Vern Humphrey
Member
Condition 1 was standard long before Jeff Cooper attended Boot Camp:Quote:
If 1911 was "designed" to carried C&l, WHY did we not hear about till the Col. TOLD us thats how it was supposed to be carried, yet JB never made mention of this way to carry when he first gave us the gun?
FM 23-35
BASIC FIELD MANUAL
AUTOMATIC PISTOL, CALIBER .45
M1911 AND M1911A1
Prepared under direction of the
Chief of Cavalry
WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 30, 1940.
SECTION VII
INDIVIDUAL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• 25. RULES FOR SAFETY.-
. . .
i. On the range, do not load the pistol with a cartridge in
the chamber until immediate use is anticipated. If there is
any delay, lock the pistol and only unlock it while extending
the arm to fire. Do not lower the hammer on a loaded
cartridge; the pistol is much safer cocked and locked.
j. In reducing a jam first remove the magazine.
k. To remove a cartridge not fired first remove the maga-
zine and then extract the cartridge from the chamber by
drawing back the slide.
l. In campaign, when early use of the pistol is not fore-
seen, it should be carried with a fully loaded magazine in
the socket, chamber empty, hammer down. When early use
of the pistol is probable, It should be carried loaded and
locked in the holster or hand. In campaign, extra maga-
zines should be carried fully loaded.
m. When the pistol is carried in the holster loaded,
cocked, and locked the butt should be rotated away from
the body when drawing the pistol in order to avoid displacing
the safety lock
Note that the M1911 was designed for the Army (and specifically the Cavalry.) Browning was an inventor and a businessman, not a soldier, lawman, or gunfighter. His original design did not have a safety -- and was rejected by the Army. Only when he added a grip safety and a thumb safety lock would the Army accept the pistol.
In other words, the M1911 was designed to be carried cocked-and-locked (Condition 1) at the Army's insistance.