Pavomesa

The 1911 has another little safety oddity. The firing pin is INERTIA driven and not long enough to reach through the receiver and stick out where it could impact a primer. If this doesn't make sense, just unload your 45 auto and then with the slide locked back, press the rear of the firing pin flush with the back of the receiver bolt. Up front on the bolt face nothing comes out...which makes one ask how the thing fires??? The trick is the firing pin must be DRIVEN by a blow from the hammer hard enough to make it spring forward and come out the bolt face, i.e. "inertia driven."

Thanks to this, you can chamber a round in a .45, let the hammer fully down on the round resting in the chamber and them smack the back of the hammer with a rock and the gun will still not fire. (No inertia as the firing pin is pushed out of the way by the hammer.)

The catch is if something accidentally pulls the hammer partially back and then slips loose. It could theoretically cause the gun to fire. By carrying the gun "cocked and locked," the hammer is LOCKED in position and the gun is protected by two safeties.

Officers who carry the gun this way figure it's just a tad faster and easier to flick a safety down than it is to try to get hold of a hammer and pull it back in an emergency situation where a half second could save your life.