Percussion Firearm Safety & Hunting Tips;

Photos below are methods I've successfully used over the past 6 decades to dry-fire my percussion guns without damaging the nipples &
how I've safely carried a loaded & capped firearm to stalk big game.
** Your firearm's 'half-cock' notch does not serve as a safe way to carry a loaded & capped firearm.
-If during a fall the hammer makes contact with a hard surface there is a high likelihood that the lock's half-cock notch will break or fail & the capped rifle will fire.
NOTE;
Exception; Some 'revolvers' have safety notches or pins between chambers to rest the hammer's face down on for safety while loaded & capped.

Photos below show methods I've used to carry my rifle loaded & capped while stalking big game & to dry-fire without damaging the nipple.
I attach an oblong piece of thick leather or neoprene to the rifle or pistols trigger guard with a length of waxed nylon thread commonly used with leatherworking.

The black round tapered object is likely familiar to do it yourselfers, it's a neoprene faucet washer, consider buying a container of assorted sizes at the hardware store to fit your rifle, pistol & musket nipples.
NOTE; Make sure top of the washer's cone is above top surface of the nipple.
*These washers can also be used to dry-fire your revolver & not damage the nipple by slipping one over the tip of the hammer or wedging a piece into the revolvers hammer slot..

Happy Trails !
Relic shooter

Respectfully, I think the proper half-cock notch IS a safe way to carry a capped gun when hunting. I'll bet you could drop a rifle 100 times and not have the hammer hit just right to shear the half-cock and fire the gun. Just my 2 cents.

More importantly is once your set trigger is adjusted properly it's a good idea to either super glue or lock tight the adjustment screws. I have had unintentional hammer drops resulting in ADs with three different percussion locks. Thompson center hawken, traditions trapper and the pedersoli Le Page. All from the set screws moving from recoil?

tallPercshooter said:

Respectfully, I think the proper half-cock notch IS a safe way to carry a capped gun when hunting. I'll bet you could drop a rifle 100 times and not have the hammer hit just right to shear the half-cock and fire the gun. Just my 2 cents.

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It's the 100 and 1st time that will kill you. In another thread I told how a Ruger revolver was fatally dropped.
Still, I've always carried my rifle capped in the field.

carrying on half cock is fine as long as you have situational awareness and un cap in rough terrain where a fall is possible. same as you would take your cap off to climb into a tree stand you should de cap for stream/ river crossings and steep rough terrain. Similar situations would require unloading a cartridge rifle for best practice. also Test your half cock often to be certain its functioning properly.

tallPercshooter said:

Respectfully, I think the proper half-cock notch IS a safe way to carry a capped gun when hunting. I'll bet you could drop a rifle 100 times and not have the hammer hit just right to shear the half-cock and fire the gun. Just my 2 cents.

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After operating a muzzleloader storefront for some 30 years & as a gunsmith repairing the results of several dropped rifles & pistols that were only dropped once I respectfully disagree.
However to validate your views on firearm safety, we forum members would respectfully love to see you document the strength of a half-cock notch on an 'unloaded' capped rifle or pistol by dropping on firm ground 100 times & produce the results on a utube video.
Relic shooter

I took an old cva pistol that was rusted junk, let the hammer down on a cap. Slammed it time and time again, hammer spur on the bench, never went off.

When in the field still hunting my smokepole is capped with the hammer down on a small piece of leather thats fixed to fall off when I cock my piece. Similar to your first pic.

Relic’s post is very good advice. It is also my belief that the #1 safety is between one’s own ears. It has been engrained in me professionally for over thirty plus years to never rely on a mechanical safety in most if not all circumstances. Things do fail.

I know of one individual who removed his sidearm and holster, hanging it up in order to use the toilet. The holster slid off the hook and fell probably 4 1/2-5 feet, hitting a tiled floor. The hammer struck the tile and the firearm discharged, kissing the gentleman in his southern region while seated on the toilet. That was hard for him to live down.

Another gentleman removed his sidearm to place on his locker shelf. While he was changing clothes, the firearm fell out of the locker, striking the floor. It sent a round through one of the windows in the locker room.

I myself watched in what appeared to happen in slow motion, a single .45 ACP cartridge roll off a shooting bench. The primer struck the ground hitting a pebble. The cartridge detonated. Part of the shell casing struck the pocket of the coat I was wearing, the bullet itself struck the overhead cover at the range we were using for training. There have been other examples I have witnessed.

Accidents and failures do happen. All it takes is once…

I bumped the hammer on a TC at half cock and had it go off. Haven't capped or primed a muzzleloader before getting situated in my perch in 25 years and they get uncapped or primed before I leave said perch. The exception being small game hunting and then I'm exceedingly careful of that hammer sticking out when the gun is able to do its thing.

I also know a guy that dropped a ML while climbing into a tree stand. It fired and shot him lengthwise through his left leg and the roundball lodged in his back. He survived but it messed him up.

I never cap or prime until I’m setting down, ready to wait for a deer to walk by. If I have to walk with a shotgun waiting for a shot , I am dang careful and walk slowly.

I try to be extra careful while skulking through brush. Honestly, it's my flintlocks that spook me more than percussion. A percussion on half-cock may or not go off as some of mine have weaker springs than others. While my flintlocks may not kick their frizzens fully forward from half-cock, those that I use most often will kick their frizzens back far enough to admit sparks to the priming powder. Plus, the cocks on my flintlocks stick up much higher than hammers on the percussions and thus are more likely to become snagged/pushed/hooked and dislodged.

Main thing is keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. That works.

Just wondering...Since I am fairly new at the ML thing, has anyone concerned about the safety of half cock and carrying capped, ever heard of such an accidental mishap in the field ? I carry capped with a padded leather 'pillow' wedged between hammer and cap. I have no illusion that the cap could not still ignite in a bad fall and have always been able to keep a rifle pointed away from me and fellow hunters in a stumble or fall. I think safe handling is the most important thing, and in realistic handling, 'safeties' just don't really exist. Yes, I use them, but don't factor them in when handling a weapon.
With any weapon, there is implied, inescapable risk as soon as its is handled. For those here with experience, and a practice based on long years of success, I don't think the half cock debate is all that worth having. You are probably way more likely to be hit by a truck on the way to your hunt, if you have a safe hunting protocol that has worked. I have learned safe handling since a child and am pretty sure everyone here could hunt safely without any half cocks or safeties at all.
As Clint said, " A man has got to know his limitations." SW

While walking & hunting I carry capped, but only if the hammer is down & the cap & nipple is well protected as I described above.
This has been my decision over based on my experience & I'm sure some will disagree.
Practice what makes you feel safe
Relic shooter

If it can happen, IT WILL HAPPEN. It is only a matter of when, and to who it happens to.. Safety is a full time sober responsibility.

If a loaded and capped guns cock get knocked off half cock and released without reaching full cock it will go off. Ask me how the bullet hole got in the passenger door of my pickup about 40 years ago. Young and dumb, wanted to move to another location and stuck the gun in the truck on half cock. The hammer caught the steering wheel and snapped and the truck was full of smoke with a hole in the passenger door. Glad it was a dirt farm road and no one was with me. Much more careful after that. Got a lot of question about that hole, which I hammer in so it looked like it was shoot into the truck and not out by a idiot.

Never trust half cock but gun quality is also a question. Not a ML but my Browning BPCR. I was shooting a match and the trigger pull was getting lighter with each shot until I could not cock the gun anymore. I found an aluminum trigger with a steel insert for the sear surface. Not properly hardened. I had to make a new trigger out of tool steel, harden and temper it. Been good for years now.

The Crisco Kid said:

It's the 100 and 1st time that will kill you. In another thread I told how a Ruger revolver was fatally dropped.
Still, I've always carried my rifle capped in the field.

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YEs the orginal Ruger single action revolvers that were involved in unintended firings were of the old Colt designe and there were unintended fireings , discharges and all were the fault of the operator some fatal . I was a negligent operator of the single action Colt at a much younger and uninformed age,
I along with friends got rugers and colts in the 50s and the knowledge base at that time did not seem to be concerned with hammer down on an empty chamber . several years later my dad saw me wearing the revolver and mentioned the safe way of carry , but I believe the real impression was made after reading about a somewhat local guy that was also a negligent user and shot himself.
His story was an outing with his dogs after work for coon . When he arrived the dogs jumped out of the truck and took to a hot scent, Thinking he would have trouble keeping them in earshot he hurried to grab his rig off the pickup seat and as he did so the revolver a Ruger ,357 i believe fell out of holster hammer striking ground shooting him in leg.
By some miracle he was able to drive himself to the hospital and recoverd.
Now after reading that account of what happened and how I was very properly impressed with single action proper handling.
A few years later I disposed of the Colt SA , but 25 or more years later I cousin asked me to dispose of two pistols one Ruger single six and one US1911 that had belonged to her deceased husband .
Now I had fired a 1911 in the service and was not impressed. I could not hit a barn, now let me say I was certainly not a pistol shooter , very little experience. There was one fellow that was a terriffic shooter, though most there were not. After the target work 4 to 5 of us were standing in a somewhat circular group when one fellow went to clear his 1911 and the guy opposite said you just shot me, he was lucky in that the bullet passed through the calf muscle. More negligent operation.
Regarding the cousins pistols I had to give them both a try before selling. I shot them both and found the Ruger so far superior to th Colt that Ibought it and the 1911 , I was amazed at how well I could shoot both pistols.
I think the one I shot while in the service was akin to the M1 I was issued just plumb worn out as I had later had a chance to fire the rifle of a guy I coached in basic that had been issued a new M1 rifle
mine was 1255335 1941 I believe. I have one now that is a shooter it was given to me completely dissambeled and in 19 63 I took it to a gunsmith and had it put together he had an apprentice there and they just made that rifl like new and more beautiful no tool marks great blueing , taken deer.

Blitz

Half cock doesn't work on my ancient .45 smoothbore. Per a tip from a forum member a couple years ago, can't remember who, I cap it and put an empty .22 case over the capped nipple and rest the hammer on that when carrying it in the woods. Takes no time to remove the empty case when needed.

I have seen on some of the old locks, they have a safety that slides into the hammer.
Got me thinking that I could add a cross bolt safety to my new slide hammer.
Just put it on half cock and then push the safety on just like a modern 870.
Thanks for the idea.
Nothing beats keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.