OK case closed - cocked and locked it is.

And, from what I understand, it is MORE dangerous to carry with a loaded chamber and the hammer down...as far as that option...

Depends on the design of the gun really.

Paul

Since this thread was about 1911s, I meant for that design only...

Condition 1, cocked and locked, the gun will ride in a holster all day long and won't go off till you disengage the safety and pull the trigger. The trigger finger is the best safety of all, don't put you finger on the trigger till you are ready to fire and you will never have a discharge.

Well there are different designs of the 1911 style pistol. Are you talking a newer generation or an original colt 1911? I believe some of the newer versions have a firing pin block which would make it much safer to carry with the hammer down, or cocked for that matter since the firing pin would be blocked until either the grip safety or trigger safety were activated.

I will be honest though I was not considering 1911 only type pistols when I said that. I was just thinking single action semi auto pistols in general. Most of which are based on the 1911 design.

Paul

Condition 1

Locked and cocked

Yep, including DAO 1911s where it would be correct to carry with one in the chamber and the hammer down.

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.