After enough study, I am of the opinion Cult Cocked and Locked created the origin myth that John Browning designed the 1911 to be carried cocked and locked, because they love that single action trigger, and they play quick draw games and want the fastest mode to fire the pistol.
I agree with everything 1911tuner wrote about cocked and locked.
1911: Half-Cock
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/1911-half-cock.249713/
No matter what modern theorists say, there is no doubt that Browning fully intended the half-cock to be the safety position. It was used as such on every other gun Browning ever designed, except those with concealed hammers, and there was usually no other safety. Only military demands caused the installation of the manual and grip safeties on what became the Model 1911.
Those who doubt this can look for a manual safety on an (original design) Winchester 97, Winchester 92, Winchester 94, and Colt dual link autos (except the early sight safety, which didn't last long). On a Browning design, if it had an exposed hammer, the half cock was the safety, and the only safety.
JMB apparently did not suffer fools gladly and believed that the half-cock was all the safety any sensible person needed. Of course he hadn't met our new breed of fools and their greedy lawyers.
Jim
Everything 1911tuner wrote is substantiated in John Browning’s patents and pistol designs to the 1910 and 1911 pistol.
Patent 984,519 J. M. Browning, Firearm,
application filed Feb 17 1910. Patented Feb 14 1911.
Page 7
Heretofore in the pistols of this class, when the hammer was cocked ready for firing, and it became necessary to lower the hammer to the safety position without allowing it to touch the firing pin, it required both hands of the user to accomplish this act, because the trigger had to be pulled with the first finger of the right-hand to release the hammer and the grip-lever had simultaneously to be pressed into the grip to release the trigger for operation, to the keeping of the thumb of the right hand in a horizontal position on the side of the grip. Therefore it was impracticable to also extend the thumb of the right hand, while this hand pressed in the grip-lever and pulled the trigger, upward so as to rest upon the thumb-piece of the hammer and, thus controlling the hammer, to gently lower the same and restrain it from falling and from striking the firing pin, because any attempt to do this would result in loosening the necessary hold upon the grip-lever. Consequently the lowering the hammer had to be performed by the other hand, this is a serious drawback in a military arm, as a soldier and especially a mounted soldier does not in action have both hands free for such use. To overcome this difficulty, I have provided the grip-lever w with projecting nose w2 in rear of its pivot, which stands closely in rear of and below the hammer when cocked, and the hammer is so fitted that it may be drawn rearward somewhat father than to its cocked position. When the hammer is drawn fully back it strikes the nose w2 and, by pressing the same downward, it caused the grip-lever to turn on its pivot forcing the lower portion into the grip, thereby releasing the trigger. By this arrangement the thumb of the hand grasping the grip needs not to be kept at the side of the grip need not to be kept at the side of the grip for pressing in the grip-lever, but the thumb may be applied to the hammer and through the same operate the grip lever to release the trigger, then the trigger may be operated with the first finger of the same hand to release the hammer and finally the thumb, still applied to the hammer, may allow the same to slowly descend to the safety position, without requiring the aid of the other hand. The rearward projecting nose w2 of the grip-lever w below the hammer q and in rear of the pivot pin w1, serves to perform another important function in addition to that of providing the point of contact between the grip lever and the hammer, by means of which the grip lever may be operated to release the trigger by drawing the hammer fully rearward, as hereinbefore described.
I am going to say, the grip safety is of questionable value. From what I read, the Army wanted a grip safety so the pistol would not discharge if dropped, from a horse. This was before they insisted on the "make safe with one hand" requirement, that lead to the thumb safety. The pistol that passed all the tests, the 1910 Colt, did not have a thumb safety, it had the grip safety.
Links and pictures from Sam Laker’s ColtAutos.com
http://www.coltautos.com/default.asp
This is an exceedingly rare pistol, Sam has pictures of serial number 2, and it is not retrofitted for the thumb safety, and this one, serial number 5, is in the original 1910 troop trails configuration.
The M1910 and M1911 pistol were not puked by God from a burning bush on top of
Mount Horeb. There is a prior history. This is the M1903 patent picture
There is no thumb safety, this pistol was made safe by lowering the hammer to the half cock. Also, John Browning designed the 1903 trigger mechanism so when the hammer was at half cock, the slide was fixed in place. That way, you would not jack out a round while holstering the thing. This feature is retained in the series 70 M1911. You can test it, in a series 70, by lowering the hammer to half cock, and trying to rack the slide. You can over ride it, which I assume was intentional, but the resistance is there, and it is not accidental. John Browning put it there. No one ever does this, so guys at the range are amazing when this feature is shown to them.
John Browning designed his pistols to be made safe by lowering the hammer to the half cock. This is the 1905 model, no thumb safety. How do you think they made this pistol safe?
This is the patent for the M1910 pistol, yes it does not look like the 1910, John Browning is only revealing the features he is patenting.
Notice, no thumb safety.
The Army must have thought that lowering the hammer to half cock was too difficult, with one hand on a bucking horsey, they wanted something simpler and more positive. The grip safety, and thumb safety, are only sear blocking safeties. If the sear failures, the hammer will fall, regardless whether either safety is engaged.
John Browning did design a sear blocking thumb safety, or his pistol would never have been accepted by the Calvary, who wanted to keep their revolvers. And he designed an improved half cock, that would prevent the hammer from falling if the sear broke. It is possible to break the sear on these pistols, by hitting the hammer hard enough. However, not all of his 1913 patent was accepted for use by the Army, and they did not use the new and improved half cock safety.
This feature was never incorporated into the issue 1911. I don't think the Army trusted making the pistol safe by lowering the hammer to half cock. Both the Army, and John Browning understood the thumb safety was there, so the pistol could be quickly, and temporarily made safe, until such time as the hammer could be lowered, all the way down.
Such as the carry mode of this WW2 General, who was a WW1 veteran. Hammer down, round in the chamber
There are three primary references that I have relied on,
1.) The Government Models, the development of the Colt Model of 1911, by Willian H.D Goddard
2.) Colt .45 Service Pistols, Models of 1911 and 1911A1, by Charles Clawson.
3.) John Brown’s pistol patents.
Clawson went to the National Achieves and found early discussions about the 1911 safety. In the safety section of his book he finds a period problem: enlisted men were holstering their cocked and locked 1911’s. Major General Crozier, the head of Army Ordnance, the manager to pushed the 1911 program through to adoption, was asked if the safety system was there to allow the pistol to be permanently carried cocked and locked, or if it was a temporary measure. MG Crozier replied the safety was a temporary measure. There were apparently were discussions before MG Crozier was approached. Firstly it was proposed the flap holster be modified so the pistol could be carried cocked and locked without the safety being bumped off. That was examined and disregarded as not being achievable. The Army examined modifying the safety, so it would not be bumped off accidentally in the holster, but the consensus was, sure it could, but then it would take two hands to make the pistol safe, and the whole reason for the safety, was for the horse cavalry to make the pistol safe with one hand.
The official pre WW1 carry mode, of round in the chamber, hammer down, pistol in flap holster changed over time. Too many accidental discharges occurred in the Army when the hammer slipped when being lowered. Since half cocks have been around, almost forever, and they failed when the sear did not actually go into the notch, trust in the half cock safety had really dropped by the end of the 19th century. Still, you find lots and lots of half cock safeties in rifles, shotguns, and pistols of the period. I believe up to WW2 the carry mode for the Cavalry was put the safety on, put the pistol in the flap holster, until such time as the magazine and round could be safely removed. However, the introduction of the Jeep caused some interesting accidental discharges. According to a Kimber employee I talked to, the Army experienced over 1000 accidental discharges in holstered 1911's, in Jeeps. (I think he said 1200 Jeep transmissions got a hole in them). Soldiers would take the web belt and pistol holster off, because they are hot and heavy.
and slide them under the seat of the Jeep. If the Jeep stopped hard, and the pistol belt would move forward and hit the transmission.Given some wild rides, occasionally the 1911 would fire, and put a hole in the transmission. This is because the series 70 1911 does not have a firing pin block, and if the pistol is dropped from a high enough height, right on its muzzle, firing pin inertia will cause the occasional round to discharge.
So, by the time you get to Vietnam, the carry mode in cantonment is: gun in the flap holster, magazine in the gun, and nothing in the chamber. What you did out in the field was between you and your Company Commander.
The pistol of today is not the pre WW1 pistol. The original 1911 is a different pistol from the quick draw version of today
It had wide hammer spurs so it would be easy to thumb cock
The grip safety was a lot shorter, so it was easy to move the thumb to the hammer spur and thumb cock the thing.
The grip safety was extended after WW1, to protect the web of the hand from hammer bite
With the GI grip safety, the hammer is not protected from impact at half cock or full cock.
With the GI grip safeties the hammer is always at risk of being hit, the sears being sheared, and then there is nothing to prevent the hammer from falling and igniting the cartridge. I think this lead to the wrap around beavertail,
Which provides a measure of protection from impacts. These beaver tails also make it about impossible to control the hammer if the user wants to lower the hammer down. There is not space for fingers. Those what want to carry the pistol cocked and locked, have altered the original design so that is the only way to carry the pistol with a round in the chamber.
Long extended safeties are easy to bump off, and I don’t trust the mechanism cocked and locked. There is also something to be considered, the series 70 action is not drop safe. Drakes ran a number of drop tests with titanium firing pins and steel firing pins. Give the pistol enough height, and drop it on the muzzle, the inertia of the firing pin will ignite the cartridge.
I am going to say, while the series 80 mechanism makes the pistol drop safe, the series 80 mechanism created new and novel forms of malfunctions. I have experienced two of them. The first I am going to describe was common enough that I found a number of very old posts about Colt’s with firing pin blocks jammed up. And this pistol worked just fine at the range, and I only found this block jammed up when I cleaned the Colt 1911.
I have also had another Colt series 80 jam with the firing pin block dropped down.
I think what happened was that the extractor got pulled forward during extraction, and that released the block, and then the slide would not go fully forward because the block impacted the back of the frame. This would be most disadvantageous in a time critical situation. Racking the pistol won’t raise the block. Pushing on the block won’t raise the block. The shooter has to recognize this type of malfunction even though it is not obvious, and then needs to drop the magazine (to be safer), rotate the pistol so the bottom of the slide is visible, and press on the firing pin block with something pointy and slim, at the same time push the firing pin below the level of the firing pin stop. Once the firing pin is far enough forward, the block can be released, and the pistol can fire. If you are in the habit of carrying chop sticks, and have a table handy, restoring the pistol to an active duty status is simple. Three hands would be useful too.
It is positively dangerous and accident prone to lower the hammer of a 1911 with the thumb. Many accidental discharges have happened. I don’t know if this is the best way to lower a 1911 hammer, but it is less failure prone than using the thumb
Basically I start by placing the middle finger between hammer and frame
I pull the trigger releasing the hammer and I immediately get my finger off the trigger. I need that half cock to engage as the hammer is lowered. I pull the middle finger out slowly, controlling the rate of decline with the fore finger in spur, till the hammer reaches the half cock.
My hands start out like this
Once I get the hammer to the half cock, I reposition my hands and fingers. There is not enough space to use the middle finger as a block, so the forefinger is the only finger controlling the hammer. I use the forefinger to lift the hammer back enough that I can pull the trigger and release the sear from the half cock. And then I slowly lower the hammer down to the frame with the forefinger in the hammer spur. This is the most dangerous part as if I lose control of the hammer, there is nothing between the firing pin and hammer.
This procedure cannot be rushed. I don’t know the two hand technique that General Hatcher recommended in his book “Textbook Pistols and Revolvers”. Then Major Hatcher stated the safest way to carry the 1911 loaded was hammer down, but that lowering the hammer had to be done very carefully!. Since Hatcher joined the Army Ordnance Corp in 1917, personally knew and had conversations with John Browning, knew Major General Crozier, but being a new hire, undoubtedly never shared a cup of coffee or was on first name basis. But junior officer Hatcher would have gotten a chance to know everyone who was still around from the 1911 adoption, and he was also Captain of the Army shooting team between the wars, so I think he knew a lot more about the original design, and the original intent, than anyone today.
People have become accustomed to riskier and riskier behavior, and consider what used to be considered positively dangerous, as normal and safe. People today are carrying striker fired pistols that are positively unsafe outside of a holster. Go to the gunstore and ask what is selling. What is selling are high capacity, striker fired Tupperware in 9mm and 380 Auto. There are all sorts of accidental discharges with striker fired pistols going off because the pistol was not in a holster. These pistols don’t have safeties, and clothing will snag the trigger and the gun will fire. A couple of self shootings from this month:
9 August 2022 Ariz. man shoots penis putting gun in waistband
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ariz-man-shoots-penis-putting-gun-in-waistband/
22 August 2022 Georgia Man 'Mishandles' Gun In Grocery Store, Shoots Himself, 3 Others
https://www.iheart.com/content/2022...gun-in-grocery-store-shoots-himself-3-others/
And so, trying to make the case that carrying a 1911 cocked and locked is risky makes no impression, because people think nothing about carrying firearms that are far more likely to have an accidental discharge.
I don’t want, and don’t have, any striker fired self defense pistols. I consider them too dangerous for me. And decades ago, I came to the conclusion that carrying a 1911 cocked and locked was too dangerous for me.
Personally, I like revolvers.
