insert or a fully loaded gun ready to do the job it was intended to do in the loaded position its inventor designed it to be in for the purposes of which it was designed. to each his own and your comfort level is very important. I carried my 1911 with a fully loaded mag with nothing in the chamber for a year and after much though decided that I did not want to put myself in anymore of a disadvantage than I had to . Believe me I would run for cover first but the last thing I need to be thinking about is chambering a round when the crap hits the fan.
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I’d argue that a properly maintained and handled firearm is not dangerous at all.
It only becomes dangerous when human acts upon it and most especially when it is mishandled or used unlawfully.
Yes, we need to be aware that even a fraction of a second’s distraction or lack of attention can lead to tragedy but we surrender control and the language to the left when we call the gun itself “dangerous”
No gun has ever taken itself out of thee box/cabinet/safe, loaded itself, pointed itself in an unsafe direction and harmed anyone or anything without first a human being, the truly dangerous element acting on it and with it.
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I like you , Ive had a really good conversation with you and Im glad to know you, Have a blessed weekend , mark
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yes ,I do carry my 1911 cocked and locked. it’s the fastest to bring into action for me. I regularly practice keeping my finger AWAY from the trigger until on target and positive I plan on firing. this has given me the mind control over my firing as well as safer handling of my pistols. IMHO there is nothing unsafe about carrying this way if trained properly.
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I’m a huge advocate of carrying your firearm ready to go once pulled from the holster. I don’t like the idea of adding extra steps to operating the firearm under stress. Don’t get me wrong, everyone can choose to carry how they please, but I’m always going to recommend carrying cocked and locked.
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After seeing so many 1911 and glock’s I feel bad for my little travel pistol. I carry a Taurus g2c. And is always ready to sing. But for the topic my grandfather and uncle was always the kind to be cocked and locked with their 1911’s (Sw, and Remington I believe) great days to be out loading hay and have a round fly of the trailer from a pistol. Sigh* the good ole days
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Taurus makes a very decent gun… we’ve had several and while we prefer Glocks, there’s nothing wrong with the Taurus.
Just going with this:
Glad you’re here @CoonDockCountry!
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