why you like beavertails

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Shoot a couple of hundred rounds of hardball from a 1911 with out a beavertail and it will be clear to you.
 
They're more comfortable, especially since I shoot high-thumb.

My mil-spec bit me once. A few strokes of the file and a little cold blue and it never did it again. Long range sessions didnt bother me that much.
 
Don't care for beaver tails but I like my 1911 and XD. I have never bought a gun because of its designed safeties. Safeties are not even on my list of things to consider the lack therof is a much better option.
 
Shoot a Colt WW1 reproduction and grip it high. You may like beavertail afterwards. it boils down to ergonomics.
 
A beavertail safety, in conjunction with some other modifications, can allow you to seat the gun lower into your hand. Having it lower into your hand means that the axis of the bore is lower, which gives the gun less mechanical advantage to torque upward in recoil. Having the recoil come more straight back rather than twisting upward allows you to control the recoil energy more easily, which allows you to get back on target faster for follow-up shots.

In general, the lower into your hand you can sink the gun, the faster your "split times" (hundredths of a second between aimed shots) will be.

-Sam
 
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Perhaps my hands aren't as fleshy as the average, but I've tried to get the gun low enough in my hand to experience the infamous "hammer bite", and I simply can't do it. I will say that after a hundred rounds or so, the web of my thumb does start to get a bit sore, but I think that's just the sharp edges that need to be knocked down. Now, my 1911 is a Springfield, and I understand they have a different radius on the grip safety as opposed to the original design, so maybe that's why?
 
my 1911 is a Springfield, and I understand they have a different radius on the grip safety as opposed to the original design
They have a different geometry to the frame horns that ride on either side of the GI style grip safety spur. That means that there isn't enough material there to cut them down to the larger radius of "standard" beavertail safeties without leaving gaps. They just require a model of G.S. cut to the radius that you can get.

Regarding sinking the gun down into your hand, you may or may not get hammer bite. But you won't be able to get the gun AS low with the standard GI profile as with a well-shaped beavertail.

It isn't just the grip safety itself. A well-set-up grip safety allows a surprising amount of material to be removed from the frame itself, which really gets you a lot of clearance.

Add that to a "high-grip" cut on the front strap, and the gun will sit down low enough that 'most anyone will need the wide safety to keep their flesh from getting nipped.

-Sam
 
10-4. Thanks Sam, I've been wondering about that...

So the drop in beavertail safeties you see in catalogs are just cosmetic items that don't actually solve any problem, the real deal involves removing material from the frame as well to get the bore axis lower into the hands, correct?
 
Well, yes and no. The drop-in ones can help folks who's hands do get bitten by the conventional hammer with the GI safety.

But to get all the benefits, you'll want to remove some metal from the frame.

-Sam
 
On any other guns, it's just grotesque, imho.
The CZs that are set up with one look pretty sweet, though.

Like the SP-01:

shadow.jpg


Sweet!

-Sam
 
So the drop in beavertail safeties you see in catalogs are just cosmetic items that don't actually solve any problem, the real deal involves removing material from the frame as well to get the bore axis lower into the hands, correct?
They do solve the problem, or make it better at least, however the fit between the frame and the safety is necessarily much more loose, with gaps, etc. And they don't really "drop in". You generally have to fit them a bit. Easy for experienced guys, hard for me.
 
I don't like 1911s anyway,
Then you are obviously not a heterosexual.:neener:

As far as beaver tails are concerned I couldn't care less. I have one SW 1911 with one and a Colt LW Commander without one. I've never had a problem with hammer bite and the recoil from a 1911 without the beavertail doesn't bother me.
 
recoil from a 1911 without the beavertail doesn't bother me

Just for clarity, when I said that seating the gun lower in the hand helps with recoil control, I wasn't suggesting that it makes an uncomfortable gun more comfortable to shoot, or an uncontrollable gun easy.

I was specifically making note of the fact that the lower bore axis produces less torquing which will let you shoot the gun FASTER.

You can shoot either style just as accurately as the other. The beavertail and higher grip (all other things being equal) simply increases your speed.

-Sam
 
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