Some info on a 1911 safety

[4thHorseman]

I noticed many 1911 by Colt (series 80) have a firing pin safety.
I have a Caspian that does not have the little spring pin plunger on the underside of the slide. However the hammer will go to a "half cocked, lack of a better term" when I slowly let the hammer down, unloaded ofcourse.
Do you think that this enough to stop the hammer from falling on the firing pin if the gun is dropped on the hammer?
I'm not real fimiliar with 1911 style guns.
Thanks

 

[Jim Watson]

That's what it is there for and has been since 1911.

Also note that it would be hard to drop the gun such that it would land on the hammer and drive it forward; it is considerably guarded by the grip safety.

 

[Jim K]

Almost the same question was asked on another forum, so I will quote (and add to) my reply:

On some of the newer guns, the half cock notch has been replaced by a "shelf" which serves as a stop for the hammer in case the full cock notch fails to hold it, but which has no slot. Unlike the true half-cock, the trigger can be pulled with the hammer on that shelf, and the hammer will drop, but the pistol won't fire since the drop is not far enough.

It has nothing to do with the firing pin block, which is designed to keep the firing pin from moving forward if the gun is dropped on the muzzle. It also prevents the firing pin from moving if the gun is dropped on the hammer hard enough to break the sear and/or strip both notches.

Even on the older guns, if the hammer is down and the gun is dropped on the hammer or the hammer is struck, the gun will not fire because of the inertia firing pin.

Jim

 

[4thHorseman]

Jim, that cleared it up. I assumed the hammer block and the firing pin block were one in the same, and as you pointed out they are not.
Jim you said. "It also prevents the firing pin from moving if the gun is dropped on the hammer hard enough to break the sear and/or strip both notches." Have you ever heard of that happening?
Thanks again, Jim.
Dale

 

[Jim K]

No, I have not. In fact, I never heard of a 1911 type firing when dropped on the muzzle, either, in the real world. It is my understanding that a 1911 did fire like that in a California police drop test that was specifically designed to keep as many pistols off the market as possible on claims they were "unsafe". The reported drop was 25 feet and they had to do it dozens of times before a gun fired. Another way to achieve the same thing is to lighten the firing pin, which is why some makers went to titanium firing pins instead of steel.

Jim

 

[1911Tuner]

Half-Cock

There's a thread buried here somewhere in which I conducted a test of the
half-cock notch in stopping the hammer in the event of a catastrophic failure of the sear and/or hammer hooks.

To keep it short, I ground about 1/8 inch off the sear nose. Not only would
the nub engage the hooks and cock the gun, the half cock notch would
get a good purchase on it and prevent the hammer from reaching the pin
stop.

Then the hooks were removed from the hammer, the hammer thumbed back and released. The half-cock never failed to arrest the hammer as
long as the trigger wasn't pulled.

Then the half-cock was removed, the hammer held back and the thumb safety engaged. When the hammer was released, the hammer pushed the
safety off, and reached the firing pin, but not with enough force to ignite a
primer for several attempts. It finally did after about three dozen strikes
on the same primer.

My conclusion was that if a 1911 carried in condition one goes off, it
was pre-ordained by the Almighty that the carrier of the gun be shot
in the hip on that day.

Like Jim, I have never seen or heard of a 1911 discharging by being
dropped muzzle down from a normal height, and I've seen several that have been dropped. The very best preventative measure against such a thing is to keep a good firing pin spring in the gun...Two bucks for the spring...Two minutes to swap it out. About every 5 or 6,000 rounds is a good rule of thumb. More often if you dry-fire a lot, as that tends to over-compress the spring.

Luck to ya!

Tuner

 

[4thHorseman]

1911Tuner, greatly appreciate the info. Very informative.
Thanks