Posted on 11/10/2017 8:25:47 AM PST by TNoldman
I am now a supporter of a Round in the Chamber on my carry 1911 ACP. (I always carry a Hand Gun away from home).
Here is my story from just a couple of days ago. "My Wife and I were taking our 7 yo Granddaughter to a Roller Skating place. I realized we would be near a not-so-good part of town so I decided to carry my 1911 ACP."
To be better prepared I decided to rack the slide to load a round! What happened next was chilling.
The round didn't quite load - it jammed. Now I had a round part way into the chamber but not gripped by the ejector. I had a SS $700. brick.
If I can carelessly rack the slide in the comfort of my home what might happen in a stressed situation?
A lesson well learned for me.
“I call it the Lawyer Lock...”
Is this an actual part of some (all?) newer revolvers? Does it have an actual name? My wife is interested in getting a revolver, and I’m not familiar with them. I’ve done just a little bit of research - I think a .38 special that can handle the “P” loads would be good.
“Once the shooter has chambered a round, he must manually cock the hammer.”
You might want to rephrase that since that is not true.
My statement would have been accurate if I’d qualified it it by saying “if the shooter decocted the weapon.” Thanks for the correction.
Now it is true.
When Browning and Colt submitted the 1911 to the Army for it’s pistol trials in 1911, it fired 6,000 rounds without a malfunction.
No gun had ever accomplished that before.
Hardly an unreliable design.
My 686+ failed to fire once. The strain screw had come almost out. Tightened it with Loctite.
Thank you FReepers for the informative comments.
I did drop the Mag, re-racked the Slide, ejected the Cartridge. That would have a disaster under a Crime Situation.
Thank you.
“if the shooter decocted the weapon.”
Any shooter than decocks a loaded 1911 has no business owning a 1911.
“The possibility of unintentional discharges scares the crap out of me.”
What you are doing lowing the hammer on a loaded chamber is far far far more dangerous than carrying all day every day cocked and locked. The 1911 design was never intended for this. The safety does not block the pin. It only blocks the trigger. Because of people doing this kind of dangerous crap some 1911s have a half cocked position to keep the hammer off the firing pin. But even that requires you to lower it and is NOT recommended.
And that is just the danger of decocking it. If you ever had to cock and fire in a hurry there’s a good chance the slide would break your thumb.
If a gun does not have a built in decocker it probably should not be decocked with the round in the pipe.
Interesting that soldiers in combat zones don’t “battle carry” but CCW do.
Could some knowledgable “someone” comment?
Whether or not the projectile becoming seated slightly deeper in the brass would make the cartridge less dependable or less predictable would depend on a lot of variables. Whether this even happens depends on the type of ammo, the type of gun, the type of brass, the type of powder, and the design of projectile. It would depend also on how or if the brass was crimped to secure the projectile. I have not noticed this phenomena with our guns or ammo but will watch for it in the future.
I don’t practice with my self-defense loads. Too expensive.
If you assembled your own ammo, it wouldn't necessarily save you money. That would depend mostly on how much ammo you go through. But you might go ahead and practice with the same loads that you use for self-defense because the actual expense per cartridge is almost as cheap as surplus even if you purchase new brass.
I didn't pay attention to the type of crimp applied, in that case a roll crimp rather than a taper crimp required for autos.
That was my mistake, not the gun. John Moses Browning knew what he was doing when designing firearms.
too light a crimp on the bullet?
Regarding your post about having to manually cock the hammer on a 1911 after chambering a round. I’d like to know how you load your 1911 and not have the hammer cocked. That would be a trick. :)
On some old Colts the sear gets worn and the hammer will follow the slide down but not with enough force to fire.
If you try to cock it, the hammer will just not stay cocked unless you try this trick. While the hammer is down, squeeze the trigger pretty hard and hold it. Then cock the hammer and it will stay up.
Of course I would never keep such a gun and the hammer is actually easy to replace.
It happened real easily with Black Talon. Also Starfire. And I think Hydrashock.
“.38 special that can handle the “P” loads would be good.”
Most .38 for personal defense are small. Even if designed to handle the +P+ it will have quite a bit of recoil, maybe too much for wifey.
You may want to think about a .357. Even a personal defense one will have a bit more weight than the .38. And you can still put .38 “+P” or “+P+” in it, and have a better handling w/respect to recoil.
I am sorry for your difficulties. Largely because of my interest in historic firearms, I began assembling all of my own pistol cartridges many years. I am not very familiar with the most popular brands of ammunition or their characteristics.
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