Ankle revolver: Hammer spur or not?

[Marko Kloos]

I'll be picking up another wheelgun for ankle carry shortly, and it'll probably be a Taurus 85 in stainless. My local gun store has both the bobbed hammer and the regular version in stock, and I am trying to decide which way to go.

I used to carry a Titanium Smith with hammer spur on my ankle for a while, and the spur was never in the way. Also, I think that the spurred hammer with single action notch will be easier to clean when I wipe the inevitable sock lint out of the gun.

Anybody care to weigh in on pros and cons of spurred vs. bobbed that I may have missed?

 

[branrot]

I have a 342ti (titanium .38 with no hammer) and a 60 (stainless .357 with exposed hammer), and often carry both with Galco ankle holsters (I highly recommend them). I prefer the hammer for all purposes, with the exception that the hammerless gun will not snag if I carry it in my pocket or in a below the belt holster (the 60 is too heavy to carry in the pocket anyway). I think the biggest deciding factor is finding leather to suit your needs. It's much easier to find leather with a thumbsnap for exposed hammer 5-shots than hammerless ones.

Anyway, I'm geting rid of both of them as soon as I find a Scandium S&W, and have yet to decide whether to go hammerless. I probably will go hammerless only because of the pocket carry, but I look forward to the other responses.

 

[Mark IV Series 80]

Check out the S&W Bodyguard Airweight, model 638. The hammer is shrouded, but the hammer can still be cocked for single action firing. Also, you can perform a rotation check, which you can't do with the S&W Centenial Airweight, model 642.

If keeping lint and dust out of the internals of your revolver is the primary consideration, consider the model 642. This Centenial Airweight has an internal hammer with no opening into the hammer area.

I have the S&W model 638, Bodyguard Airweight. The Airweight weighs 15 ounces and it is in current production. You can get the titanium Airlight revolvers, but I don't believe that the increased recoil would be worth the increased price!

I usually carry my 638 in a pocket holster, and any lint that gets into the hammer area is easily revoved with a Q-Tip moistened with a small amount of Beakfree CLP.

In the future, you may want to carry your revolver someplace other than in your ankle holster or you may want your wife to carry it.
The models 638 and 642 will not snag on clothing during the draw, and can be fired repeatedly from inside a jacket pocket or a woman's purse.

I have heard many disturbing things about the Taurus revolvers. I would not trade the small price advantage of the Taurus for the reliability of the S&W.

Let us know what you decide.

-Mk.IV

 

[gumshoe4]

Ankle revolver

Good question.

For a long time, I carried a Glock 27 in a thumbsnap ankle holster. The reason I no longer do so is a long and unrelated story. Suffice to say that I went back to my S&W 649 Bodyguard (the one with the hump) for ankle carry. It's been converted to DAO-no SA sear notch. I have the original grips and a Tyler T-grip filler on it and I use an old trick I learned a long time ago from another investigator-I wrap large rubber bands around the grip to do a little shock-absorbing and to make the grip a little stickier. I stuck with the original grips because the gun is so easy to conceal anywhere with them. It's unpleasant to shoot long strings with the gun configured that way, but I'm not planning any extended firefights with this little revolver-it's a lifesaver gun only.

I ankle-carry it in an open-topped (no thumbsnap) molded leather ankle holster I bought from the LFI store (Massad Ayoob's place) several years ago. I think it's a Galco, but I could be wrong. The holster works very well and I've never had the piece come loose, even though there is no thumbstrap.

I also have one of those spring clip doohickeys which is attached to the gun using the bottom sideplate and yoke retention screws. This allows me to carry the gun inside the waistband, placing the clip over the belt to hold it in place. I therefore do not have to wear a holster. This arrangement also works very well and tucks inside the ankle holster with no problem. I consider the gun very useful because of the different ways in which I can carry it. AS noted, the only thing I don't like is that it is an unpleasant little bugger to shoot, even with standard snub pressure rounds, but I imagine that that will not be high on my list of worries should I have to pull it.

It works for me.

 

[don't shoot it's me]

I have a bobbed hammer model 60 as my ankle gun...never found a need for a hammer on a belly gun....no snags, no worries..if i was buying new i would buy a shrouded or internal hammer so it can shoot through a pocket without cathcing...even a bobbed hammer can catch on the pocket...