1911 Grip Safety Question

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hrb02

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I know there are no stupid questions, but...

How does the grip safety actually work? Does it immobilize the sear? Does it prevent trigger movement (doesn't feel like it in mine)?

I'm trying to get a better understanding of how these things work. Your help is appreciated.

Thanks,

hrb02
 
Grip Safety

Howdy hrb,

The grip safety blocks the trigger, though it does allow some travel before blocking it...but doesn't immobilize it. The thumb safety blocks the sear, and shouldn't allow any movement, though .005 inch is allowable on ordnance-spec guns with long hammer hooks. (.027 inch or more) The thumb safety also offers some resistance to hammer fall, but may not bring it to a complete stop in many guns. Mostly, it just impedes the momentum. How effectively it does that depends on several factors.

The half-cock notch grabs the sear in case of a hammer hook failure.
 
1911Tuner,

Thanks for your reply. A follow up question: When the grip safety is depressed (i.e. ready to fire) I assume it has backward to allow the trigger to function, but how does it "get out of the way of the sear"?

Thanks
 
Sear

The grip safety rotates in a short arc to let the trigger stirrup pass under it and doesn't contact the sear unless something is badly out of spec, or the grip safety lug is bent inward, causing the side of the right sear foot to make frictional contact with the left side of the grip safety lug. The thumb safety blocks the sear, and operates independently of the grip safety.

Depress and release the grip safety to see how it pivots around the thumb safety crosspin. If anybody has a picture, please post it. I'll try to find one in the meantime.
 
If you look at the grip safety, you see that the front "finger" has a long upper part and a shorter lower part. When the grip safety is not depressed, the upper part blocks the trigger bow. When the grip safety is depressed it pivots and the "finger" moves upward so the upper part no longer blocks the trigger bow, which then can move back to the lower part, which is the trigger stop.

The grip safety does NOT block the sear or the hammer. It was put on originally at the request of the cavalry who wanted to keep the gun from firing if dropped, but in fact it really won't do that on the Model 1911 (it will on the Colt pocket models, though). The half cock prevents the gun from firing if the sear is jarred out of engagement.

(Don't confuse that with the problem of firing from firing pin inertia if the pistol is dropped on the muzzle, although the firing pin block adopted by some makers to prevent that will also prevent any firing of the pistol if dropped.)

Jim
 
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