SlamFire1 said:
Thunder Ranch makes you "ride" the safety
They're not the only school who teaches that grip. Nearly every instructor and school that has familiarity shooting the 1911 teaches such a grip. The extended portion of the thumb safety that was introduced to the shooting community by guys like Swenson was made specifically to help facilitate that style grip. The high-ride beavertail helps facilitate it, too. Without it, most shooters found the slide tore the web of their hand.
Thunder Ranch is teaching the correct method to manage the grip and safety manipulation of the 1911.
SlamFire1 said:
When I took the class and shot that way, I found riding the safety to be very uncomfortable and it was an un natural hand position on my M1911
That's not surprising. It's a much higher grip than most "modern" shooters are used to. I cut my teeth on the Beretta in the Marines, and did all my shooting on Sigs my first decade as a civilian. Both of those guns sit taller in the hand, the Sig being the more pronounced of the two.
Once I got a 1911, I had to re-learn how to shoot with the grip I was familiar - and more importantly comfortable - with. Shooting that way does feel awkward, uncomfortable and unnatural at first. However, it only took a matter of a few months of practice and repetition before it felt comfortable and natural.
Interestingly, after shooting and training on the 1911 exclusively for 6 months, I took the Sig back to the range. I found myself unable to shoot it well. My natural point of aim was completely off. I found myself limp wristing it. I realized how awful the trigger was to manage compared to what I'd gotten used to. Also, with the bore axis so high, and the grip so low, the recoil was much more difficult to manage as well.
I stopped shooting the Sig completely that day, and haven't since.
SlamFire1 said:
I prefer the least complicated and least accident prone manual of arms I can have. I don't want to worrying about the position of flippers and levers when I need to be using my limited mental resources solving an immediate important problem.
But that's what training, practice and repetition does. I can tell you that of all the problems I might concern myself with, properly managing the thumb safety on the 1911 is not anywhere on the list. Perhaps with a Colt stock safety it could be a problem. But with the extended safety, it's natural. With good training, practice, and repetition it's as natural as any learned task.
Driving on a congested freeway with a manual transmission is a pretty darn complicated task. Yet anyone who's done it has learned which foot goes where, and how to coordinate the transitions to keep the engine from stalling. It's no different. But initially you do need to dedicate some time to embed that skill before you own it unconsciously.
I've heard this argument time and time again about not wanting to use limited mental energy to remember to take the safety off. For those who've put in the time it takes to embed the skill, it requires
no conscious decision. It's about as instinctive as an experienced driver hitting the brakes in response to an unexpected, imminent collision. And our thumb has a lot less distance to travel than our foot. It's indexed right against the safety.
I'd say in my experience, somewhere between 1,200 to 2,000 repetitions performed over the course of a month will embed the skill for the average shooter. And the nice thing is it can be done dry firing, at home.
This thread illustates the problem of the internet. We can't express with words what our bodies are doing. I initially had to be taught that grip from one of my mentors at my club, an experienced IPSC competitor and 1911 afficienado. If you took your class at T.R., and Clint Smith taught you to shoot your 1911 that way, you're lucky. Most people aren't fortunate enough to benefit from that training and experience. You ought to be using it. Otherwise, you're right, you're going to have some problems shooting your 1911 well and probably don't want to use it for defensive purposes.
