January 28th, 2021
7minute read
The 1911 istruly a classic gun.
It is robust, reliable and easy to shoot well.
Well, its easy to shoot for right-handers, that is.
For a 1911 pistol without an ambidextrous safety, press up (direction of the arrow) with the left-hand index finger at the base joint to put the gun on safe.
Historically, the 1911 pistol has been a right-handers gun.
But what about the lefty who has to borrow a right-hand-only 1911 in an emergency?
Dont eventhinkaboutcarrying it cocked and unlocked.
The author prefers this method. Trigger finger straight, three fingers crush-grip the gun, and the thumb comes over to wipe off the left-side safety.
Off-safe chambered carry is universally considered dangerous as hell.
Just, c’mon, dont do it.
How aboutempty chamber carry?
The 1911 has a manual safety (at top) that you must consciously disengage to fire the pistol. The grip safety (arrow below) is disengaged when you properly grip the pistol.
Hammer down on an empty chamber?
It can even lead to an unintended discharge of a weakly held pistol … obviously a very bad thing.
How do I know, you might ask?
Seen from this angle, you can see how a left-handed shooter can easily engage the magazine release on this Springfield Ronin 1911 pistol.
Sigh … Trust me, I know.
Im flashing back to my own negligent discharge in 1977 that put a 185-gr.
I got chastised for it by Jeff Cooper, the high priest of the 1911 .45, personally.
Ayoob shows a left-handed reload with the 1911 with the magazine seated.
There are a couple of ways to release the right-hand-only safety with only the left hand.
I never liked that.
On-Safeing
Weve all heard the truism, What goes up must come down.
If you are a southpaw, the fingertips from your right hand can slide up and into a position to depress slide release.
It works particularly well with safety levers larger than those on the original 1911. and flex it and punch the darn button with the tip of that trigger finger.
Yes, one company makes a conversion unit to bring the button over to the right side.
One-handed or if you’re free to two.
If you do not have the use of your right support hand, you can close the slide by pressing down on the slide stop lever with the trigger finger.
A vigorous movement like this will bring that hand back toward the gun arm shoulder.
Now it has to travel back forward and, presumably, resume the two-hand grasp.
A cornerstone of time-and-motion study is that motion takes time.
You gain leverage to press the slide stop lever by bending the finger and pointing your fingertip down.
The longer and farther the motion, the more time it takes.
Even though its on the left side of the pistol, it aint hard to get at.
The fingers are pointed straight up to the slide.
Try both ways and see what works for you.
Most left-hand trigger fingers can reach the slide release and depress it with a fingertip.
Its much faster than tugging the locked-back slide against something like the edge of the belt to release it.
Weak-hand draw from a right-handed holster?
