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Safety
Fast Shooting System:
The
Condition One Alternative
By
Massad Ayoob

You've heard about it.
We've tried it. It works! Jeff Cooper convinced most of
us, and logic convinced the Texas Rangers long before,
that cocked-and-locked, or Condition One, is the most
sensible way to carry a single-action semiautomatic
defensive pistol like the 1911 or P-35. However,
"most of us" doesn't cover as much ground as
it sounds.
Generations
or American fighting men learned to carry hammer down on
empty chambers. As a young officer wearing a Condition
One Colt on patrol, I would repeatedly hear, "My
God, your gun is cocked!" On one occasion I gave a
supervisor the whole history of John Browning's design,
and he replied, "Well, it still scares me."
"That's
okay," I replied, "it's normal to be
frightened of things you don't understand." This
may explain why I had to go to another department to get
a rank higher than patrolman.
I
eventually learned that a Don Hume hammer-shield,
designed to protect jackets from raspy S&W revolver
hammer spurs, could go over the safety strap of my
Colt's holster just as well, hiding its cocked status
from view without slowing the draw. You see, there
wasn't anything then like the Safety Fast Shooting
System (SFS).
The
concept is brought to us by one of our premier custom
pistolsmiths, Bill Laughridge, founder of Cylinder &
Slide Shop. Laughridge (say it "Lock-ridge";
he has the only name in the business more frequently
mispronounced than mine and Frank Pachmayr's) has given
us a way to carry hammer-down on a live round with
instantaneous fire capability, using the 1911 and P-35
pistols.
How It
Works
Shove a
mag into your SFS-converted Browning Hi-Power or 1911,
and chamber a round. Now, with the muzzle in a safe
direction, use your support hand to gently push the
hammer forward. You'll feel a light spring tension until
it goes down to "rest" and locks in place.
That's
it. Holster safe. You're good to go.
When you
need to fire, draw as usual. At the moment when you
would press the safety catch down into the
"fire" position with your regular
single-action pistol, press down on the same lever on
this one.
The
hammer will fly back to the cocked position. You are
"cocked and unlocked" and ready to commence
fire.
You're
done shooting? Take your finger off the trigger. Point
the muzzle in a safe direction. Use your free hand to
push the hammer down
again. If it's an emergency and that hand is otherwise
occupied, Bill and his colleagues have wisely caused the
hammer to be shaped so that you can keep the muzzle
pointed safely away from you, parallel to the ground,
and bring your hand in to your torso.
Let the
back edge of the cocked hammer touch your chest, keep
pulling gently back, et voila, the hammer is
safely de-cocked. Thumb the manual safety up to the
"on safe" position, and you're back where you
were, with a safe pistol in hand and ready to be
holstered.
In this
condition, the mechanism is totally locked. The slide
can't be drawn back until the safety is depressed,
cocking the hammer. Yes, this leaves you with an
off-safe, cocked and loaded pistol for a moment of
manipulation, but so do conventional single-action 1911
and P35s. Because the depressing of the thumb safety
creates a "release" action rather than a
"cocking" action, it requires no more effort
than engaging the regular thumb safeties on these
pistols.
Inside
The SFS
"The
passive safeties are still totally intact: the grip
safety and the Series 80 firing pin block are still in
effect," Laugh-ridge explains. "The hammer in
effect is a split assembly. In addition to the hammer
assembly, the kit includes the mainspring, the
ambidextrous safety assembly, and an extra power plunger
spring. It was geared to be a true drop-in kit. I wanted
anyone who could competently detail strip and reassemble
one of these pistols to be able to install the SFS."
Continues
Laughridge, "The upper half of the split hammer
assembly has the spur and the portion that strikes the
firing pin. The other half has the hammer on hooks
that engage the sear. When the hammer spur half is
pushed forward, the safety is automatically cammed up to
lock the sear and the hammer spur half in the forward
position. This is done with an extra powerful plunger
spring. There is no detent per se in the safety. The
hammer face is now locked in place so that it does not
touch the firing pin."
Personal
Experience
I've been
running cocked-and-locked Colts since I was
12-years-old. Running Laughridge's SFS wasn't exactly a
big changing of gears. I kept trying to push the thumb
safety back up when I was done shooting. It wouldn't go.
I'd say to myself, "Oh, yeah," and use the
other hand to push the hammer back down. That passed
quickly.
What I'm
saying is, the transition isn't a biggie. It's not a
complex psychomotor skill. You aren't going to need
3,000 repetitions to hard-wire your long-term muscle
memory to make this work for you. If you know what
you're doing with the basic pistol, running the same gun
with an SFS will be a piece of cake.
The best
news is the price. The kit originally cost $230. Bill
has worked a better deal with the Europeans, and is
passing on the savings. The SFS kit for either a P-35
or 1911 is now down to $149.95 plus $6.50 shipping and
handling. Bill promises almost immediate shipment. (Prices
have changed, since the publication of this article,
please visit our online store for the latest prices.)
There are
lots of people who like Colt .45s and Browning Hi-Powers
but don't like the cocked-and-locked concept. The
is a viable option that
works. |