1911 .45 accidental discharge

[kaejr]

whats going on guys...I went out today and bought a Rock Island 1911 (i've been dreaming about this gun for about 1 year now) well today while examining the firearm and looking at its features I decided to de-cock the firearm to disengage the firing pin, well from the title of this thread you guys already know what happened next the gun went off (yes I was outside at my work bench and the firearm was pointed toward the ground)....After standing there in total shock for about 15 mins I went directly into the house went into my think tank (some of you may know of this as the bathroom,latrean, or head) and read the little manual over and over again and it never said anything on the proper way of decocking the firearm. ( I now just clear the gun of all ammo) Do you guys have any suggestions on what I did wrong (unless of course the whole process)? any help would definitely be appreciated and would probably bring my blood pressure down from the shock and stress added by accidental discharges....Hopefully my first time having this happen will be my last...

[DXKLR]

The only correct way I know of de-cocking a 1911 .45 safely is to remove the magazine, pull the slide back allowing the chambered round to be ejected, then let the slide forward to battery. After doing this, and double making sure there are no rounds in the firearm, you point the weapon in a safe direction and dry fire or you can hold and release the hammer with one hand as you pull the trigger with the other. The 1911 does not have a de-cocking system like some other automatics where the firing pin is blocked. There is 'no' firing pin disengagement system that I know of on these 1911's.

[kaejr]

well [] thanks for informing me because the moron that sold me the weapon was actually doing the gun that way while showing it to me...and me not knowing anything about the 1911 and how it works (i carry 2 Smith & Wesson both with decocking features) thought that it could be done while loaded I actually had pulled this "decocking" trick off 3-4 times before on the same weapon but I guess that the last time something didn't go right... but like I said before, that situation scared me enough to go through the proper steps (i.e. unchambering rounds and triple checking before I even attempt to touch the trigger.)

[Hawkmoon]

As you have now discovered, the 1911 does not have a "decocker" function. It is either cocked ... or it is not cocked. The only two ways to take the hammer off cocked are (1) pull the trigger and let the hammer fall (i.e. shoot the gun), or (2) pinch the hammer between your thumb and first finger and lower it slowly while holding the trigger back.

Your comment about "disengaging" the firing pin suggests that the person at the gun shop who provided your familiarization does not understand how the 1911 works. The firing pin is a floating firing pin, it is not a "striker." The firing pin doesn't in any way get cocked or "engaged" when the hammer is cocked. The firing pin just sits there ... until the hammer strikes it and causes it to slam foward into the primer. Lowering the hammer and decocking the pistol doesn't in any way "disengage" the firing pin, because the firing pin cannot be "engaged."

Your description of the incident isn't exactly clear as to how you were attempting to decock the pistol. A better description of how you were proceeding might lead to a better undertanding of what went wrong, but the safe approach is to always avoid lowering the hammer over a live round.

[grumpyoldman]

on the plus side, you did have the gun pointed safely.

[Cody302]

Congratulations Kaejr, I'm glad to hear you joined the 1911 club and decided to do so in the R.I.A. fashion. DXKLR pretty much summed it up.Don't feel bad,I've done the same thing,except I was easing down the hammer on my Commander and thought.."that's close enough,if I let go now the pin won't hit the round.................BAAM!". What really,really,really made it stupid was................the gun was pointing straight up.......................about 8-9 inches from my face...................in my living room............with a house full of people.................trying to sleep at 1 o'clock in the morning!! Now get out there and put some rounds through it,break her in,bring back the target and tell us how much fun she was!

p.s.- without incident this time please

[DXKLR]

Yes, there is no reason for feeling bad, trust me, I won't go into detail of why there was a .45 caliber bullet hole in the floor board of my truck many many years ago. LOL

[rondawg]

I decock mine safely all the time, although a lot of folks frown on the practice. I can certainly understand the danger, but I pinch the hammer between my thumb and first finger, with my second finger UNDER the hammer as far as I can keep it there. I've never had a problem, and feel safe doing this. This is just MY opinion/experience, and I ALWAYS make sure the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction.

Also my opinion, decocking a 1911 should always be done with BOTH hands. Trying to let the hammer down one-handed is asking for trouble, besides being dang near impossible.

[dogmush]

but the safe approach is to always avoid lowering the hammer over a live round.

Exactly. It sounds as if someone gave you some bad Info about how a 1911 works. Good news is, you're in the right place to learn all you need to know. First lesson: Clear the Weapon, THEN lower the hammer.


FWIW, I have not come across, and can not think of, a situation where I would want to lower the hammer on a live round, and not fire that round. That's just me, YMMV.

Also since you were "decocking", you do relieze that the 1911 is a SA firearm right? That is to say if you had lowered the hammer you couldn't have fired it untill you had cocked it again with your hand.

Anyway, welcome to the forum, and glad no one got hurt. There's a .45" hole in the floor of my car from my own "learning experiance".

[kaejr]

thanks for all of the information guys...When I called myself decocking the pistol I had my thumb on the hammer (i guess this is the one handed decocking method that most of you guys frown on) and tried to, what I thought was easing the hammer slowly down....like i said before this is what I was shown earlier and maybe the guy at the booth where I bought my firearm may have been doing it this way because he knew that there was nothing in the chamber not thinking that I would pick this bad habit up that quickly.....no need for worries now on this subject because I now act as if there is no possible way to decock my firearm...I'm not new to this firearm stuff and consider myself somewhat experienced, I've read though that most "Negligent" discharges/gun accidents happen to those that have been dealing with firearms for a while but get somewhat relaxed with the practice of operating them safely..I plan to go to the range sometime this week and break her in (im still very excited about owning this gun) and like