Made a Big Mistake today.

[nemoaz]

I was taught, and it has never failed me, not even come close, that if I need to decock my Colt Defender, which I do, when I want to load up a full mag plus chambered round for 8 shots, is to take my non-shooting hand, using thumb and next-index finger, and "squeeze" and hold, both sides of the hammer, and pull the trigger, letting hammer down very lightly, slowly, with gun pointing down range.

So you too carry hammer down on a loaded chamber? You need to re-read the posts. It is not safe on a 1911 and if you drop the weapon (unless you have a Series 80 or similar), it will go off. Also, if the hammer accidentally slips while decocking, it will go off.

 

[FourTeeFive]

I know it's an old thread, and I'm trying to take the high road here, but...

I'm pretty amazed as the casual mentioning by quite a few people about "oh yeah, I had an AD once too."

If we all properly handle our guns and live by the golden rules then we should never have AD's. That is, excluding any mechanical failures.

Scary to think an AD is a normal part of gun ownership. News flash; IT'S NOT!

 

[bluecollar]

I see no reason to ever TOUCH the hammer on a loaded 1911 style pistol much less cock or decock it using the hammer. Just thumb cocking the hammer on the pistol feels extremely alkward and I can't imagine that the original designer meant for the weapon to be manipulated this way. The absolute only time I ever thumb cock a 1911 is sitting in front of the T.V. and dry firing it with a snap cap in the chamber and I have done this thousands of times and thumb cocking the gun still feels strange.