Why Condition 2 or 3 are not good?
Frank's post below was copied from another thread. But I think it is a good description why carrying an M1911 in Condition 2 or Condition 3 should be avoided.
John
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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 BHP or 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 BHP or 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 BHP or 1911 with one hand on the draw stroke is not a particularly quick, graceful or efficient action. And in a high stress situation, your fine motor skills go south.
[5] From condition 2, you may be able to cock a BHP or 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 BHP or 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. And it would be the same, no doubt, with a BHP.
The BHP and 1911 are at heart fighting guns. 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 be quickly, effectively, efficiently and safely 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 BHP or 1911 is condition 1.
DVC
adapt, improvise, overcome
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.", Carl Sagan
"One should shoot as quickly as one can -- but no quicker.", Jeff Cooper
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