Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Loaded Chamber on a 1911 Pistol?

WTF takes a 1911 on half cock, and puts the muzzle against their palm to cock the fugger? Same said for the guys that let the hammer down on a live round? chippy, you should start hanging out with a different crowd....

What you guys said is more accurate than you could have known. Except that no searching was involved. Reports of such things come to me regularly. Fortunately, it seems like 1911 half-cock shooting incidents are maybe being reported less frequently - fewer ignoramuses out there, I hope - and they don't often come with photos.

i ran across a cochise deputy a few years ago, in an era of glocks he was still packing a well worn 1911. had it cocked and locked thumb break strap between hammer and frame.
I kind of grinned ans said from the condition of the finish i suspected he knew how to use it, partiicularly along the border.
I have had people approach me when carrying the same way, and say that was "scary". my response was, i guess it's doing it's job, it's suppose to be scary.

Oops. Half-cock carry didn't work out so well for this guy. Maybe next time, cocked-and-locked, eh?

What strikes me in this thread is those pictures and the thought that the people in them in the event of war would be defending America,...Damn!

I agree that you should carry as you wish.

For my part, I carry cocked and locked. Always have. But I have shot, carried field stripped, changed mags, etc. for so long, I could literally do it blindfolded. First thing my gun hand goes to when I draw a 1911 is the safety. It's automatic.

I’m flattered you think me worthy of such detailed research.

The Corwin case (closed since early 2018), similar to others claims which followed, is actually what got me started on my campaign to spread the word promoting only cocked-and-locked carry for fully loaded 1911 pistols.

Corwin’s injury occurred in VA, a State in which a plaintiff’s personal injury claim is completely defeated if the plaintiff can be shown to be even 1% contributorily negligent in the cause of his injury. In an (unsuccessful) attempt to avoid that harsh VA law, as well as avoiding a likely gun savvy jury pool, the Corwin case was filed in Clark County (Las Vegas) NV, notorious for its liberal Democrat voters (potential jurors) and liberal Democrat judges, all likely to hold firm anti-gun views. Plaintiff’s Las Vegas attorney turned out to be a personal friend of our judge, and was excused of some pretty egregious misconduct in our case which should have got him fined by the judge, but didn’t. That Las Vegas attorney’s firm was somehow connected to the VA law firm which began the claim, part of a larger nationwide effort by liberal democrat oriented law firms to make big financial trouble for firearms manufacturers and thereby, through financial ruin, maybe get rid of those evil purveyors of death and misery, and coincidentally make a whole bunch of money for themselves in the process.

The Corwin case should have been forced to relocate to very conservative Nye County NV, where Armscor is located, which borders Clark County. But, Armscor’s then attorney specialized in general business matters, didn’t know much about guns, was “inexperienced” in the intricacies of civil litigation, was a resident of Las Vegas and therefore thought it awfully convenient plaintiff’s attorney chose to litigate in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, this all happened while I was away in Afghanistan for five years, teaching criminal justice. The case was already irretrievably stuck in Clark County by the time I returned and reconnected with Armscor. It then became my task to sort it all out and make the best of it.

First thing I did was consider hiring replacement counsel. High Standard Mfg., a co-defendant with Armscor in the case, was represented by a very competent civil litigation attorney who also knew guns. As soon as High Standard bankrupted out of the case, I immediately hired its attorney to represent Armscor, replacing Armscor’s previous “inexperienced” attorney. Things were soon looking better, but it ultimately wasn’t enough.

So, here are the case facts:

Corwin was relaxing in the living room of his rural VA home, along with his wife and a male friend of his, following a slight bit of boozing and light drug use. His fully loaded .45ACP 1911 was in Condition 2 (hammer fully lowered) in a nylon fabric holster, resting on a fabric covered couch, some feet away from him. (The user’s manual which came with Corwin’s 1911 did not allow the Condition 2 option, only fire immediately or engage the thumb safety.) He leaned over from his chair to fetch his pistol and grabbed the holstered 1911 by the muzzle, dragging it across the surface of the couch toward himself. As he was doing this, the pistol discharged, the bullet passing through the palm of his right hand and into his abdomen, causing an extremely serious wound, requiring much expensive medical treatment.

When the local law arrived, they saw what they took to be a defensive wound to Corwin’s palm, in addition to his abdominal wound, and immediately accuse the wife of shooting Corwin. Both Corwin and his friend said that wasn’t so. Corwin said he thought the hammer may have snagged on a seam in the couch fabric, was partially pulled back, then released to fire the cartridge. The suspicious cops sent the pistol and remaining ammunition to the state crime lab to have the story checked out. A VA state crime lab technician was able to get Corwin’s 1911 pistol to fire a chambered primed case three times out of five attempts by pulling back the hammer to just short of the half-cock notch and releasing it.

The facts and the controlling VA law heavily favored Armscor. Unfortunately, the biased judge, the sleazy plaintiff’s attorney, and a potentially anti-gun jury did not. In addition, Armscor’s supposed Las Vegas “firearms expert” and the retained medical expert both got unusually greedy at the last minute and engaged in what could have easily constituted extortion, including veiled threats of withheld or “modified” testimony should additional and unwarranted financial benefit to them not be forthcoming. In view of those issues, it was thought best that Armscor immediately settle the case for an amount estimated to be significantly less than the potential cost of trying the case to a win, perhaps reached only on appeal. So, that’s what was done.

Some tough lessons there for Armscor:
1. Don’t ever let a firearms product liability lawsuit proceed in liberal Clark County, it’s not proper venue anyway;
2. Don’t get cheap and hire as your “firearms expert” a local firearms dealer with whom you’re already in an ongoing business relationship;
3. If you hire a medical expert, which I’m not sure is even necessary where you’ve got liability beat, then get all the agreed terms for that expert’s service clearly fixed; and
4. Retain competent counsel.

Those lessons have been well learned, with Armscor in the years since then doing as well on claims as its self-interested insurance carriers will permit. Can’t stop insurance carriers from settling meritless claims simply because they see it as cheaper for themselves than defeating such claims. It’s really not about what’s best for the insured.