tracker wrote:Back in the day it was not uncommon for some to pin the grip safety after stories of first shot failures in SD situations, whether true or not one can easily imagine it.
I for sure shoot with people who have thirty, forty, or more trigger time using 1911 pistols for self defense as well as competition. A few of them definitely disable the grip safety.
The palm end of the thumbs on both my hands have never, at any speed, failed to engage a grip safety. But we're not all put together the same way.
I will second that as far as engaging the grip safety. I didn't even thirty, fortyknow there was a problem for some until I started talking to other shooters. But, the 1911 was the first semi-auto pistol I ever fired and when I went into the Army, it was the standard issue for officers, though I was issued and carried a Colt Detective Special for when I was in civilian clothes.
My earlier post should have read "...thirty, forty, or more years of trigger time using 1911 pistols..."
I have jokingly suggested to a couple of those friends that they should stop pinning grip safeties and get thumb pad implants from a cosmetic surgeon. They don't know what to do with me sometimes.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
Brian D. wrote:I have jokingly suggested to a couple of those friends that they should stop pinning grip safeties and get thumb pad implants from a cosmetic surgeon. They don't know what to do with me sometimes.
Well there went that cup of coffee out my nostrils ...
tracker1 wrote:The grip safety needs to be properly tuned in my opinion which is a minor fitting issue but once done it should not give you any issues. Most of the problems come if you grasp is not high and tight as the factory has set it. In my 1911 days I would adjust my SD 1911s with a bit of a margin in case I didn’t have a perfect grip on the draw. Back in the day it was not uncommon for some to pin the grip safety after stories of first shot failures in SD situations, whether true or not one can easily imagine it.
I'd prefer no grip safety whatsoever. The Argentine Ballester-Molina, as you know, was a close copy of the USGI 1911 and they chose to eliminate the grip safety altogether. I doubt that it was a cost saving measure either. IMHO the grip safety is a liability for civilian self defense use. Yeah, most times it works, like at the target range, but I'm asking "what about injured hands...cold hands...greasy hands...weak hands...wrong hand (left or right reversed)...gloved hands???" There are a number of conditions where the grip safety might present a problem. And we all know that attacks from bad guys rarely come at convenient times. I mean, imagine that you are sitting in the drivers seat of Burger King's parking lot eating a Whopper and fries when a knife wielding BG suddenly materializes just inches from your car door. It's August so you have the windows down. You grab your 1911 with your mayonnaise covered hand and try to point/fire your 1911 sideways (remember you are sitting face forward in a drivers seat and time is short. IMHO, in that case I'd rather not contend with a grip safety.
