My first 1911 Pistol

I mentioned in another thread I acquired a Rock Island Armory 1911 style .45 acp.

Anyone can comment but specifically to Claymore. Is there anything I should know about hammer based 1911's?

If you carried a 1911 would you chamber a round and leave it half-cocked or fully cocked with the physical safety switch on?

looks nice

IMO
round in the chamber, hammer cocked & safety on (or cocked & locked as it is otherwise known) is the only way to carry that sort of pistol.

Some folks carry it chamber empty, hammer uncocked & incorporate racking the slide into their draw. The Israeli's excel at that style of carry.
HOWEVER- it requires a LOT of practice drawing to get that committed to muscle memory.

I have returned from points unknown just in time to see Dan's new toy!

Cocked and locked is the standard way to carry a 1911. Nothing in the world more useless than an unloaded pistol. Some folks are scared of it. Some folks love it. The uninformed masses see a cocked pistol and . They just don't understand the genius of John Moses Browning. The 1911 has TWO mechanical safeties.

When the 1911 was first adopted, the US military taught that the 1911 was to be carried with the chamber empty and the hammer down. I suppose the Army was afraid of accidental discharges. I've read that this practice carried on through WWII but I don't know if it lasted until the 1911 was retired in the 1980's.

One thing to watch is the extended thumb safety. The strap and snap on many holsters will knock an extended safety to the off position. I have this problem with my Kimber once in a while but it won't be a problem with that SERPA holster. And even if the thumb safety is disengaged, you still have to engage the grip safety to fire the weapon.

All very good points.

Welcome back!

Welcome back Obi-Shane

Thank you all for the advice. The hammer cocked was a concern of mine as well. I've carried it twice so far. Once no round chambered and 2nd time chambered at half cocked position. I was thinking too that the redundancy of the physical thumb safety and grip safeties would be more than enough to keep the hammer from flying closed.

Any do's and don'ts for field stripping and cleaning?

Besides a double stack mag is there much difference between between A1 and A2 models?

If I recall my 1911 history correctly, the A1 came about after a series of improvements to the original M1911 at the end of WWI. Most visible of these was the rounded mainspring housing and better sights. The M1911A1 was officially adopted a couple of years after WWI and remained unchanged until after Vietnam.

I don't know when Colt started manufacturing commercial 1911's but the Colt 70 Series 1911 is basically the same gun as the M1911A1. The Colt 80 Series 1911 has an additional safety built into the firing mechanism. Its either a sear disconnect or a firing pin block. I can't remember which. This gives the 80 series a funky trigger pull that many 1911 shooters (including me) don't care for.

Generally speaking, the 1911 design is pretty much unchanged from when John Browning built the first one.

Check this out for more.

http://www.browning.com/library/infonews/detail.asp?ID=301

I took it out today and shot it. One Ammo type wasn't so good. The Tulamo worked well and so did the Hollow Points. I had one jam when a round wouldn't eject. I had to use a brush down the muzzle and popped it out. I racked the slide repeatedly and blew out any junk there might be. After that it fired flawlessly. I'm still impressed with the shear size of a .45 round!

I took Benjamin whom you see in my avatar. He shot the red cap off a 2 Ltr Coke bottle and we killed a talking bear! Blew the stuffing clear out the back of its his head. Ben also popped a AA battery. I really think he oughta go to sniper school!

I got in some practice with my 9mm XDm and Ben's .22LR rifle.

Shane, how do you field strip it for cleaning?

Sorry to took so long. On vacation in the smokey mountains.

Field stripping a 1911 takes longer to explain than it does to do.

First unload and clear your weapon. then eject the mag.

Next remove the barrel bushing. This is the piece you see around the muzzle. Push down on the recoil spring plug and turn the bushing. Be sure to keep your thumb over the plug so the spring does not shoot out and hurt someone. Pull the bushing out of the slide. You should have got a wrench with your pistol that fits over the bushing to do this.

Then carefully let the tension off the spring and pull the plug and spring out.

Next cock the hammer and pull the slide back to line up the round cutout in the slide with the slide release lever. Then push the slide release lever out.

Now pull the slide off the frame. Then slip the slide over and remove the barrel.

You have now field stripped your 1911. We hope you enjoyed this presentation. Please be generous when the hat is passed. Claymore, if I goofed anywhere, please correct me so Dan doesn't hurt himself.

Haha. Only correction I see is to eject mag first before clearing weapon. Otherwise clearing or racking slide will insert another round prior to dropping mag.

Thanks for the tips I'll look for the tool you mentioned.

sreidelberger wrote:

First unload and clear your weapon. then eject the mag.

 Claymore, if I goofed anywhere, please correct me so Dan doesn't hurt himself.

Shane, you're right-on, except for the sequence of dropping the magazine prior to clearing (that's how the DEA Agent shot himself on the video).

When re-assembling it, there are 3 things to watch: #1. Look through the round little hole that the Slide Stop goes into to insure that the barrel link is dangling in front of the hole prior to inserting the Slide Stop. #2. Line up the other end of the Slide Stop directly with the square hole, and don't drag it along the frame, lest you put a big half-mooned "Idiot Mark" on the Frame. #3. After re-assembly, but prior to inserting the magazine, "rack" the slide and let it go forward.  If the pistol flies apart in pieces, you may have done something incorrectly.

Thanks Claymore. I was browsing the hunting reg book for Ohio and realized my new pistol could be a deer hunting gun too. This year for first time straight walled cartridge rifles are allowed.

I need recommendations for the best 1911 mags. My mag well has an extended rim for lack of better word. The mag needs to have an extended foot plate.

Wilson Combat seem to be the Universal Gold Standard.

I would start by buying one or two of those and see how your pistol likes them.

Claymore wrote:Wilson Combat seem to be the Universal Gold Standard.

I would start by buying one or two of those and see how your pistol likes them.

Can you buy'em direct or does ctd or MidwayUSA carry them?

Thanks for the link. I saw some 10 round mags there too. In my manual it says it can take 8 and 13 round mags. I'd like a 10 round mag or a 13 if I can find it.

I went to Gander out of curiosity to get a quote on its value and to sell my pump 12 ga. I'm thinking of the Mossberg Maverick it has a nice long barrel at Walmart. They didn't even want to offer me anything for the pump since its a $200 retail gun. Sales clerk said he wish he could more. They said they give me $200 for the 1911. I was like no thanks. I wasn't looking to sell it anyway. Got lucky on the way out a guy asked me if I was selling the pump. He looked at it. I asked $50 he paid me cash. I think I made Bloomberg and Gates's blood pressure rise with the smell of freedom!

RRCmdrBennett wrote: Got lucky on the way out a guy asked me if I was selling the pump. He looked at it. I asked $50 he paid me cash. I think I made Bloomberg and Gates's blood pressure rise with the smell of freedom!