A 1911 viable option?

[Old Scratch]

I have seen the 1911 carried without grips. It had nothing...not even surgical tape wrapped around.

Is this a safe, sane, viable way to reduce bulk for carry?

 

[Drail]

That's just about the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Did the gun that you saw have grip screw bushings installed? If your hands are wet, sweaty or bloody you're never going to be able to hold on the gun. I guess the answer to your question is - yeah, you could do that but why would you want to? I can't imagine any possible reason to carry without grips in place and they certainly do not add any appreciable "bulk". Imagine ramming a magazine into the well with the flesh of your hand protruding into the well. OUCH!

 

[Old Scratch]

The individual carrying was an undercover cop...narcotics team.

The bushings were removed...no protrusions.

 

[Drail]

The individual was a "tactical" moron.

 

[justin22885]

i believe ive seen it done before on a doublestack 1911, it doesnt seem like it would be particularly comfortable and at the VERY least you should put a grip sleeve over the metal for traction, on single-stacks which are already slim there is absolutely no reason or benefit to doing it, if you dont want wood, plastic, or rubber, you can get aluminum grips

 

[Old Scratch]

At the time, he was at least a ten year veteran on the force. He was also a military vet, although I don't know the nature or extent of his service.

 

[Drail]

Maybe he really likes dropping his gun.......and being a military vet or a police officer doesn't mean you know anything about weapon handling or shooting. I was an NRA Instructor for years and the scariest people I ever saw on any range I ever worked were all ex-military and police. I qualified Expert Marksman when I was in the military. But so did almost everyone else. They don't really teach you anything useful aside from how to clean it. I didn't really learn anything about weapon handling OR shooting until I got into the world of competition and NRA instruction.

 

[maxxhavoc]

It can be done, I just don't see the point of it. Slim grips do not increase the width of the grip much, and you would have to hold the pistol very carefully when reloading. Otherwise, the magazine will drag on your hand.

 

[Drail]

Yeah but chicks dig it.

 

[Old Scratch]

For all I know...that's why he did it.

 

[bannockburn]

Why in the world would you want to carry a 1911 without grips? That's what the grip screw bushings are there for.

And no, this is not a safe, sane, viable way to reduce bulk for carry.

 

[Sam1911]

There would be some obvious negatives, which the others have pointed out, and the positives would be hard to imagine.

Without finding out the guy's reason for doing this, it's impossible to say whether he might have had some well-thought-out reason (which we can't guess at) or if he just thought it was "kewl".

Could have been he thought it went with his street rat undercover "character," to carry a gun that looked neglected or abused, and made him seem the opposite of professional and knowledgeable about firearms.




Remember, there are some who will go to great lengths to replicate mobster-era hideout guns right down to cloth tape wrapped around the stocks of their cut-down revolver. Kind of the "so-bad-it's-good" aesthetic. Might be he thought a hacked-up gun looked hardcore.

 

[Old Scratch]

Sam's guess makes sense. He was into image. A few years later he was removed from the force for some irregularities that were never made clear.

Grip choices aside, he was one tough dude.

 

[GRIZ22]

It's a stupid idea. Removing the grips does nothing to reduce bulk on a gun the size of a 1911. Even less on a double stack. The fact that he's a 10 year police veteran does nothing to add to credibility when it comes to firearms. I say this being a retired LEO after 30 years working almost all of it in narcotics.

Being a military veteran only adds credibility to very few when it comes to firearms for LE or CCW. Using small arms in a military application has little application to the rest of us. BTW, I have over 40 years active, National Guard, and Reserve service. Most of that time spent in Artillery. Has nothing to d with small arms expertise (other than a good understanding of ballistics).

As a LEO Firearms Instructor I wouldn't let someone carry a 1911 without grips. It serves zero purpose. There are many more reasons than the ones listed here.

But then again, maybe the girls like it .

 

[GRIZ22]

Sam 1911, I would never suggest doing something to a gun that inhibit its effectiveness to establish street cred. Something I learned long ago from someone when I started out still holds true and to my experience the most important. f you're woking undercover carry whatever you want. To establish street cred, don't use a holster. Over the following 30 years or so I never arrested a bad guy with a gun that was using a holster.

 

[justin22885]

was it a double stack he felt was too wide? maybe it was a para ordnance or something and his girly hands were too small for the grips?

 

[Sam1911]

Sam 1911, I would never suggest doing something to a gun that inhibit its effectiveness to establish street cred.

Well, I certainly wouldn't ever suggest such a thing, either. Just trying to come up with something better than, "He's a stupid dork" to explain why he MIGHT have done such a thing.

 

[Old Scratch]

It was single stack...and as I recall the sights were factory (nothing oversized or obviously custom).

I asked primarily because I wondered if it presented either a potential safety or functionality problem. The magazine hangup possibility is noted.

Thanks.

 

[JTQ]

Not that an over pressure .45ACP case blow out is as big a concern as is one with .9mm, 40S&W, .38 Super, etc., but one of the touted advantages of G10/micarta grips is protection from such an occurrence, and I believe Pachmayr rubber wraparound grips had metal plates inside the panels to protect in such an event.

You'd have limited protection without grips.

 

[Capstick1]

Not the strangest thing I've seen. I remember seeing a CC handgun that the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh carried around with him. It was a Colt Detective Special snubbie that had the front of the trigger guard chopped off. I guess he thought it somehow made it quicker to get to the trigger. This type of mod seems unsafe though. I can see where if you recover this gun back to the holster at just the wrong angle you could snag the trigger on something and shoot yourself in the leg or foot.

 

[GRIZ22]

Capstick1, what you saw was a Fitz Special. 2" barrel, bobbed hammer, and cutaway trigger guard made up by a guy named Fitzgerald at Colt in the 20s,30s, and 40s. Many were made up by local gunsmiths. They are a lot more common than a 1911 without grips.

 

[Old Fuff]

The "Fitz Special," named after John H. FitzGerald, a md-level executive at the Colt factory between the 1st World War period until shortly after World War Two. The snubby he designed with a number of features including a cut-away trigger guard was perfectly safe when the revolver was carried in the side pants' pocket, which was the designer's intention. Today the thought of such a thing invokes horror on the part of some who apparently don't understand the differences between a Colt hand ejector revolver and striker fired pistols that have a safety(?) located in the trigger face.

Some years ago I encountered an undercover officer who worked narcotics. He showed me a Colt D-frame revolver with the stocks removed and the butt wrapped with tape. This was augmented with a bobbed hammer (accomplished with a hacksaw) that was also used to shorten the barrel to about 1 1/2 inches. He carried it in a home made ankle holster. On at least one occasion he used it to shoot his way out of a critical situation.

He explained that it was easy to conceal, and if discovered wouldn't be associated with law enforcement given its crude appearance.

That said, when it was needed to work, it did.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Just for grins, try a tactical reload on an M1911 without grips. Your fleshy hand will keep the magazine from falling free.

I recommend reading The Last Parallel, a memoir of the Korean war, by Martin Ross. Ross was a BAR man, and had "hot-rodded" his BAR by removing the flash hider and bipod. In his first firefight, he found out that those parts are there for a reason!

The same is true for the grip panels on the M1911.

 

[barnbwt]

I saw a custom 10mm deal with a silver-dollar sized disc of buffalo horn covering a reduced-size hole on each side of the frame (also the slide release was extended & blended into the safety lever for a continuous flowing 'rib' back into the beavertail when not in use; very pretty setup). No screw holes at all. The frame corners had been well-rounded, and the result was surprisingly comfortable and extremely flat.

As far as an open-window frame scheme, I'd think magazine insertions could potentially be pinch-prone.

TCB

 

[Vern Humphrey]

As far as an open-window frame scheme, I'd think magazine insertions could potentially be pinch-prone.

Indeed they are. And as I said earlier, flesh bulging through the cuts in the magazine well will prevent the magazine from free-falling during a combat reload.