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Author Topic: Cocked and Locked  (Read 1865 times)

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Offline verzilli

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Cocked and Locked
« on: February 07, 2009, 11:33:45 AM »
How long can you leave a 1911 cocked and locked?  After weeks (or longer) will it affect anything, (springs, etc)?
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Offline williamlayton

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2009, 12:42:54 PM »
IMO---Nope, not a thing---but I don't.
Is that a contradiction ??? :P ;D ;)
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Offline ihuntbucks

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2009, 01:43:29 PM »
I feel the same way.I leave mine c & l usally a week at a time.I change clips each Sunday.I then uncock it for a while.Probably doesn't hurt the clips either,but I kind of got in the habit of doing it ::).........Rick
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Offline Mikey

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2009, 01:29:58 AM »
Once a month we used to clean everything that had been thrown into the foot locker - that was our captured pistol vault and we would also collect all the issue pistols - often still in the holsters from the last field assignment.  Many of the 1911s and a lot of the foreign pistols we collected were still loaded, cocked and locked and had remained so for better than 30-45 days.  They functioned fine after we unloaded and cleaned them.

It is not a good practice to leave a spring compressed but magazine springs in the 1911 have been known to remain compressed for 30 years or more and still function properly.  Couldn't tell you about the hammer springs though.

When I put my 1911 away at night I take the hammer off 'full cock' and set it on half cock and put it in the bedside drawer.  Mikey.
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Offline verzilli

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2009, 09:36:54 AM »
Thanks guys.  I assumed as much.  No matter how wonderful they are, they are still mechanical devices.
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Offline Savage

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2009, 10:52:34 AM »
If one of my 1911s is loaded, it's cocked and locked. If the springs weaken from it, it hasn't shown up in the 40yrs or so I've been carrying and shooting 1911s.
Savage
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Offline LCinNC

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2009, 11:15:32 AM »
This comes up on a lot of shooting forums. It is my understanding that according to experts in the field of metallurgy that the springs do not weaken or become stressed from being 'under load'. They weaken and stress from constant movement. I'd say you'd be OK with a quality 1911 that was kept fairly clean to be cocked for a couple of lifetimes. Is that long enough?
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Offline Cottonwood

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2009, 01:40:25 AM »
The only time my 1911 (when I owned one) was not C&L'd was when it was stripped down for it's cleaning, other wise it was in it's holster C&L'd.
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Offline Lloyd Smale

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2009, 02:07:43 AM »
my bedroom gun stays cocked and locked for years. Only consession i make is i load one in the chamber and only 5 in the mag to take some strain off of the mag spring but dont even know if that is nessisary.
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Offline Tn Jim

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2009, 03:31:46 AM »
Quote from: LCinNC on February 08, 2009, 11:15:32 AM
This comes up on a lot of shooting forums. It is my understanding that according to experts in the field of metallurgy that the springs do not weaken or become stressed from being 'under load'. They weaken and stress from constant movement. I'd say you'd be OK with a quality 1911 that was kept fairly clean to be cocked for a couple of lifetimes. Is that long enough?

I've heard the same thing for years. My Springfield Armory 1911 stays c&l and I've never seen a problem.
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Offline SharonAnne

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2009, 08:06:44 AM »
The ONLY time my Para P14-45 is NOT C&L is when it is being cleaned, or on a range under RO direction such as at a match. It has remained C&L for months at a time and cumulatively about 5 years with no discernible loss of power. Never fails to fire. 
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SharonAnne
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Offline Flint

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2009, 05:44:51 PM »
Not a Colt 1911, by any means, but I realized the other day after a shoot, that my side by side shotgun has essentially been cocked for over twenty years.  Works every time I shoot it.....

If the M1911 mainspring were a leaf rather than a coil, I would be concerned over leaving it cocked.
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Offline Redhawk1

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2009, 05:02:24 PM »
My 1911 Kimber stays cocked and locked 24/7. But I do take it out every two weeks and shoot it, clean it and re-holster it.
I like to stay proficient with the guns I use for personal defense.  ;)
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Offline pastorp

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #13 on: March 10, 2009, 06:22:03 AM »
Leaf, your 1911 mainspring is a leaf spring not a coil. Regards
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Offline SharonAnne

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2009, 04:42:42 AM »
the 1911 mainspring is a coil spring and is located in the mainspring housing below the grip safety. The leaf spring in the 1911 is for the grip safety/sear/disconnector
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SharonAnne
Luke 22:36-38

Honor the American Soldier and Sailor, the source of Our Freedom

Really, it only hurts when I breath - SharonAnne

An armed society is a polite society - Robert Heinlein

THE TREE OF LIBERTY MUST BE REFRESHED FROM TIME TO TIME WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TYRANTS - Thomas Jefferson

Offline williamlayton

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2009, 08:06:49 AM »
The lady is right agin. Don't worry she has caught me in a coulple of flabber jabber's.
Blessings
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Offline Mikey

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #16 on: March 12, 2009, 01:04:32 AM »
Ha!  I just love that gal.  Flabber jabbers???  Whooeee - makes me think of flapjacks, and now I'm hungry. 
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Offline SharonAnne

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2009, 08:32:10 AM »
why thank you boys  ;)
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SharonAnne
Luke 22:36-38

Honor the American Soldier and Sailor, the source of Our Freedom

Really, it only hurts when I breath - SharonAnne

An armed society is a polite society - Robert Heinlein

THE TREE OF LIBERTY MUST BE REFRESHED FROM TIME TO TIME WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TYRANTS - Thomas Jefferson

Offline pastorp

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Re: Cocked and Locked
« Reply #18 on: March 12, 2009, 10:24:07 AM »
My apologies SharonAnne, your right of course. Must a been a senior moment for me, I was think of the sear spring. Regards
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Byron

Christian by choice, American by the grace of God.

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