1911 grip safety issue

[RevolverRob]

Thank you, this is really informative. I’ve been working with this for the past few hours, and while the advice you and Chuck give about pushing forward rather than down, or hitting the safety with the joint of my thumb rather than the tip is helpful, but I’m noticing that I can still catch the web of my hand far out enough on the beaver tail to foul the grip safety if my thumb is low and alongside the hammer as you show.

What seems to be helping is jamming the web of my hand into the grip safety pretty forcefully on the draw, and then consciously pushing forward as you suggest instead of curling my thumb down.

I still like the idea of a grip safety with a large enough memory bump to deactivate no matter how I’m holding the gun, but this seems to be helping quite a bit.

Then, I'd try @Dan Lehr's suggestion then of hot gluing/velcroing on a piece of foam/leather and work it a bit. If that gets you where you want, then absolutely bigger memory bump time!

[DamonL]

Here is a picture of two guns. Both are Ed Brown safeties, one with and one without a bump. The one without a bump still sticks out quite a bit compared to HStanton1’s gun.

[P30]

What's the main purpose of the grip safety? Avoiding that the gun fires (due to the mass inertia of the trigger), when the gun falls on its back and the thumb safety is deactivated. The grip safety avoids this, even if the travel for deactivating it is reduced (not to zero, of course).

Reducing the travel has the advantage that the gun can be fired without problems by a person with thin hands (like me). I see no big disadvantage.

(One can replace the steel firing pin by a titanium firing pin in order to reduce the probability of unwanted discharges, if the gun falls on its front. I suppose this helps more than a long travel.)

But I'm only a sports shooter (we are not allowed to carry firearms for self-defense in Germany). So maybe I'm wrong.

[Hstanton1]

Here is a picture of two guns. Both are Ed Brown safeties, one with and one without a bump. The one without a bump still sticks out quite a bit compared to HStanton1’s gun.

I believe the grip safety on my gun is an unmodified NHC part, you can see it protrude like a normal memory bump GS in the picture I posted of the gun by itself.

[Chuck Whitlock]

@Hstanton1,

I'm glad that you are finding merit in what we are sharing.

What seems to be helping is jamming the web of my hand into the grip safety pretty forcefully on the draw, and then consciously pushing forward as you suggest instead of curling my thumb down.

I still like the idea of a grip safety with a large enough memory bump to deactivate no matter how I’m holding the gun, but this seems to be helping quite a bit.

Attachment 111485

I got to thinking about that photo sometime last night or this morning. One of the purposes of the high, two-handed grip it to get 360* of meat around the grip...at least as close as possible. If you are leaving that air pocket between the tang and the web of your hand, you are defeating this purpose, and...dare I say.....probably in the worst possible spot as far as recoil control is concerned.

[Hstanton1]

@Hstanton1,

I'm glad that you are finding merit in what we are sharing.






I got to thinking about that photo sometime last night or this morning. One of the purposes of the high, two-handed grip it to get 360* of meat around the grip...at least as close as possible. If you are leaving that air pocket between the tang and the web of your hand, you are defeating this purpose, and...dare I say.....probably in the worst possible spot as far as recoil control is concerned.

That pocket is partially there because the draw in question is a fouled one, and partially because that’s where I try to put my support hand. I get the best results in terms of recoil control from putting the heel of my support hand onto the corner of the backstrap if that makes sense. That’s part of why I have drawn guns with a “claw” grip so much in the past, it lets my support hand get to that spot before the meat of my strong hand thumb can get there and crowd it. I understand that that may be me shooting a 1911 like it’s a Glock though.



It’s a blurry photo, but this is about as good a representation as I can give of what my two handed shooting grip looks like when I’m not consciously thinking about it.

[Bucky]

The problem with the grip safety is, you can train and train and train, but if the shit hits the fan, AKA panic mode, the GS could jam you up.

I did a year long experiment, after which all GS equipped guns were pulled from any carry use. That was difficult for a 1911 lover. I was an early adopter of the EDC X9, and it’s still my primary carry. I wish one of these new to 2011 makers would make one sans GS.

[Jim Watson]

I wish one of these new to 2011 makers would make one sans GS.

I don't know about new, but there is at least one deluxe builder out there doing it.

[Hstanton1]

The problem with the grip safety is, you can train and train and train, but if the shit hits the fan, AKA panic mode, the GS could jam you up.

I did a year long experiment, after which all GS equipped guns were pulled from any carry use. That was difficult for a 1911 lover. I was an early adopter of the EDC X9, and it’s still my primary carry. I wish one of these new to 2011 makers would make one sans GS.

What was your experiment?

I’m not against switching to something like an EDCx9, it would certainly carry easier than a 5 inch 1911, but I’m a big fan of the falcon and I’d like to at least give it a fair shake before abandoning it for something else.

[Bucky]

What was your experiment?

I started shooting USPSA 30+ years ago. My 1911s all had either pinned or deactivated grip safeties. When I got my Les Baer, I decided I would try shooting it a full year without deactivating it. I did tune it for the most minimal amount of movement needed. I was doing well for most the year. Then I was shooting a steel match and I came to Smoke and Hope. It’s the fastest stage of the match and one you can really push the draw. Well, I failed to deactivate the grip safety not once, but twice.

So you think speedy (panic) draw, huge amount of adrenaline, sound like another possible scenario? Plus that feeling of wanting to pull the trigger and it not moving. It certainly made me think.

After that, the GS got deactivated (it was a game gun). I will no deactivate a GS, or any safety on a serious use pistol.

Full disclosure, I run a very high grip with thumb on safety (probably why the TS was never an issue for me).

As always, YMMV.

I’m not against switching to something like an EDCx9, it would certainly carry easier than a 5 inch 1911, but I’m a big fan of the falcon and I’d like to at least give it a fair shake before abandoning it for something else.

I couldn’t recommend it more if it fits the budget. There are other advantages too, besides the lack of GS, especially in 9mm. It field strips and detail strips easier than a 1911 and especially a 2011. The guide rod lifts out just as easy as a Glock (well, maybe first gen Glock). It uses a 9mm specific frame and magazine (no spacers), and the feed angle is more like a Beretta 92 than a 1911, as the round is aligned almost directly to the chamber.

It’s a well thought out pistol.