Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Condition 1, 2, or 3? Why?

Since I upgraded to a S&W EZ 9 for my CCW it has become my night stand gun too (was a DA revolver). My EZ 9 has the manual safety so it's cocked and locked.

No discussion on 1911 condition carry is complete without mention of condition 0

cocked, loaded, and thumb safety off, as the gun has a grip safety another safety back up isn't needed.

Anybody here remember the Caravelle Arms Strap? Replaced spring housing, and grip safety. On squeezing the grip, including the trigger, the mechanism would bring the hammer back and fire the gun.

Possibly the first full beaver tail on a 1911, and copied by Safari Arms.

That’s just dumb!!!

Condition 1 cocked & locked is the proper way to carry a 1911

Exactly!

When I first started carrying a 1911, I followed Jeff Cooper's logic. I played with carrying in different conditions and "discovered" that cocked & locked was the only way to carry a 1911. Nothing has changed over the last 40 years to make me carry a 1911 differently. For me, a 1911 is either C&L or it is unloaded and in the safe.

I have always carried a 1912 cocked and locked. My current carry and nightstand gun is a Wilson Combat EDC-X9 and it has no grip safety just the thumb safety. It is carried cocked and locked. As for carrying a semi auto without a round in the chamber which means you have to rack the slide in an emergency. While drawing your gun in any situation is an aggressive move, racking the slide would seem to me to be even more aggressive. It may not matter but it is something to consider.

Appreciate all the input guys. Please keep it coming.

I am perfectly comfortable carrying cocked and locked.

It's when it's time to take the gun off that I am less than comfortable LEAVING it in Condition 1, mainly due to third parties.

But then the ramifications of that set in: if you train Condition 1, the last thing you want to do is get woken up in a "right now" situation and need to remember to rack the slide or cock the hammer. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of training.

I do have a lockbox as Waders suggests. It might be time to install it somewhere handy.

Also, I sleep on the left side of the bed, normally on my back. Puts me closest to the door and best positioned to protect, but makes me have to reach for pistol with left hand. Add in stress and fog from a stressful wake-up, and I am thinking I need to find a way to get that pistol in my right hand easier and better the odds.

1. might as well carry a block otherwise.

Wisdom,. Earned. Rght there.

For years, my nightstand gun was a P7M13 loaded with a full mag and one in the chamber. They don’t get much safer than a squeeze cocker and if the bad guy gets ahold of it, he’ll be at a disadvantage. My wife’s night stand has a loaded SW620 revolver in it.

Anymore, I favor a Glock with a Kydex trigger cover, loaded with a full mag and one in the chamber.

There are no kids living in the house. If/when there are kids in the house, they’re somebody else’s and guns are under lock and key.

Why fool with variations? have it ready to go with just a squeeze on the trigger. KISS

Can you have Glocks in CA?

We can. Nothing newer than a Gen 3, but yes.

Rick,

Out and about there's one in the tube, but for nightstand duty, full magazine, empty chamber.

If my nightstand pistol was a 1911 it would be cocked and locked. That is the way it's designed, and I'm fine with that. But......that's not my nightstand pistol. As I get older I find I don't wake up as sharp as I like and I move a little slower than i used to, my grip isn't as strong and I wear glasses.
My choice is my Beretta 92FS inox with night sights and 15 rounds of ammunition. Loaded, hammer down, just pick it up and pull the trigger. It's never failed to fire and cycle, doesn't care if it's held tighter not. Waking up foggy and stiff there is nothing to remember except front sight. I really like my 1911 but in this situation, for me, something else is better.
As far as children in the house, You might need a lock box for a place to put it in the daytime, but at night it should be available when needed immediately . This is just my opinion and maybe another way to look at the problem.

Any handgun carried for use or stored or carried for defence should be ready to shoot by at most manipulating the safety off.

1911, cocked and locked is how it was designed to be used. None of this drawing from holster and racking the slide crap. If you need it, you need it now!

Haven't used striker fired pistols much, grew up on the 1911. God spoke through John Moses Browning and the PERFECT combat handgun was designed .

Very much a DA revolver guy. Carry loaded.

I have some Ruger SA revolvers. I would carry six in them as they are safe with the hammer over a cartridge unlike the Colt SAA.

I would examine one of those small safes like Hornady makes for night time bedside use. Keep guests and kids safe. There are various wall mounts that keep shotguns and rifles safe. They would be loaded, but chamber empty. As my young daughter said at the range when they were trying various shotguns, "There's something very comforting about the sound of a pump shotgun being racked." She emphasized that by racking the pump. She would have been 12-14 at the time. Only downside is that you could give your position away. On the bright side, because of TV cop shows most people know what the sound means and they might be intimidated/scared just by the sound and leave the house. That's a win IMO.

Generally a handgun on my person is loaded. Off person, including nightstand, has an empty chamber.

No kids here - and the Kahr P-45 with night sights is always ready to go..

Back in the day even with a kid in the house, we typically had an S&W DA/SA semi's with the decocker down. But more importantly we focused on the guns in the safe. I consider guns to be the forbidden fruit and I didn't want to make them more mysterious than necessary. My son had his own gun, which was a 22 rifle. Our agreement was that he NEVER touched any of our guns without supervision. BUT, all he had to do was come to me and tell me he'd like to look at a gun, and regardless of what I was doing I'd stop and take him to the safe (not always convenient by any means) and he would watch me how I handled the gun and safely and carefully checked to make sure it was not loaded. THEN, I would hand it to him and he was to copy everything I did. The goal was he would learn gun safety at the same time he was satisfying his curiosity, and the goal is to be your childs hero, the one they want to emulate. We never specifically took him to the night stand where loaded guns were we always made a point to go to the gun safe so he associated the safe with where the guns were.

It's a tough thing with kids and not all kids are the same emotionally, or physically, or even the age this should start. Good luck and good for you wanting to have a gun for emergencies but also want to protect your kids.

My carry guns have one in the tube. The Sig P220 is striker fired and the hammer decocked. The 1911s one down, hammer cocked, and safety on. Be Well, Rustyzipper.