Colt Commander hammer safety?

[HerrWolfe]

Some firearms have a hammer safety, if you let the hammer down manually, then pull back slightly. To fire, the trigger must then be pulled all the way back or the slide racked. Had been trying to determine if the Colt Commander has this feature; the manual section from Colt on the web is down so looking for pistol features is not possible. Would someone know if this feature exists on the Commander? Is this feature normally found on 1911 type pistols?

 

[Preacherman]

It's not found on any 1911 I've ever seen - unless as an aftermarket installation, perhaps?

On the other hand, you may be referring to the so-called "half-cock notch". This simply means that the hammer is not resting against the firing pin, but is not fully cocked either, so that it must be cocked, either by hand or by working the slide, before the gun will function. All 1911's with a half-cock notch will function like this - but it's NOT a safety, and is not a recommended mode of carry.

 

[1911Tuner]

Commander

Some firearms have a hammer safety, if you let the hammer down manually, then pull back slightly. To fire, the trigger must then be pulled all the way back or the slide racked. Had been trying to determine if the Colt Commander has this feature; the manual section from Colt on the web is down so looking for pistol features is not possible. Would someone know if this feature exists on the Commander? Is this feature normally found on 1911 type pistols?

The Commander is basically a 1911 variant, and the safeties work the same.

Thumb safety blocks the sear. Grip safety blocks the trigger. half-cock stops the hammer on the sear if the sear or hammer hooks break. If the gun is a Series 80, it has a passive firing pin block that is disengaged when the trigger is pulled. The hammer has no active blocking mechanism, though the thumb safety lug will impede it to some degree should the sear or hammer hooks fail...but not enough to rely on it to prevent a discharge. That's the half-cock's job.

Serise 80 pistols have a quarter-cock shelf instead of the captive half-cock notch of the older pistols. These will allow the hammer to fall if the trigger is pulled, while the pre-Series 80 pistols won't...though the hammer fall isn't strong enough to cause the gun to fire unless there are other issues at work.

 

[carebear]

In summation, don't carry it that way. Cocked and locked or hammer down on an empty chamber.

(some will say hammer down on a loaded chamber, but I'm agin it as I don't see a real safety or speed up side, do a search for the exciting discussion)

 

[HerrWolfe]

Am not sufficiently familiar with the trigger and safety mechanisms in the Colts, so I was not comfortable to carry with a round chambered, since I do not have great confidence in the thumb safety. Knowing that some firearms have the half cock safety (Marlin rifle for example) thought that might be a better carry configuration that the thumb safety.

With my worry about safeties, it has taken a while for me to have one chambered in the PPKS with the safety on, but actually uncocked. The Colt apparently is a series 80 since the hammer will fall, quite easily but fall nonetheless, and I was tempted to use the hammer block as a safety, but not now. Thanks for the insight; think that my carry will be with the chamber empty for the .45. Perhaps a 9mm needs to be added to the collection....ammo is much cheaper and I could take greater care in selecting based on the safety. I have been looking for a much higher capacity pistol anyway for carrying in the vehicle only; this gives me more justification.

 

[Zak Smith]

There is absolutely nothing unsafe about carrying a 1911 cocked and locked, with the following provisions which hold for any pistol:

1. a good holster is used, that retains the pistol and covers the trigger guard

2. the trigger & fire control parts have not been modified in an unsafe manner

 

[1911Tuner]

Cocked and locked

There is absolutely nothing unsafe about carrying a 1911 cocked and locked, with the following provisions which hold for any pistol:

+1. I was personally involved with a 1911 pistol that had been stored in an attic with loaded chamber...hammer at full cock with thumb safety engaged
for 62 years, give or take a month. The pistol functioned perfectly when test-fired with the ammunition that was in it.

 

[carebear]

Herr,

The Series 80 1911 is actually over-safetied. When the pistol is cocked and locked there are 3 safetys at play. The thumb safety: which has to be removed for the hammer to fall, the grip safety: which has to be depressed for the trigger to be pulled to release the sear to allow the hammer to fall, and the firing pin safety: which requires the trigger to be pulled to allow the firing pin to move forward in its channel to strike the primer once the grip safety is depressed to allow the trigger to be pulled and the thumb safety is taken off to allow the hamnmer to fall to strike the firing pin.

And that's without taking into account a quality holster that covers the trigger guard making it more-or-less mechanically impossible for it to be pulled at all.

If all 3 of those events don't occur more or less simultaneously outside of a holster, the Series 80 1911 is an attractive paperweight.

It's the cocked hammer that is probably messing with your subconscious, I know it did with mine. Now after 17 years I'm not particularly concerned if my thumb safety gets knocked off somehow and I'm left walking around with a holstered "cocked and unlocked" 1911. With the trigger completely covered and the grip safety not depressed there's no realistic way that thing is going off.

 

[brickeyee]

"The Colt apparently is a series 80 since the hammer will fall, quite easily but fall nonetheless, and I was tempted to use the hammer block as a safety, but not now."

There is no hammer block safety in a 1911. The thumb safety block the sear, NOT the hammer.
The series 80 guns have a firing pin safety that stops movement unless th trigger is all the way back (or at least far enough to operate the levers and plunger).

The original 1911 has 3 safeties to prevent a discharge.
1. Sear blocked by thumb safety.
2. Trigger movement blocked by grip safety.
3. 1/2 cock to catch hammer if sear fractures.

Cocked and locked is extremely reliable. Even Colt has produced guns without the series 80 hardware after its introduction.

Keep you finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target.

More crudely, 'Keep your booger hook off the bang switch'.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

The problem is with your perceptions, not with the pistol. The Colt Series 80 1911s are among the safest pistols in the world. Carry it with the chamber empty if you must, but if you carry with the chamber loaded, the hammer cocked, and the thumb safety engaged, you have THREE safeties between you and a discharge: the thumb safety, which must be manually disengaged; the grip safety, which must be manually depressed; and the firing pin safety, which must be manually disengaged by pulling the trigger. Except in the event of some catastrophic mechanical failure, there isn't any way for the pistol to fire without deactivating all three of those safeties -- which involve three separate physical actions.

 

[Herself]

Buy a Ballester-Molina or a Star Model P: you will be able to engage the safety with the hammer down. And the thumb safety of thse guns does lock the hammer rather than the sear.

Now ask your friends about something called the "Tueller Drill." After trying it, decide if you still want to carry a single-action semi-auto with the hammer down and/or an empty chamber.

Me, I choose Condition One. YMMV.

--Herself