John Moses Browning designed the 1911 to be carried cocked and locked. Nuff said?
This is only partially true. Originally, condition 1 carry was not intended, as evidenced by the lack of
thumb safety on the
1910 prototype (many people erroneously claim it was the grip safety initially lacking). Furthermore, the existence of grip serrations on the hammer spur -- and the length of that spur, especially on the M1911 (pre-A1) -- suggests that condition 2 carry
was intended. It wasn't until the cavalry reasonably pointed out that they needed a one-handed way to safely holster the weapon while riding that the thumb safety was added. However, even for the cavalry, condition 1 carry was a matter of expediency, but was apparently
not the primary, day-to-day mode of carry.
I have posted extensively on this issue in the past:
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...-action-1911&p=1142629&viewfull=1#post1142629
It's accurate to say that the pistol was designed to allow condition 1 carry, but then it was also designed to allow condition 2 and 3. And furthermore, whichever of these was, by design, intended to be the primary mode, it was almost certainly
not condition 1.
With all that said, I carry condition 1, and tend to share the reasoning as to why condition 2 is the least safe.