UDAYANJADHAV wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 10:47 pm
I want to understand how to train with a 1911. Like proper grip, stance, recoil management, reloading etc. Since you already have quite a lot of experience, your inputs can save me a lot of time, money and ammunition.
It's very difficult to satisfy your request because, for one thing, many books have been written about the subjects you mention, and now many videos have been made about them, as well. More writing and videos, some of both having good content, will be written and made in the future. So, it's pretty well impossible for me to say something in a forum post or two that can possibly address such a broad range of subjects and be particularly meaningful.
For one thing, my 1911 is more similar to the Guardian, rather than the Champion that you have asked about in this thread. There are differences here, some of which I don't know about. I do know that short barreled 1911s, including "compacts" (which not only have short barrels, but also shorter grips) are more finicky about feeding than the 5" and Commander sized 1911s are. How this might affect a Champion, I don't know at all.
While we may say that both Malhotras are 1911 design, or style, I still don't know whether they copy the Colt/Browning safety. This is of utmost importance for carry, concealed carry, and self defense, because it determines whether the gun can be carried "cocked and locked." Another recent thread here has a link to a previous post which I made, describing the 1911 safety, which positively blocks the cocked hammer when it is applied. So many safeties only block the trigger or sear, which makes the safety depend on the cocking notch on the hammer and the nose of the sear to prevent an accidental discharge. Years of our collective firearms knowledge tells us that if the gun falls to the ground and, for example, hits the sidewalk or something hard when it lands on the hammer, the cocking notch and/or sear will break, causing a discharge of the weapon. This is not safe!
The Webley style revolver isn't safe either, for other reasons: if dropped, even when not cocked, and a round is under the hammer, the gun can discharge.
So, in these cases, when a person is carrying such a firearm, if the gun falls out of the holster while the carrying person is changing a flat tire, or is in a tussle with a goon, or one's child runs up and hugs, knocking the gun out -- or, any number of things that people do or can have happen, the gun can come out and there can be a discharge. It is negligent for such a thing to happen.
Because I've never handled a Malhotra, I can't tell you that it is safe. That's something you have to assume responsibility for finding out.
About my experience: most of my handgun shooting has been bullseye shooting -- shooting at targets. I have reloaded (mostly with bullets I've cast) and fired a lot of thousands of rounds doing this. So, I can talk about that. I can talk a little about shooting vermin with handguns, primarily, but not only, 38 Special revolvers. Now that I carry a lot, I have divided my handguns into recreational (mostly target shooting one handed) and concealed carry / self defense (mostly two handed). My 1911 falls into the recreational carry half of things. I did shoot some combat sort of shooting with it many years ago, but that's it.
Some self defense shooting isn't 1911 specific. I've written about holsters, for instance, and that would have some things to say about how you carry. Also, I use the isosceles stance for two handed shooting, but there are others which are also commonly used. That's something you will have to make your own mind up as far as what suits you. Stance, in other words, doesn't have a right way and a wrong way -- there are several ways that people do this.
Recoil management is another issue. I can tell you that there were times in my youth when I thought that the more, the better, and I worked up reloads that were as hot as I dared to shoot. More than once at the range, I would shoot with tears running down my cheeks because of the recoil. I worked myself up to think that pulling the trigger wasn't going to hurt -- the hurt came after -- which allowed be to actually shoot groups with those loads. For handguns, I loaded up my Ruger 45 Colt revolver with loads quite equal to those my brother fired out of his 44 Magnum. These were the sorts that I could really feel in my feet when they went off. I haven't shot those sorts of loads for a long time.
Once you figure out that the gun isn't going to blow up in your face and that you can have faith in it, recoil then comes down to two things: pain and natural flinching reaction. Shooting the factory loads in any of my handguns doesn't hurt me. But, maybe it will hurt someone else -- I can't say. Beyond having the proper grip, there's not a lot that I can say to someone who experiences pain when shooting. My Wife shoots her own 22 pistol with no problem, and she's shot my 38 Special revolvers (using fairly light loads -- which is all I use in them) with no problem, as well.
So, if you're using the proper grip and shooting the gun still causes pain, then I wouldn't know what to say. Maybe you just can't shoot it in that case. I have a "Star" in 9mm -- this is a copy of the Soviet Tokarev chambered in 9 x 19mm -- that I find uncomfortable to shoot. The grip is at an odd angle, is narrow and oddly shaped, and it has a tendency for the trigger guard to bang away at my middle finger. Also, the sharp edges of the trigger guard cut at my trigger finger. It's not fun to shoot. My 1911 is like driving a big luxury car, however. These things can be personal.
Grip: stick the 1911 into the web of your hand between the thumb and forefinger. The web of your hand should be right up against the spur that sticks out under the hammer. The gun should be straight -- aligned with your arm. Close your fingers and thumb around the grip firmly, but don't squeeze it to death.
I have always shot with both eyes open, but in my old age I may have to start using my left eye only. You want the front sight to be in focus -- that's the primary thing. You will never be able to have the back sight, front sight, and target in clear focus. Our eyes don't work that way. Have the front sight in focus, and you will have to deal with the rest. There's lots of material on what the right sight picture looks like and how you align it with the target. I suggest that your reading should start with good books. Forget the internet or videos. Stick with someone who is an expert and after you have read and shot some, you can consider reading other stuff, because you'll be better able to sort out the BS, so much of which is floating about nowadays.
Where the center of the whorl is on my index finger fingerprint -- that's where I press on the trigger. Others have other ways, but that's how I do it.
Reloading: I very much like reloading. It's good fun and very satisfying to shoot the ammo I've reloaded and made bullets for. (bullet casters often call cast bullets as "boolits." This drives some people crazy, but it is a good way to differentiate store bought bullets from the ones that one has cast.) All of this is great fun for rifle, pistol, and shotgun, but the sad news is that you can't do it in India. You can't get the components to reload.
And this leads to the saddest part of the story: getting good at shooting handguns is very dependent on doing a lot of it. If you are applying the right techniques, the more you shoot, the better you will become at it. Having the ammo quotas that India imposes on gun owners and not being able to reload is a HUGE problem in being able to use a gun properly -- any gun. If you aspire to become good, your best course of action would be to shoot competitively in clubs, and upgrade your license for a larger quota of ammunition. Another thing you can do is to shoot an airgun -- a pistol. This will help you a lot in your hold and lining up targets, as well as trigger technique. Rapid fire, getting use to recoil, and that sort of thing can't be done with an airgun, but you should do whatever you can to achieve improvement, even if it is not the perfect solution.
Why don't you start here, and then grow your interests as time goes on?