I never could figure out the allure of the fast draw as it simply never happened historically and is a pure invention of Hollywood, not to mention being unsafe gun handling to boot and hard as hell on revolvers !
Good bullseye shooters make much smaller groups at 25 and even 50 yards than does any quick draw competition which is more about speed than fine accuracy.
Life is full of balancing risk-benefit. What you would do at a range is different than what you might do in Indian country. I'm happy to avail myself of modern safeties but I wouldn't give up a sixth shot carried on half cock in a revolver if I reasonably expected a fight just because of the risk I might drop the gun and shear off the half cock notch.
It is NOT the half cock being engaged as a safety on Colt model P type sixguns. I have never seen anyone using the HALF cock in that manner. Doing that would be more dangerous than using the safety The Colt model P, old model 3 screw Ruger's, and faithful copies have an unsafe safety notch in the hammer for the sear to drop in. The very first click you hear in these guns when cocking the hammer is the sear riding over that notch. The engagement of the sear in this notch prevents the firing pin from touching the cartridge primer, however, this safety is extremely unsafe in actual use and general carry. The sears on these type guns is thin and brittle and any direct hard contact will cause the thin sear tip to break off allowing the hammer to strike the primer and fire the gun. My personal experience was from the gun falling from chest high to a hard floor, concrete covered with thin carpet, and the butt of the gun striking the floor hard enough that the sear 'bounced' out of the notch and the hammer fell hard enough to fire the gun. Nothing broke, not a mark on the gun, 3 people in the room very near the incident, no one injured. .22 WMR Colt Frontier Scout. I never found the bullet nor a bullet hole anywhere in the room.
Looking at my 2nd Gen Colt manual maybe I'm getting my terminology wrong. The manual describes the "safety notch" as the postion I called half-cock. The manual calls half cock the loading position. According to the manual the safety notch will keep the hammer from falling unless forces 35lbs are placed on the trigger. That's far more than will cock and fire most double action guns. I'm comfortable carrying a pistol in this position in scenarios where I expect a risk of danger and would rather have an extra shot before reloading. I've never carried an original but on a 2nd gen colt on a secure holster this an acceptable risk to me.
That first click is the thin delicate tip of the sear going into the upper most hammer notch. Safe only until an unexpected hard blow to said hammer breaks the brittle sear tip off causing the hammer to fall hard and fire the gun. Maybe never. Maybe today.
The Virginia was good but the USFA Colt SAA clone was at the top. Not only was every piece perfectly interchangeable with the original Colt but was even fitted and finished better than the Colt. As with most absolute top quality things, they were very expensive. Too expensive to survive for a long time. Now there is a new maker that may even surpass USFA, but is even more expensive.
transfer bar, transfer bar, we don't need no stinking transfer bar.
You can put your own pins in the cylinder ..I bought a gun where the pins were broken off by a fanning idiot.
