sabotloader, Yes, I believe Questor and I are in agreement this time.
Full forward means the hammer is neither cocked or at half cock but in the position where the hammer is touching the firing pin. Remember, a 1911 firing pin is an inertia device; meaning it travels quite a distance from the time the hammer hits it until it strikes the primer. If the firing pin was resting on the primer, this would be a dangerous condition. John Browning made a lot of excellent but subtle safety designs in the 1911. You could probably drop an uncocked 1911 directly on the hammer and not have it go off, though I wouldn't want to try it.
There are dozens of different hammer designs for the 1911. The original design had a set of ears on the hammer at half cock that would grab the sear should it be falsely released. It also had a large spur that was easy to hold for manually cocking and decocking. Newer hammers don't have the ears but instead have a flat surface for half cock that looks much like the full cock notch. You can pull the trigger on one of these and the gun will go off. With the old type, you could pull the trigger as hard as possible and never discharge the gun. As I stated before, many new hammers don't even have a half cock notch.
No doubt, anyone that hasn't been properly trained will get goosey when they see a hammer cocked. It's really a psycological thing more than a safety issue. When you see a gun with an internal hammer or striker, you don't even think about it but it is really in the same condition as a 1911 when cocked.
When a 1911 is carried cocked and locked (thumb safety on) and a round chambered, all you have to do to make the gun ready to shoot is grab the grip safety and switch the thumb safety off. When a gun is in condition 2, (loaded chamber, hammer down), you must cock the hammer and grip the gun to make it ready. Not only does it take more time to cock the gun than switch the safety off, it can also be dangerous. When you are excited, it's very easy for your thumb to slip off the hammer, especially the newer style skeleton hammers. This is much more risky than having the hammer cocked.
Condition 3 (empty chamber, hammer down) is also a safety risk and slow to make the gun ready to shoot. After you draw the weapon, you must muster enough strength to pull the slide back all the way and let it load a round. Now you have to reposition the gun in your hand to be ready to shoot. During this process, the muzzle is seldom able to be held on target. In other words, the gun may be aimed at something you didn't intend to shoot. If you try this simple test, you'll see what a risk it is. With an empty gun and no magazine inserted, draw the gun and operate the slide. Notice where you forefinger ended up during this process. Yup, right on the trigger. This is a very unsafe procedure and should be avoided.
If you own a 1911 and plan to carry it for self defense or hunting, you really owe it to yourself to go to a tactical training class. You will learn all sorts of safety things about a 1911 that are not obvious. With proper training, you will also learn old John made about the safest semi-auto on the market.
