1911s: Anyone not like a beavertail safety?

Assuming that one is not hammer-bitten by GI safeties, is there anyone who does not like the extra weight and size of a beavertail safety?

I'm building up a bobtail commander, and have installed both on it. I'm honestly beginning to think that bobbing both hammer and GI safety will make it easier to pull and shorter, less stuff sticking in my ribs.

What thinks you?

Not being hammer bit but the short tang on my Commander grip safety started chewing the heck out of the back of my hand behind the finger web and a beaver tail type grip safety was the only solution.

I don't like them at all. I fire the GI version far more accurately. Just me.

Geno

The only real benefit to not having the beavertail on a carry 1911 is that the pistol will conceal better in some rigs, but that is not universal.

Jason

Doesn't matter to me.

I don't like em. Prefer the military grip safety, or better yet contoured to the frame. I have a Detonics Combat Master, and It has a pinned grip safety. I just like the way it feels and I have never had hammer bite from my
Remington Rand.
I also prefer the spurred hammer over the commander hammer. but thats just me.

I have the S&W 1911 with it's beavertail

Next 1911 will be a '70 Series re-issue - one
reason I want one is the same grip or as close to
the ones I carried in the USN back in the '70s, A1
Ithaca or Remington-Rand makes was all I ever saw
I only recall one slight 'bite' but no blood drawn. fwiw

Randall

For me, a beavertail-equipped 1911 is more comfortable to shoot. I don't get hammer bite, per se, from a standard grip safety, but the narrow, sharp edged tang does dig into and abrade my hand.

I don't like them.As far as I am concerned,they make cocking the hammer difficult.Maybe my thumbs are too short?

I have two standard grip safeties and one beavertail. While the beavertail pistol shoots fine, I prefer the GI spec 1911 without anything extended, skeletonized or ambidextrous. A 3-4# trigger, polish the feed ramp, throat and polish the chamber and I'm good to go.

The stock factory unit has always worked fine for me, be it the Government model or the shorter Commander model. Just for the heck of it, I tried a beavertail on my Combat Commander and really didn't care for the way it felt in my hand. Seemed awkward and uncomfortable; making the gun point higher in my hand. I went back to the original factory safety and have been using it without incident ever since.

I still get bit if I really cinch up on a standard grip safety, but I have come to like the classic lines of the 1911A1, and have several pre-WWII Commercial models that are stock. With a note, these older guns also have the large WWI spur hammer, which adds to the bitability. A little bleeding now and then just tells the other shooters that I am a tough old bas****. It doesn't happen too often, just enough to let me know that it CAN happen. If it doesn't bite you, go for it!

Personally, I don't really care. I have two 1911's. One has a beavertail, the other does not. The beavertail makes a nice handle to pull it out with, but it's just something else to hang up on something or other. Other than that I don't know. In maybe 60 years I've never been bitten by hammer, slide, or anything else.

Not a fan of the beavertail.....like them like like a 70's series. I do like the Commander grip safety, but that is not a beavertail.
As I have said before, I have never been bitten by a grip safety..

They solve a problem I don't have, and aesthetically are right up there with whale tails on 911s... not my thang.

Personally, my own preference is Old School GI, but YMMV. All I can say is, "Try it, you might like it... or not, do whichever works for you, as I won't be at your gunfight." With respect to Louis Awerbuck.

Like 'em.

Do not use or like beavertail grip safeties. All of my Colt 1911's have customized and use a factory grip safety recontoured for a commander hammer with all sharp edges eliminated.

The narrow factory grip safety allows my hand to get up and around it for a higher grip.

John

I like the beavertails aesthetically and practically.

Many people do not like them because they interfere with the ability to cock/decock the hammer one handed. So if you plan on carrying the pistol in condition 2 (for whatever reason), the beavertail will be cumbersome.

GI- I like using spur hammers

I don't have a beavertail on either of mine.

But I wouldn't pass up a deal on a 1911 because it had one.

http://images.photo2.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp53239%3Enu%3D3269%3E388%3E853%3EWSNRCG%3D323453%3A5%3C%3A89%3Cnu0mrj

I don't like the grip safety period; it is not needed and not installed on other SAO autos made for defensive purposes.

I am surprised there isn't much said about it; it is not part of the original design by Browning and is much more likely to cause you a problem in a defensive situation than the S&W ILS that gets so much play on the forums. When building my carry commander I asked the smith to pin the safety and he would not do it unless I signed a release saying that the firearm would not be used for defensive purposes.....that was a non starter so I added a beaver tail with extended palm pad to help mitigate the risk of a failure to engage at unusual angles.

Thought about the Novak solution but it is very expensive and I would likely be in the same situation of explaining why I modified a firearm to remove a safety if the pistol was ever used defensively. Thinking about a Sig P220 SAO instead.

The only real benefit to not having the beavertail on a carry 1911 is that the pistol will conceal better in some rigs, but that is not universal.
Actually, the real benefit to NOT having a beavertail is that you can run the 'traditional' wide spur hammer (not the narrower spur show in post #21) if you have a non-beavertail safety. The 'old-style' spur hammer is easier to cock and decock than any other option, by far. In fact, the wide spur makes it practically impossible to drop the hammer while decocking.

For those folk who will carry hammer-down on a loaded chamber, the wide spur hammer (and subsequently, a traditional grip safety) have value.

Beavertail grip safeties are clearly more forgiving to shoot and allow a higher grip to better combat recoil 'flip'. I have not noticed that either grip safety style impacts concealment in any measurable way, at least not with most IWB holsters.

I don't like the grip safety period; it is not needed and not installed on other SAO autos made for defensive purposes.
I very much like the grip safety, and I carry 1911's instead of BHPs in part because of the presence of the grip safety.