1911 hammer bite?

[0to60]

I'm looking at my SA Mil Spec, and I'm baffled by this whole "hammer bite" thing. What is it??? The hammer strikes the grip safety tang, all my parkerization is wearing off to prove it. Its simply not possible for the hammer to strike my hand at all. I'm holding the gun as high up as I can, and I'm simply not seeing how the hammer can possibly reach flesh.

Now, very early 1911's (pre A1?) had a shorter tang which the spur of the hammer EASILY reached over and whacked the shooter's hand each time. But since WWI and the A1, they fixed all that.

What am I missing?

 

[rcmodel]

You got a skinny hand, and some of us don't.

Some of us have enough skin & meat in the web of our hand, recoil pushes a roll of it over the end of the tang and under the hammer.
Where it proceeds to take out a chunk of skin every shot.

When I shot Army AMU competition many moons ago with GI National Match guns, I'd go home bleeding a lot of days.

I solved my problem by heating and bending the hammer spur up just enough to stop biting me, but not enough to be noticeable to anyone else.

rc

 

[plunge]

the beavertail fixed that problem

 

[ugaarguy]

The thin profile safety tangs dig into the meat & skin at the web of my hand. Beavertail grip safeties make things much easier on me.

 

[Greg528iT]

Mine was from the edges of the skinny grip safety digging in. not the actual hammer.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

The thin profile safety tangs dig into the meat & skin at the web of my hand. Beavertail grip safeties make things much easier on me.

Mine was from the edges of the skinny grip safety digging in. not the actual hammer.

Gaps or sharp edges where the grip safety meets the frame can cut your hand, too. I had a Para-Ordnance that did this. My hands are too skinny to be actually "bitten" by the hammer, though.

 

[Zerodefect]

A beaver tail safety is a huge improvement to the 1911. You can use a much highertang grip, to the point where your putting a bit of pressure up on the beavertail that'll help with mussel flip. But you may need to sensitize the safety a bit because you may lift it up/out/on if you screw up.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

But you may need to sensitize the safety a bit because you may lift it up/out/on if you screw up.

Hence the "speed bump" on most beavertail safeties.

 

[mike.h]

Mine was from the edges of the skinny grip safety digging in. not the actual hammer.

I really didn't what to change it out, but ended up installing a BTSG from S&A, and a trigger group from Fussion.

 

[Taroman]

Fat hands = hammer bite.

 

[0to60]

Some of us have enough skin & meat in the web of our hand, recoil pushes a roll of it over the end of the tang and under the hammer.
Where it proceeds to take out a chunk of skin every shot.
rc

Do you have a pic? I'm having trouble envisioning hands that actually ride up over the tang and under the hammer. Here's my hand holding the gun. In the one pic, you can see the mark where the hammer is hitting the tang. I can't imagine someone's hand rolling that far. I'm wondering if the dimensions of the tang and/or hammer differ slightly from mfg to mfg.

 

[Cards81fan]

I know this is about 1911s, but you should try a bone stock Hi Power sometime. It will change your world

 

[brickeyee]

I can't imagine someone's hand rolling that far.

You habe thin hands.

Many other people have much larger and thicker hands.

Why is this so hard to understand?

 

[Jim K]

"Some of us have enough skin & meat in the web of our hand, recoil pushes a roll of it over the end of the tang and under the hammer."

Here is what happens. The gun fires and the recoil of the bullet moving forward causes the barrel and slide (locked together) to recoil backward. Most attempts to diagram the movement make it look like a gentle push. It is not. The slide is slammed back hard, and in the process strikes the hammer a hard blow, not pushing it back gently, but slamming it back so hard it loses contact with the slide entirely and keeps going, like a baseball struck by a bat, until it is stopped by the grip safety tang.

If the tang is too short and any part of the shooter's hand is hit by that fast moving hammer, the skin will be cut. The skin is not "pinched", as some say, it is hit hard and fast, as if it were struck by a whip. So the flesh does not have to be between the grip safety and the hammer, it only needs to be where the hammer can reach it.

Jim

 

[rcmodel]

Do you have a pic?

No pic, but your pic shows you just holding the gun.

Take and push it back into your hand hard with the muzzle pointed up like it is at full recoil, and you will find the safety tang pushes a roll of skin behind it.

As pointed out already, people with a lot of flesh in the web of their hand will have a roll of skin getting in the way of some very fast moving parts.

rc

 

[Jim K]

Just FWIW, there is another point that can't be explained if we take the "gentle push" view of 1911 pistol operation, the moving firing pin stop. The way that happens is that the slide strikes the hammer, slamming it down. Meantime, the firing pin is forward both from inertia and because its spring has not yet had a chance to reassert itself. The gun is moving up in recoil and the firing pin stop tries to stay where it is (see Mr. Newton in his office after class about this). The firing pin stop moves down in relation to the slide, sometimes enough that the firing pin pops out. When the slide tries to go forward, the displaced firing pin stop jams the gun. This does not happen all the time because it takes a combination of factors, mainly "hot" loads, to get things started. That is why shooters who have had a problem will fit a tight firing pin stop or stake it in.

Jim

 

[NMGonzo]

I had a Combat Commander that did it to me without fail.

I did not want to molest the gun since it was not rare but original and sold it.