There are 3 different hammer designs on a true 1911 design. The first is the 2 position hammer that has full cock and half cock. The second is a 2 position, with a full cock and captive half cock. The third is a three position, full cock, half cock, quarter cock. The chippa is a 1911 design on the outside only, so I can't state as to how it works. The true 1911 design should not drop the hammer from half cock by simply pulling the trigger. If the Sear is warn then it is possible, but it should not be used in this condition. Most half cock positions can have enough force to ignite the primer and powder. The half cock was intended as a backup safety, so that if the hammer was dropped durring manual cocking if would index on the half cock and prevent an AD. A warn sear or hammer can allow the hammer to drop past the half cock on hammers without the captive half cock. The captive half cock was designed as an added safety in the event the half cock postion became warn. The captive half cock requires that the user to manually pull the hammer back enough for the sear to clear the captive notch with the trigger pulled. The differnce in the 70 and 80 series, is the firing pin safty that requires a mechanical activation of a pin to release the firing pin on the 80 series. The 1911 is in NO WAY intended or safe to be carried in the half cock postion. Also of note the thumb safety cannot be engaged with the hammer at half cock and dropping the 1911 while in half cock can cause the hammer to break the sear and cause an AD.
Similar threads
