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You are practicing unsafe gun handling and have been informed of it. Being to foolish to except and recognize it is on your head!
Revolver carry safety
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I remember back in the early 70s a gun magazine had a full page ad from Ruger. It told about how the cowboys carried 5 rounds in their 6 shooters and kept money rolled up in the 6th one for their burial and hammer down on it.
They were encouraging everyone who owned an Old Model Ruger to only carry 5 rounds in the revolver and hammer down on the empty. A few years later Ruger came out with the New Model and 6 rounds are safe in it.
This was talking about a cartridge firearm, not cap and ball.
You aren't needing the pistol for defense, so if you feel safer with 5 rounds go for it.
A good holster with a hammer thong or strap will help prevent an AD.
I thought Elmer Keith's book Hell I Was There talked about loading 5 rounds... again this was cartridge arms, IIRC.
They were encouraging everyone who owned an Old Model Ruger to only carry 5 rounds in the revolver and hammer down on the empty. A few years later Ruger came out with the New Model and 6 rounds are safe in it.
This was talking about a cartridge firearm, not cap and ball.
You aren't needing the pistol for defense, so if you feel safer with 5 rounds go for it.
A good holster with a hammer thong or strap will help prevent an AD.
I thought Elmer Keith's book Hell I Was There talked about loading 5 rounds... again this was cartridge arms, IIRC.
What matters is that everyone agrees on the same set of facts, seems to me.
The Colt percussion cap & ball revolvers have locking pins and a split hammer, designed specifically to carry the weapon with the hammer resting between cylinders.
Any idea why they might have done that? Well, it's to keep the hammer from resting directly on the cap, and prevents bad stuff from happening, that's why. Now you can carry the hammer resting on an empty cylinder. That works too.
The later cartridge revolvers like the 1873 model on the other hand, have fhe hammer resting directly on the primer. Bad stuff happened. Why did they do that? Beats me, but they did. Oops. A design flaw.
That's when people started resting the hammer on an empty cylinder. This actually remained an issue and thus the practice with revolvers way up until the transfer safety bar mechanism was incorporated, which obviates the problem, probably sometime after WWII, maybe 1950s? Somewhere in there anyway.
Can you see the difference?
I don't see the need for a bunch of us old dogs to argue old gun trivia. We're all friends here. I'm sure we all agree on way more than we disagree.
Witnessed three percussion revolver chain fires when I shot SASS. Common denominator in all three incidents was that a reload of a single or sixth shot was required. Percussion shooters would load six and cap five, with the hammer on the uncapped chamber. Evened things up, sort of, with the cartridge shooters who could just open their revolver gate and drop a cartridge in the cylinder. Procedure was to cap the sixth chamber on the clock before firing the first round, though some would cap the six chamber after their first shot to save some time, as again, they were on the clock. The three chain fires I witnessed all occurred after a first shot was taken before capping the sixth chamber. Local group almost outlawed use of percussion revolvers until root cause was understood. After that, you got a match DQ if you were caught firing your first round before capping the sixth round.
I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be one. I am also a poor speller. As you brought it up when addressing @M. De Land I believe,
what are your qualifications? Curious minds would like to know.
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My point was that the percussion revolvers had notches or pins To rest the hammer on whereas the Centerfire Single action revolvers did not have a Notch or pin to rest the hammer on Merely a Safety catch On the hammer.
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That is true and correct!
The Wikapedia entry on the 1873 new model Army says that it did have a safety - kind of a half-cock that kept the hammer from resting directly on the cartridge primer. Apparently the problem was that it was easily broken.
"The safety notch replaced pins on the rear of the percussion revolver cylinders, which served the same purpose as the safety position, by preventing hammer contact with the primer/percussion cap. However, many users adopted the practice of leaving one empty chamber under the hammer, because a sharp blow could damage the mechanism and allow a fully loaded revolver to fire."
"The safety notch replaced pins on the rear of the percussion revolver cylinders, which served the same purpose as the safety position, by preventing hammer contact with the primer/percussion cap. However, many users adopted the practice of leaving one empty chamber under the hammer, because a sharp blow could damage the mechanism and allow a fully loaded revolver to fire."
Someone has asked for my qualifications. Retired military with 27 years service in small arms including Army Rifle team. Former staff writer for Precision Shooting Magazine. 20 trips to Camp Perry and four gold medals. 21 trips to National Muzzleloading Rifle National Matches and 18 medals. Master Rating in National Match course. Master rating at long range 800-900-1000 yards. Shooting black powder revolvers since 1962. All ML medals won with rifles that I built. Since you asked, there it honestly is. By the way, regarding loading six and capping five, you carry it that way for safety until you get ready to shoot.
Then cap the last one.
Then cap the last one.
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For all you good men that load five and carry hammer down on an empty chamber:
I have several of the Colt replica revolvers that DO NOT have the pins between the cylinders. I have posted the pictures of my revolvers. Those will only be carried with five loaded and the the hammer resting on the unloaded cylinder. I can post the pictures again.
I have multiple Colt open top gun cylinders with damaged or missing pins that I previously posted photographs of. Mild steel pins, .060” diameter, about .030” high. Perfect and robust safety device.
I don't remember where I read this tale. The Eastern reporter was in the Sherriff's office when the call came to form a posse. The Sherriff strapped on his pistol and selected his double barreled shotgun. The reporter asked why the shotgun? The Sherriff replied that while Sam Colt made men equal, Mr. Greener made him superior.
This is a good point, any weapon should be closely inspected regularly to ensure that it is in proper working order, and any damaged or defective parts replaced.
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Bingo, even if all the rest is true!
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Then you have no concept of what professional training and serious competition is or does for you. With that much experience in those, with safety being a constant drumbeat therein, he lives and has lived it, and it is automatic and not something to just be "talked about".
Easy to speak to others when you not know them or what they have done or their level of training.
In summation, bunk.
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