What is the history of cocked & locked carry?

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SmithSwede

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I'm curious about the general history of "cocked and locked" carry of single action pistols. When did this practice become accepted?

What police agencies permitted "cocked and locked" carry of single action auto pistols? I think Texas Rangers permit C&L 1911s, but I'm not sure what other police forces did so.

For that matter, what military organizations authorized cocked and locked carry of pistols? My understanding is that despite adopting the .45 in 1911, the US military basically frowned on C&L carry of that pistol.

Does anyone know how the Europeans looked at this issue? The Browning HP was an extremely wide-spread single action auto--did the Europeans adopt C&L carry, or were they as leery of this as I understand the US was?

Just curious. Thanks.
 
That's one big advantage I have.... not in the military nor any police department so the decision to always carry cocked and locked is mine and mine alone.
 
Frankly, it's the only logical way to carry a 1911,
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
When Jeff Cooper invented the 1911 he decreed that it be so-and lo it has been this many a year. Can I get an Amen??
Click to expand...

Probably not. :D


In reality, the original John Browning design was actually designed to be carried cocked and UNLOCKED. However, in order to be considered for our military, they required that the designs submitted have a safety device incorporated that would prevent the hammer from falling without being disengaged. Once the military decided on the 1911, the rest was history.
 
There's a school of thought that Browning Hi Power was designed to be carried condition zero, cocked with the safety off. The vestigal safeties on early models lend some credence to this. If you can find any Waffen SS veterans online, you could ask them how they used to carry their BHPs (the SS seemed to like them quite a bit).

So far as I know, the Army and Navy always specified condition three carry with the 1911, and the Navy at least still carries M9's this way. Photographic evidence from WW2 does show cocked 1911s in some "tanker" style rigs though.

LAPD SIS (famously) uses Kimber 1911s cocked and locked presently.

1911s were certainly carried and used during the "Gangster" era, but the big push for modern pistol craft and the 1911 came after WW2 and developed out of California with men like Jeff Cooper at the forefront.

"Safety" used to be a pretty relative thing if you go far enough back. Those were the days of asbestos oven mitts, lead toys for the kiddies, and mercury in your medicine. Thus there were guys who'd tie the grip safety back with rawhide strips and carry their pistols cocked and unlocked, and sometimes cut off the trigger guard.
 
Did the horse cavalry carry their 1911s cocked and locked? It would make sense, since you only need to use one hand to fire a cocked and locked pistol.
 
S-W4EVER said:
Did the horse cavalry carry their 1911s cocked and locked? It would make sense, since you only need to use one hand to fire a cocked and locked pistol.
Click to expand...

Cavalry (acording to early 1900s Army FMs) carried condition 3 unless hostilities were immenent.

A rider has no problem loading a 1911 while mounted, even swapping mags and racking the slide. And you can fire a gun off the back of any horse........at least once.
 
When I started with my municipal department in 1978, I carried my 1911 cocked and locked.

My first department was a sheriff's office. I did my college internship with them in the summer of '76. The only police type weapon I had then was a 1911 and I was allowed to carry it, though the chief deputy didn't care for them. Something to do with a .45 caliber hole in the top of his desk. I bought a S&W 1917 later that summer. When I was hired fulltime in the fall of '76, I had a M27 that was converted to .44 Special.

Ironically, the young deputy who shot the chief's desk is now the high sheriff.
 
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Late '60s and into the early '70s, Uncle Sam did require condition 3, unless on a specific alert, then condition 1 was authorized ;)...

Early '70s, my first PD, a medium sized agency of a few hundred, only permitted the issue M10s with 158 LRN in uniform, but strangely allow Detectives to carry anything we wanted, so long as we had a .38Spl loaded with department issue 158 LRN on us somewhere. For a time I carried a Colt Govt, or a Colt Commander or a P35, all condition 1, as back-up to my bobbed hammer M36 :D. Also experimented with a few different revolvers with a short flirtation with an M39 and later an M59 :o. Department only supplied 158 duty and 148 HBWC practice ammo. We were on our own for anything else :eek:.

Late '70s, my second PD, another medium sized agency of a few hundred, authorized only Colt 1911 pattern or Browning BDA .45s and Smith & Wesson or Colt double action revolvers in .38Spl or .357Mag for uniform. All individual weapons were privately purchased, but had to meet the above criteria and pass a Rangemasters inspection. All Colts were carried condition 1. There was a pretty extensive list of authorized weapons for Detectives and off-duty use without the silly, "you must have XXX on you at all times" rule. Department supplied .45 duty (WW 230 Ball, WWSTHP 185 and later Federal 190 JHP) and 215 LRN practice as well as 158 LSWCHP +P duty and 158 SWC practice. They later added 9mmP and .380acp too. Really progressive firearms policy there until the dreaded "Accreditation" reared its ugly head and they went to department purchase/issue weapons...S&W 645s. Luckily I left just as it was being implemented :D.

Late '80s, my final PD, was a State Police Agency which specifically prohibited any Condition 1 carry, even when they later approved the H&K USP .40s, authorizing Variation 1 no less, but they specified no cocked and locked carry :(. Other than the ban on any single actions, there was a pretty progressive personally owned/authorized firearms policy in addition to the issued "duty" weapon(s). Just after I retired in 2000 they finally approved and issued the Glock in both .40 and 9mmP and in the various sizes but still allowed previously authorized pistols. They recently mandated the Glock only, but at least issue multiple pistols and the choice of any of the 3 frame sizes.

Damn, another long winded one :o...
 
I have carried a 1911 off and on as a LEO since 1976. Other LEO's I knew and I have always carried their 1911's Cocked and Locked only in our local law enforcement agencies. I don't know of any LEO that would carry it on duty any other way.....
 
I believe that until fairly recently European police forces tended to carry in condition 3. The idea of drawing and firing is pretty much an Americanized British idea. If you read reports from the mid 1800s you find British Army officers discussing the advantages of drawing and firing DA when US officers were still debating whether the saber should be replaced by the revolver. This is not surprising as British Army officers were faced with the real possibility of a sudden, personal, close range attack in jungles around the world. It was not until the US became involved int he Philippines that US officers found themselves in the same position.
The result of which was the adoption of the 1911 which could be carried cocked and locked.

On the European continent the sidearm was as much a symbol of authority as anything. Most police officers and military officers did not expect to have to fire their sidearm in a hurry. IF yo look at some early 20th century semiauto handguns it almost looks like they were designed for the safety to be removed with the off hand.
 
In 1960 I first crossed the bridge into Matamoras, Mexico. My most vivid recollection is the Mexican police officers carrying 1911 style pistols with the hammers eared back. I did not know whether or not the safety was engaged and I did not inquire. That was one of the few times in my younger years that prudence won out over inquisitiveness. Later in 1974 while serving in Israel as a UN military observer, I found the Israelis carried Condition Three (hammer down on a live round), even with the Walther PPK and the P-38. The Mossad carries that way to this day. Their weapons presentation does not seem to suffer because of it. But then, they do not have the constraints the US LE Officer has of having to wait until almost fired upon before drawing his weapon. The Israeli and European philosophy appears to be, “If one is expecting trouble, one should have his weapon in his hand.” But then, they are in an ACLU free environment.

When I went into law enforcement in 1983 in the Southwest, my department required autos to be carried with a round in the chamber. Naturally, we who carried SA autos carried condition one.

I am no expert but I hope this helps.

Bill
 
okay...I've got to ask. The only weapon I qualified with years ago in the Army was an M16. Since I didn't train with a handgun what are "conditions 0,1,2 and 3". If someone will indulge me I apologize for my ignorance. Thanks.
 
walnutred said:
On the European continent the sidearm was as much a symbol of authority as anything. Most police officers and military officers did not expect to have to fire their sidearm in a hurry. IF yo look at some early 20th century semiauto handguns it almost looks like they were designed for the safety to be removed with the off hand.
Click to expand...

That doesn't seem to have been the case with the German Army. At least not in WW1 and WW2. Ernst Junger, in "Storm of Steel", mentions using his pistol quite a bit, including running out of ammo for it during attacks. In WW2, the Germans had quite a bit of experience with pistols, which led to some idiosyncracies for a while - like prefering heel clip releases so that you could reload one handed with the help of the thick leather German duty belt. The collective German combat experience might have led to their going with DA autos at a relatively early date.
 
bigcatonhd said:
okay...I've got to ask. The only weapon I qualified with years ago in the Army was an M16. Since I didn't train with a handgun what are "conditions 0,1,2 and 3". If someone will indulge me I apologize for my ignorance. Thanks.
Click to expand...
The Conditions of Readiness:
Jeff Cooper, a recognized expert on the .45 and a competent pistolero came up with the "Condition" system to define the state of readiness of the 1911-pattern pistol. They are:
Condition 0 - A round is in the chamber, hammer is cocked, and the safety is off.

Condition 1 - Also known as "cocked and locked," means a round is in the chamber, the hammer is cocked, and the manual thumb safety on the side of the frame is applied.

Condition 2 - A round is in the chamber and the hammer is down.

Condition 3 - The chamber is empty and hammer is down with a charged magazine in the gun.

Condition 4 - The chamber is empty, hammer is down and no magazine is in the gun.

Condition One is the odds on favorite for competent and serious pistolsmiths. Condition One seems to offer the best balance of readiness and safety. It looks scary to people who are unaware of the mechanics of this particular weapon.

Condition Two is very dangerous for several reasons. It is a fact that this is the source of more negligent discharges than the other conditions. Racking the slide to chamber a round in the 1911, the hammer cocks and the manual safety is off. This is totally unavoidable with the 1911 design. To lower the hammer, the trigger must be pulled and the hammer lowered slowly with the thumb. The hammer is lowered onto the firing pin!! The end of the pin is only a few millimeters away from the primer of a live round.A slip of the thumb and the will drop and fire the gun. The gun has just been fired AND the slide recoils to break the thumb that started this whole mess! This condition, a round chambered and the hammer down, also presents the problem in that the true 1911A1 does not have a firing pin block and an impact on the hammer which is resting on the firing pin could possibly cause the gun to go off, but this seldom happens. A third problem with this "condition" is that in order to fire the gun, the hammer must be cocked. In an emergency situation, this adds ample opportunity for something to go wrong and slows the acquisition of the sight picture.

Condition Three would seem to be the safest, with a full magazine and no round in the chamber. In a defensive situation all that must be done is to draw the weapon, rtack the slide and then acquire the target. This draw is called "the Israeli draw" since it is taught by Israeli security and defense forces. The real expert trainers can do an Israeli draw faster than most of us can draw a condition one, but the Israeli draw involes more time and steps and just BEGS Mr Murphy to come give out lessons.

Condition four needs no illustrations.
Click to expand...
Hope this helps

I only carry mine in condition 1.


Jim
 
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