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Post by Bear Claw Chris Lappe on Oct 12, 2010 9:05:19 GMT -5
I handed a single action to someone to look at the other night, a typical 1873 copy, no transfer bar etc...
He went to check to see if it was loaded, by opening the loading gate and pulling the hammer back, just enough to free the cylinder, but did not bring it all the way back to the half-cock notch and then started turning the cylinder, then lowered the hammer back down without ever reaching the half-cock notch.
Can this damage anything?
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cubrock
.401 Bobcat
TLA fanatic and all around nice guy....
Posts: 2,836
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Post by cubrock on Oct 12, 2010 9:14:09 GMT -5
No, but if he doesn't release the hammer so the bolt drops right back into a notch, it can mar your cylinder. I've seen many people handle single actions that way and it bugs me - particularly when it is my gun.
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Post by AxeHandle on Oct 12, 2010 9:29:11 GMT -5
IMHO The term "Damage" in this context depends on the current condition and the gun owner..... From what I gather single action people consider bolt rings around the cylinder of the Colts and colt style single actions a sign of inept handling... As I have become better educated concerning such matters I have made an attempt to educate every gun person I know. I try to be diplomatic when the gun belongs to someone else but the gloves are off when it is my gun...
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Post by peacemaker on Oct 12, 2010 10:53:18 GMT -5
It's for this very reason I will not hand my gun to range personnel to check. I will show them it is not loaded, but they are not touching my sixguns any more!
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Post by CraigC on Oct 12, 2010 11:32:38 GMT -5
Never lower the hammer from the half cock notch. If you're gonna check to see if it's unloaded, bring it all the way to the half cock notch. Then always bring it all the way to full cock before lowering it. Make it a habit, do it enough times and it will become second nature.
Because if someone did what you described to one of my sixguns, they'd never touch another one.
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Post by Frank V on Oct 17, 2010 19:04:47 GMT -5
Never lower the hammer from the half cock notch. If you're gonna check to see if it's unloaded, bring it all the way to the half cock notch. Then always bring it all the way to full cock before lowering it. Make it a habit, do it enough times and it will become second nature. Because if someone did what you described to one of my sixguns, they'd never touch another one. Mine either. Before I let anyone handle one of my SAs I tell them how I want it handled, and demonstraight it. Even then I've had people not do it correctly. They don't get two chances & I tell them then & there that they have mishandled my gun! I have seen a Colt locked up by lowering the hammer from half cock.. It had to be disassembled to correct the lockup. Always bring it to full cock before lowering the hammer Frank
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Post by jayhawker on Oct 18, 2010 12:37:29 GMT -5
I was going to stay out of this discussion, as I do not agree. But I had to chime in. You did not see a SA lock up from lowering the hammer from half cock, unless it was terribly out of time. What you did see was someone pull the hammer past half cock position untill the bolt dropped, locking the cylinder. Then they lowered it to half cock, and it was locked up. When this happens, one opens the gate and removes the cylinder, lowers hammer and reinserts cylinder. No need to disassemble. Lowering the hammer from halfcock will not ring the cylider if one turns the cylinder to where the bolt will drop in the lead and then turns cylinder till it locks. Have been dropping hammer from half cock position on tuned Fast Draw guns for 50 years without marking a cylinder.
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Post by CraigC on Oct 19, 2010 11:56:58 GMT -5
Lowering the hammer from halfcock will not ring the cylider if one turns the cylinder to where the bolt will drop in the lead and then turns cylinder till it locks. I emboldened the very, very important stipulation. A stipulation not present in the original post. Unfortunately, most folks who would lower the hammer from half cock would not be educated enough to know to do that. There's still no good reason to do it that way. It is easier, quicker and requires one fewer hands to simply draw the hammer all the way back before lowering it. You still end up indexed on the same chamber, just with less effort and attention.
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Post by jayhawker on Oct 19, 2010 17:36:19 GMT -5
It makes sence when loading. While the load one, skip one, load four, etc works for the masses, I load five, let hammer down from half cock after correctly indexing cylinder. Has the empty under the hammer. Been doing it that way for 50 years, to lod a dog to learn new tricks.
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rWt
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,440
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Post by rWt on Oct 19, 2010 20:01:28 GMT -5
Can someone please direct me to an animation of what is going on here. Hopefully, someone has done one on the web somewhere.
I'd like to understand what's going on here.
Thanks.
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cubrock
.401 Bobcat
TLA fanatic and all around nice guy....
Posts: 2,836
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Post by cubrock on Oct 19, 2010 20:53:39 GMT -5
You did not see a SA lock up from lowering the hammer from half cock, unless it was terribly out of time. What you did see was someone pull the hammer past half cock position untill the bolt dropped, locking the cylinder. Then they lowered it to half cock, and it was locked up. When this happens, one opens the gate and removes the cylinder, lowers hammer and reinserts cylinder. No need to disassemble. Lowering the hammer from halfcock will not ring the cylider if one turns the cylinder to where the bolt will drop in the lead and then turns cylinder till it locks. Have been dropping hammer from half cock position on tuned Fast Draw guns for 50 years without marking a cylinder. I've seen it happen more than once. The gun had to be disassembled each time - removing the cylinder did not work. Interestingly, each time it was a Ruger Old Army.
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Post by CraigC on Oct 19, 2010 22:52:33 GMT -5
It makes sence when loading. While the load one, skip one, load four, etc works for the masses, I load five, let hammer down from half cock after correctly indexing cylinder. Has the empty under the hammer. Been doing it that way for 50 years, to lod a dog to learn new tricks. That might be the way you do it and it is indeed tough to teach old dogs new tricks but that is certainly not the quickest or easiest route. Sounds tedious, while you're trying to get your cylinder indexed properly my eyes go to the target as soon as that last round drops in the chamber and I'm closing the gate and dropping the hammer on the empty chamber without looking at it.
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Post by weagle99 on Oct 20, 2010 12:15:37 GMT -5
Many shooters have no clue how to handle a traditional SA unfortunately, probably due to New Model Rugers being the bulk of their experience.
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Post by J Miller on Oct 21, 2010 10:42:28 GMT -5
Can someone please direct me to an animation of what is going on here. Hopefully, someone has done one on the web somewhere. I'd like to understand what's going on here. Thanks. rwt, I do not have an animation or a video but I do have this bit of instructions I did some time back. If you have an old style single action read the instructions and do them at the same time, then it will make sense: Joe
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Post by CraigC on Oct 21, 2010 13:25:20 GMT -5
Perfect!
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