problem with my smith & wesson 1911?

[jerryrigger]

i just bought a s&w performance center 1911, and it a great gun, and has been 100% reliable etc. my only problem with this gun is some sort of combination of the grip safety and the thumb safety...i'm right handed, and if i grip the gun with my right thumb riding on top of the thumb safety, i can not dependably depress the grip safety every time, especially without gripping the pistol abnormally tight. however, if i grip with my thumb below the safety (not my preferred grip, but please let me know if it really should be gripping this way, as i shoot this gun very well both ways) i find that my thumb often pushes up on the safety just enough to engage it. so, here are my questions-this particular smith model (black melonite perf. center) has some fairly fat grips compared to others i have shot (and not experienced this problem with). would changing to a thinner set of grips make a difference? is there some kind of problem with my grip? i have receive instruction on my grip, and it allows me to shoot very well, so i dont believe it is that, but i am not the most knowledgeable person in this area, so if anyone who knows more about this has an idea, i'd love to hear it. finally, is there something wrong with this gun such that it would warrant being sent back to s&w? part of me feels like a perf center gun it should be perfect from the start, but i know s&w will take care of me, i just dont know if i should be sending this back or not. sorry for being longwinded, and thanks for all your help!

 

[ugaarguy]

It sounds like the gun is fine functionally, but the fat grips may not be letting you get the thumb safety depressed all the way. Everyone's hands are different, and this is why you see so many different aftermarket grip safeties with various shapes and amounts of material sticking out to help reliably depress them.

It is also possible that the trigger block portion of your grip safety has a very tight, but within tolerance, fit; which requires absolutely full depression to allow the trigger to move to the rear and trip the sear. I wouldn't send it back for this though. Any good 1911 smith can diagnose that pretty quickly, and open things up a bit if desired. It's a pretty simple process.

As for thumb position, that's personal preference. Most folks I know do shoot thumb over safety. If you're inadvertently pushing the safety up when gripping thumb under, then sticking with a thumb over grip would be best.