How fast can you unload/reload a cowboy gun?

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nick_the_guy

New member
The consistent theme is that reloading a single action cowboy is a PITA. That being said, I like the style of the cowboy gun more than any other gun. Is there any specific technique available that allows one to unload/reload a SAA (relatively) quickly?
 
go for a backup gun, such as a heritage arms .22 mag with the bird grip and a barrel of no more then 3.5 inches. Another 6, and .22 mag is nothing to laugh at. All you can do for old thumb-buster guns is unload reload practice practice, and you can only get soo effective with the design. However .45 colt loads are excellent man stoppers with proper loads. Also first shot out of the holster is very fast with this gun, thats why alot of guys will pack them these days.
 
The words "quick reload" don't go with "cowboy SA revolvers". However if you are accurate with it there may not be a need to reload. All depends on what you are protecting yourself from.
 
Go watch a cowboy match

It is very true that a single action is much slower than a double action revelover to reload but the good cowboy action shooters can shuck the empties and reload faster than you might think. Kind of amazing really.
 
Being a SA fan myself and having attended a few (read LOTS) competitions, I can say with experience that I can unload and reload a single action revolver faster than most people can reload the magazine on that fancy auto-loader. The trick is to practice, and to have chambers that allow spent rounds to fall out. Reloading as as fast as you can get the rounds lined up. Five rounds fall in quickly if you are holding them correctly.:)
 
The trick is to practice, and to have chambers that allow spent rounds to fall out.
Click to expand...

But you can only do that with "game" loads, right? We're talking a 200gr 45Colt boolit with about 3.0gr Titegroup of something wimpy like that, that doesn't expand the case at all. It may drop out of the cylinder quickly, but it certainly isn't an effective self defense round at such low pressure and velocity.

Forgive me if I'm taking my assumptions too far, but even with polished chambers (in my experience), a hot or medium-hot load will expand against the wall to the point that it will not simply "drop".

Sundown, what's your load that falls out of your gun?

And Nick_the_guy: Is your question related to cowboy games or self defense?

PS: Not berating the cowboy game... I'd like to get into it sometime. I just realize that most 38special, 44-40 and 45lc loads used by these folks are on the anemic side of the loading scale and I recognize the difference between these game loads and true self defense loads.
 
That was my first thought deadin but he did specify SAA.

There are only two ways I know of to reload them, empty every chamber and then reload each one or empty and reload each one as you go. Try each way and see which you like best.
 
I generally like my rounds to have recoil, so I generally use 250gr lead RNFP bullets pushed along to around 850 fps.

The shells generally fall out because I spent a little time polishing the chambers.

I'll use my Cowboy loads anytime for defense, and feel secure doing so. I don't play the Cowboy game to win, I just do it for fun and the people I meet.
 
If the question is how fast can it be done...I am sure some can do it quickly.

If the question is how fast can I do it...you better sit down if you are going to wait. :o

I would not want to carry a SA revolver in any situation where I am likely (likely being the key word) to have to fire a revolver empty then reload.

But for any other task, such as daily carry or defense against a wild animal (they seldom allow you to reload anyway), I would trust my life to my SA revolvers (and I do since my SA Ruger .44mag SBH is my woods carry).
 
Neither competition nor self-defence. One of the handguns I'm interested (as a first gun) is a Ruger Single Six. I haven't had a chance to handle one yet but I have handled a Blackhawk which is a much larger caliber. It was pretty awkward and I imagine it must be much more with a tiny .22 cartridge. I was wondering if maybe there was some unloading/reloading technique that I could practice if I bought a cowboy gun.
 
What I've done to speed up my reload is use my right index finger on top of the cylinder to line it up with the extractor. As soon as I feel the cylinder line up with the extractor tube, I pump the ejector hard, and usually the shell pops out. I then place the index finger on the next chamber to be emptied and repeat. This is a trick I modified from one of Clint Smith's articles for American Handgunner or Guns magazine. Additionally, this is with the just discontinued (big frame) Ruger Vaquero in .357, but I'd guess it would work for most SAA clones.

It's the fastest method I've discovered, but my Vaquero is for fun and as a snake or hog gun. For real speed, I think the SASS guys are the best source of info.
 
a few problems with carrying a spare cylinder are well, the bullets can slip out if it isnt retained well in your pocket, its sort of heavy, and alittle bulky and it can take some time to get that first cylinder out. 6 shots is plenty enough for what anybody is probably going to face, and even people with high cap wonder 9's run out of time before they even get off more then 3 shots, and typicly if its more then 3 shots down range they just unload the clip and miss, miss miss. Lots of folks will say oh thats too slow to shoot reload draw, but they are just as fast to draw, and faster to deliver that first shot then most any other gun, cause most people tote the grip to be the most "natural" of all pistols. I prefer the blackhawks grip myself, but thats just me. There are guys out there that will amaze and astonish you with what they can do with a single action, it just matters how coordinated you are, and how much time you have.
 
With a Ruger, it sure helps to install the Power Custom or other brand of cylinder pawl to allow cylinder rotation in both directions.
Even without this, I can empty and reload my .45 Bisley Vaqureo in just under 20 seconds. With my modified .45 SS BlackHawk, its a second or so faster.
I carry the Vaquero often, in a Mernickel holster.
 
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