Or, if you're more traditional, cocked & locked. Most specifically on the 1911-design pistols. I'd been thinking about this a while, and Kim posted this on it, linking to Tam.
If you're not familiar with these, you've got three carry modes:
3. Loaded magazine, chamber empty & hammer down
2. Loaded mag, chamber loaded, hammer on half-cock & safety on(on those pistols that allow it)
1. Loaded mag, chamber loaded, hammer cocked & safety on.
From what I've read, J.M. Browning designed the 1911 to be carried cocked & locked, and unless there's something mechanically wrong with a pistol, it's about as safe as you can get. Short of being unloaded.
On half-cock, in my opinion, NEVER!!! On some, you cannot carry that way, my Kimber for instance will not go on safety if the hammer's on half-cock. And the manual specifically states 'Do not', the design wasn't intended for that. The half-cock notch is supposed to be a safety notch; if the cocked hammer slips or gets jarred off the sear, this notch will catch it before it can strike the firing pin. Plus, there's a story.
There used to be a gentleman named Dan Combs who was firearms instructor for the OK Highway Patrol. Fine man, and one of the damndest shots you'd ever hope to see. One day he was at a range with a Colt Gold Cup match pistol doing some shooting. He fired a shot, put the hammer on half-cock and set the safety, stuck it in his belt(something, from what I've heard, he never did except this time) and reached for binoculars to check the target. And the hammer slipped off the sear and fired the pistol, which sent a 200 grain match bullet and a bunch of hot gasses into his abdomen. He lived through it, but hearing about this as a kid made me decide that when I got a .45(yeah, wanted one even then) I would not carry it that way. Turned out to be a defective sear or hammer notch, can't remember which; when he leaned forward it pushed the hammer forward a bit and... Later on this was reported to the commander at Vance Air Force Base and they had the post inventory of pistols checked; they found two that would do the same thing, for the same reason.
When I carry this pistol, it's cocked & locked for two reasons:
It's the safest way to carry, and
What if you don't have both hands free to charge it in time of trouble?
That last is the one that gives me shivers. There are drills for working the action with only one hand; generally intended for someone who's been injured or otherwise has only one hand available and has to clear a jam or misfeed or reload; they're not something I want to plan on doing when a situation happens. Accounts I've read & heard generally break down to you either have plenty of time to pick up/draw a weapon and ready it, or you have no time at all. In the latter, I damn sure don't want to have to try to fight off some clown with one hand while trying to work the slide with the other because I didn't have the piece charged.
The last reason some say carry Condition 3 is that, if you're attacked and have to shoot, some prosecutor could take the fact that you were cocked & locked as evidence that 'you were just waiting to shoot someone', or try to use that in court to show such bullshit. I agree it's a concern. I also think that if you're dealing with a prosecutor of such idiot mindset, it really doesn't matter how you were carrying, he'll try to use it against you. Hell, he'll try to use anything against you. I'd rather have to deal with that in a hearing than try to work the action one-handed when everything goes to hell.
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