I am just curious on how some of you guys carry your ccw Kimber's and what condition do you carry in (1, 2, 3 or 4)??

I personally prefer one in the chamber, however have the hammer down. I find it very easy to cock it before I take it out of the holster.

Being that I just got my 1911 I haven't built up the confidence to carry it cocked and locked with the manually safety on. I get kind of nervous that the safety can becomes disengaged by accidental movement. I do know that you still need to have the grip safety depressed for it to actually shoot.

Thoughts, comments, concerns??

TIA

A 1911 is designed to be carried cocked and locked. Period. Been carrying Condition 1, for years and have yet to have a thumb safety disengage. The grip safety is the next backup to the thumb safety, and if holstered, you can't get your finger on the trigger. The gun can't discharge unless something is broken.

Trying to thumb the hammer while drawing is just asking to put a hole where you don't want one. It is more fumble prone and less safe than carrying in condition one. You have to grip the gun, draw, present to the target, and somewhere in there lose your grip and then re-acquire it in order to thumb cock the gun. That's not very efficient use of time when your life might be on the line.

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"The 1911 was the design, given by God to us through John M. Browning, that represents the epitome of what a killing tool needs to be. It was true in 1911 and it's true now." - Col. Robert Coates commanding, U.S. Marine Corp Special Operations Command Detachment 1 (DET 1)

Condition 1 good. Anything else bad. :

I always wanted to use that smiley...no offense. Seriously though, for my money I can see absolutely no advantage to carrying any other way than condition 1. Anything else is more dangerous, complicated, and inefficient. Every ND that I'm aware of involving a 1911 (and that's quite a few) stem from carrying in a condition other than condition 1.

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The keys to winning a gunfight are first to bring a gun, then to take your time...quickly.

Remember that if your enemy is within range, so are you.

In order to lower the hammer on loaded chamber you must squeeze the trigger and maintain control of the hammer. If you should slip not only will the gun discharge, you will suffer severe damage to your fingers from the slides recoil. It is a very dangerous method of operation.

Cocking the gun in the holster is another dangerous act, if you should slip and discharge the gun against your body. Note: the slide safety does not engage on a 1911 with the hammer down. So before you draw you have a cocked hammer, without the slide safety engaged. If you should press the trigger while drawing, you have a discharge.

The entire concept that you utilize is an accident in the making. Only the final act is necessary to complete the disaster.

Cocked and Locked is the method that the gun was designed for, it provides the greatest safety and best function in a time of crisis.

Rich

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Certified NRA Instructor Pistol & Shotgun
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"There Is No Greater High Than Defeating Armed Felons" Rich-D

I certainly would not favor condition 2. It's not only a question of lowering the hammer on a live round safely. It's also a question of how readily you can put your pistol into action from condition 2.

There are a number of reasons why neither condition 2 (round chambered but hammer down) nor 3 (magazine loaded but chamber empty) is a preferred method of carrying a 1911 for self defense.

[1] You can't make an appointment for an emergency.

[2] In an emergency, you may need to deploy your weapon quickly.

[3] If you draw a 1911 in condition 2 or 3, until you can get it cocked, or cocked with a round chambered, you are holding a club (a small one at that).

[4] Condition 2 carry requires lowering the hammer manually on a live round. Also at least in my experience, cocking a 1911 with one hand on the draw stroke is not a particularly quick, graceful or efficient action. I don't think cocking the hammer while the pistol is in the holster before drawing it solves the problem. Cocking the gun in the holster adds an extra action to the draw stroke and must be completed before you can take your full firing grip and draw the gun, and thus it can't help but slow down the presentation. Remember also that in a high stress situation, your fine motor skills go south.

[5] From condition 2, you may be able to cock a 1911 quickly on presentation using the weak hand -- if you (1) practice and (2) have two hands available. From condition 3, you can quickly rack the slide Israeli fashion on presentation -- if you (1) practice and (2) have two hands available.

[6] Since when and how an emergency may happen are, by definition, unpredictable, you can't assume that you will have two hands available.

For these reasons condition 1 is generally regarded as the preferred way to carry a 1911 for defensive purposes.

I've trained at hot ranges where everyone wearing a 1911 carried in it that way. And indeed those with whom I've trained who routinely go about in public armed with a 1911 would not consider carrying a 1911 in any other way. I've not heard of mishaps arising from that mode of carry.

The 1911 is at heart a fighting gun. When either is carried about in the course of one's normal business, it is carried as a tool for fighting if necessary. As such it is appropriate to carry it in the manner in which it can most efficiently serve that role. And that manner is condition 1, if for no other reason than that is the only method of carry from which it can quickly, effectively, efficiently and safely be deployed with only one hand.

When the shoe drops circumstances may require that one's weapon be deployed quickly with one hand. Perhaps the other is needed to ward off an attack, to displace an obstacle or to assist someone to safety; or perhaps you're carrying your groceries at the time.

There are other weapons that can be carried in ways that might appear safer than cocked and locked yet still be effectively and swiftly deployed if necessary -- a double action revolver for example. But IMHO the way to carry a 1911 is condition 1.


DVC

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adapt, improvise, overcome
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.", Carl Sagan
"One should shoot as quickly as one can -- but no quicker.", Jeff Cooper

Condition 1 (cocked and locked) or Condition 3 (empty chamber, hammer up or down, full mag) if you don't feel at ease with Condition 1.

Condition 2, as others have said is inherently unreliable and dangerous.

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John Caradimas SV1CEC
The M1911 Pistols Organization
http://www.m1911.org

Guys I have been converted I really appreciate all of the feedback

Thanks so much!!!

I carry condition 1 in a IWB holster in the front of the belly. It´s the best place for me for same reasons. Sometimes I feel a bit unconfortable for carrying in condition 1 aiming at the "father ID", but never got the thumb safety disengaged. BTW the holster it´s a Tucker Gunleather Coverup model. One of the bests I have found.

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Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est. (Séneca the young)

A sword never kill anyone, it´s just a tool in the hand of the murders