Revolver carry safety

[toot]

if you have a 6 shot revolver and carry only 5 loaded cylinders, why not buy a 5 shooter? then have only 4 shots. they were made with shots for a reason? were people more safety minded back them? you better hope that the other guy only has 5 shots, or 4 shots just like you?! or just mabie he will have 6 or 5 shots in his gun? ORT ROO!

 

[Desperate Lee]

I do th same but use a half flap holster i made for my SS Pietta '58.
DL

 

[Grenadier1758]

Why is the hammer down on an empty chamber any more safe then the hammer on a safety notch ?

Because the hammer is fully down on the nipple and it would take more of a movement of the hammer to rotate to the next chamber besides the hammer would have to clear the notch between chambers.

 

[csaduck]

Never in 50 plus years of carrying my fully loaded (6) revolver with the hammer resting on the cylinder notch have I ever had a "Shift" or "Partial cylinder rotation" as many here are saying.
I also make my own holsters and always want to have the hammer under control by a loop to avoid any accidental cocking.

 

[.36Rooster]

if you have a 6 shot revolver and carry only 5 loaded cylinders, why not buy a 5 shooter? then have only 4 shots. they were made with shots for a reason? were people more safety minded back them? you better hope that the other guy only has 5 shots, or 4 shots just like you?! or just mabie he will have 6 or 5 shots in his gun? ORT ROO!

If you apply your logic in the other direction, why not a 7 shot instead of a 6 shot? How about an 8 shot instead of a 7? Even better, 9 instead of an 8?... Wait wait, 12 instead of 11, man, if we install 3 safeties, that guy could rack the slide and have 13 shots......some people are always going to want one more shot. Others are going to get by with less.

 

[JCKelly]

I shoulda thought of all this a few years ago when I carried my Blackhawk deer hunting. Don't recall what I did. On the other hand, I was able to use the same cartridge every year.
(not much of a hunter)

 

[Jay Templin]

Having never seen a single period reference to carrying a revolver with one chamber empty, I have carried mine for decades with the hammer down between two chambers. Dropped one out of a crossdraw holster cantering across a cotton field one time. I know it landed grip first because it stuck. I can’t imagine that anyone would willingly give up 20% of their firepower, or that if it was actually a thing, that nobody thought to write it down.
Jay
Jay

 

[Phil Coffins]

If I haven’t hit with five shoots it isn’t likely I’ll hit with the sixth.

 

[SOLANCO]

Love BP revolvers. Loading them can be a calming ritual. Firing them is a joy. But never entertained the notion of carrying one.
Before retirement I would often have to go into our Philadelphia facility around midnight. I had a carry permit from my home county and would not have wasted it on a 5 or 6 round BP revolver when the bad boys were spraying with high cap 9's.

 

[SOLANCO]

if you have a 6 shot revolver and carry only 5 loaded cylinders, why not buy a 5 shooter? then have only 4 shots. they were made with shots for a reason? were people more safety minded back them? you better hope that the other guy only has 5 shots, or 4 shots just like you?! or just mabie he will have 6 or 5 shots in his gun? ORT ROO!

These days the other guy is likely carrying a 9 with a double stacked mag.

 

[sawyer04]

Is it safe to carry an 1858 with the hammer down over an empty chamber and the rest of the chambers loaded and capped? Can't really see how it wouldn't be, but figured I would ask.

I carry all wheel guns with an empty under the hammer, only thing different I don't have a saw buck in the empty chamber for burial.

 

[Hawken]

I seem to recall reading somewhere, this "load only 5 rounds in a 6 shot revolver" and carry the weapon with the hammer on an empty chamber, was an artifact of the first cartridge firearm era, and probably a good idea. But had nothing to do with percussion revolvers because it doesn't apply.

 

[sourdough]

I seem to recall reading somewhere, this "load only 5 rounds in a 6 shot revolver" and carry the weapon with the hammer on an empty chamber, was an artifact of the first cartridge firearm era, and probably a good idea. But had nothing to do with percussion revolvers because it doesn't apply.

And why would that be? A percussion cap is really no different with a fully loaded BP cylinder than a primer in a cartridge revolver with a fully loaded cylinder.

 

[Hawken]

Because with the earliest metallic cartridge firearms if the hammer rested directly on a cylinder the weapon could easily fire, if dropped, or the hammer was inadvertently fanned for example. There was no provision for resting the hammer between cylinders, as on the percussion Colts with split hammer and pins for example. I'm not suggesting I agree or disagree with any or all of it, just stating the history as it occurred as some have argued.

 

[nightwolf1974]

I feel perfectly safe with all six loaded and the hammer in the safety notch between the chambers.

Same!

 

[B P Arn]

if you have a 6 shot revolver and carry only 5 loaded cylinders, why not buy a 5 shooter? then have only 4 shots. they were made with shots for a reason? were people more safety minded back them? you better hope that the other guy only has 5 shots, or 4 shots just like you?! or just mabie he will have 6 or 5 shots in his gun? ORT ROO!

It would not enter my mind to carry a percussion revolver as a defensive weapon under any conceivable circumstance. To me they are a source of entertainment only.

 

[dave61965]

To me they are a source of entertainment only.

Hundreds of thousands of dead men would disagree, they are no less deadly or unreliable than they were over a hundred years ago.

 

[Grumpa]

Hammer down on an empty chamber only protects against one thing - a knock on the hammer, commonly the stirrup of a saddle thrown over the saddle while cinching, and the stirrup falling hard on the hammer, or the gun drops and lands hammer first. Safety pins, or notches between chambers, prevent this.

Once the hammer is cocked, it is coming down on the next, loaded chamber. Colt didn't design his "sixguns" to be 5-shots. I load them all.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[B P Arn]

Dave61965, the dead, assuming they have an opinion on the matter, are free to disagree all they want. Far better tools are available now.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I load all 6 rounds, then put the hammer down on a safety pin or notch. If no safety pins or notches are on the gun, then I would only load 5, and put the hammer down on an empty chamber. It is of utmost importance that the hammer be secured from movement, either with a thong or by a flap holster. If the the hammer is pulled back unintentionally, you can get a negligent (not accidental) discharge.

Here are pictures of two holsters I made and incorporated hammer thongs:
View attachment 60869
View attachment 60870

Find a manufacturer and sell 'em. Great, simple system. Polecat