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Old November 18, 2011, 10:52 PM   #2
James K
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Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
It is a bit difficult to understand the magazine safety on a Model 1911/A1 pistol because there isn't any. The writer is wrong.

Just to be clear, a magazine safety is a device on a self-loading pistol (or other firearm having a detachable magazine) that prevents the gun from being fired if the magazine is not in place. It grew out of the common belief in the early days of auto pistols that removing the magazine "unloaded" the pistol and made it safe. All too often the gun was then handled carelessly and if there was a round in the chamber injury or death resulted.

The "three safeties" of the M1911/A1 in miltary parlance were the manual (thumb) safety, the grip safety, and the disconnector safety. The latter is not a safety at all; someone who failed to understand the way the gun works decided that a "safety" prevented the gun from firing if the muzzle were pressed hard against a solid object. True, but it is not a "safety"; it is due to the combination of a moving barrel in a recoil-operated pistol and the disconnector which allows the hammer to stay cocked after the gun fires.

Jim
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