Beavertail grip safety on 1911

[ser2711]

I own a Remington Ramd M1911 AI US. Army. My question is : What 'reason and the advantage of adding a Beavertail grip safety.. ?

[Isabel1130]

I own a Remington Ramd M1911 AI US. Army. My question is : What 'reason and the advantage of adding a Beavertail grip safety.. ?

Allows you to get a more consistent grip on the gun, with no slide bite. Particularly important if you have larger hands.

[ChipEck]

Slide bite and you can get a more consistent grip. Consistency in everything you do leads to higher scores.

[mr alexander]

ser2711,

Because of it's greater size, a beavertail grip safety contacts a larger area of your shooting hand.

This reduces the effect of the recoil sensation a shooter will feel when one is installed on a 1911.

The original versions are rather narrow in width and tend to really "dig" into you. Using the same load,

shoot your pistol with both types installed and you'll instantly appreciate the difference. Some beavertails

will require frame modification, while others do not. Not sure about this, but if a frame is modified for

one, your pistol may not allow a different brand of beavertail to be used. Check first before going this route.

[EdStevens]

The plus sides have been mentioned. I get hammer bite from my gun without the beavertail, so if that's an issue for you, too, they are a blessing.

There can be a negative side, however. When you grip really high on the gun (as you should) there is a chance that the top of the beavertail will get pushed away from the gun by the web of your hand. This will engage the grip safety and prevent the gun from firing, which can be extremely irritating in timed or rapid fire! The "memory bump" at the base of most beavertail safety designs can help with this a lot, but I still have an occasional issue with not applying enough pressure on the backstrap of the gun to consistently engage the beavertail. I tend to apply pressure high on the grip.

[Isabel1130]

The plus sides have been mentioned. I get hammer bite from my gun without the beavertail, so if that's an issue for you, too, they are a blessing.

There can be a negative side, however. When you grip really high on the gun (as you should) there is a chance that the top of the beavertail will get pushed away from the gun by the web of your hand. This will engage the grip safety and prevent the gun from firing, which can be extremely irritating in timed or rapid fire! The "memory bump" at the base of most beavertail safety designs can help with this a lot, but I still have an occasional issue with not applying enough pressure on the backstrap of the gun to consistently engage the beavertail. I tend to apply pressure high on the grip.

A good gunsmith will set the grip safety quite light so it does not disengage unless you lose contact with the gun. For those of us without tight grips, this is a must.

[renzo]

That was my problem, which I solved with a short strip of black electrician tape keeping the grip safety pressed and covered by the grip slabs.

Not fancy, but cheap, quick & practical.

[Isabel1130]

That was my problem, which I solved with a short strip of black electrician tape keeping the grip safety pressed and covered by the grip slabs.

Not fancy, but cheap, quick & practical.

If you are just a casual shooter, this is a pretty good solution. If you are shooting in NRA competitions I don't recommend it.

By doing this, you are disabling a safety, and the RSO can make you either remove it, or DQ your gun.

[renzo]

That was my problem, which I solved with a short strip of black electrician tape keeping the grip safety pressed and covered by the grip slabs.

Not fancy, but cheap, quick & practical.

If you are just a casual shooter, this is a pretty good solution. If you are shooting in NRA competitions I don't recommend it.

By doing this, you are disabling a safety, and the RSO can make you either remove it, or DQ your gun.

Isabel, I'm a serious shooter but in my country we do not run the NRA matches, instead there is a course called "Military Pistol", the rules are pretty simple, 9 mm or .45 (in separate categories), 40 shots, 4 x 5 slow in 150"; 4 x 5 timed in 20", in fact, it's International Standad Pistol without the 10" (rapid fire) series; 3 lb. trigger pull, only open sights (can be aftermarket adjustable), 6" max bbl length, 220 mm max sight radius, and a box to keep the outside measurementes, just like in ISSF shooting.

As in my country there are a lot of Ballester Molina pistols (which never sported grip safety at all, only thumb safety) the disabling of a manual safety which other legally approved pistols don't have is legal.

Same is as for eliminating the magazine safety in the Brownings GP-35, a stalwart of the 9 mm category.

Obviously, I wasn't aware of the complicationes derived from such an action in BE formal competition.

Thanks for enlightening.

Best Regards fron Argentina