question about 1 empty chamber

The old timmer that taught me to shoot ..said load 5 and ease the hammer down on the empty chamber ..or I`ll put my foot in yer ass .:eek:
 
Folks,

I did a search on BP safety before asking the question: "Which way is safer, hammer on safety pin between chambers, or hammer on empty chamber?" and came upon this thread from 2008. I can say that I laughed my arse off reading about the senior members go at each other on this topic. I have an Army background, and have shot everything the Army had to offer, from 1911s, M-16s, M-60s, a couple of old bazookas, but here's my noob question on BP:

1. So the safety pins on the 1851s and 1860s (I'm talking about the Piettas now) aren't safe to use ? The cylinder doesn't spin when I rest the hammer between chambers, and I don't carry my guns on horseback in CA :D.

2. Once you load a BP gun, how do you unload the sucker? Just remove the caps? I can't imagine removing the bullet and powder after ramming it down with the plunger. Thanks.

Hong
 
Hong said:
2. Once you load a BP gun, how do you unload the sucker? Just remove the caps? I can't imagine removing the bullet and powder after ramming it down with the plunger.
Click to expand...

After the caps are removed the gun is considered by law to be unloaded.
But if a person wanted to remove the loads to clean residue from an earlier firing, then one easy way is to remove the cylinder from the gun, then unscrew the nipples and then tap out enough of the powder to be able to push or tap the balls out from behind using a non-sparking wood dowel or brass rod.
 
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a county deputy said a loaded and primed gun laying on your front seat in South Carolina is perfectly legal and you can walk around most places w/ it in an un concealed holster.Of course not in a bank/ Gov bldg or Bar. It is the same thing as a fishing pole. If you put it concealed then it is a weapon.
 
5 or 6 seems to pop up almost as often as "brass or steel". If I'm out shooting target practice, I usually load 6. If I'm carrying, I always load 5 - that's what I was taught years ago by several "old timers" who were experience revolver shooters - both civilian and LE - and I'm talking fellas who were born in the late 1880's & 90's who shot and carried wheel guns their entire lives. But . . that's what they had been taught as well. I'm not "preaching" one way or the other though - I guess it boils down to what you're comfortable with. I have a number of older SA and DA as well as some newer ones like the New Vaquero, etc. that have the cross bar safety. Even then, unless I'm target shooting, if I carry the Vaquero, I carry with just 5 - what can I say other than I'm an "old fart" and "old habits" are hard to break? If I had been a cavalry trooper in the Civil War, I'd have probably carried with 6 - but that would have been for combat conditions. You can argue the same if you're carrying CCW for self defense - that's why I have a semi-auto with greater magazine capacity though. Regardless of what I do or how I've been taught to do, I really don't care if someone carries a wheel gun with 5 or 6 or evin 1 - as long as they use COMMON SENSE and CARRY IT SAFELY so as to not injure themselves or a bystander. That's really what it is all about - BEING SAFE. :)
 
I forgot to mention something in my post above which kind of pertains to the topic. One thing else I was taught by the "old timers" was to always count the number of cartridges you put in your cylinder (doesn't matter if it's 1, 5 or 6) and as you shoot, keep track of how many you've shot. They stressed this not only for safety reasons, but in case you actually had to use your revolver to defend yourself. A gentleman who had been LE in the teens and 20s always drilled this in to my head. If you developed it as a habit, when shooting, you would always know if and how many "live" cartridges remained in the revolver. Ironically, I have been teaching my wife to shoot with an older Ruger Super Bear Cat that I always carry with 5 and the hammer on an empty chamber because it doesn't ahve a cross bar safety on it. Counting is one of the things I am "drilling" in to her head as well - again, for safety and in case of having to use it for self protection. The first time at the range, she of course was concentrating on a lot of new things - first firing a weapon for the first time, noise, stance, etc. and even though I had drilled the counting into her head, several times she thought that she had shot all six when actually she had shot only 5 and then placed the weapon pointing down range on the table in front of her. (since we were at the range, we were loading six). Each time she went to eject the spent casings, I reminded her that she still had a "live round" in the cylinder. After this happening three times, she caught on to counting her shots and soon realized the importance of what I was telling her. By the end of our first shooting session, it was becoming a "habit" for her to keep track of how many she loaded and how many she shot. Some may not see the importance of this but to me, it is just as important as any other safety measure you learn when shooting revolvers. Just my 2 cents though. :)
 
1. So the safety pins on the 1851s and 1860s (I'm talking about the Piettas now) aren't safe to use ? The cylinder doesn't spin when I rest the hammer between chambers,
Click to expand...

Keep a close watch on the safety pins if you use them. They are soft and small and are often found worn to where they will not engage on antique Colts. The Remington (and Ruger) system of a notch for the hammer nose between nipples is more secure.
 
But if a person wanted to remove the loads to clean residue from an earlier firing, then one easy way is to remove the cylinder from the gun, then unscrew the nipples and then tap out enough of the powder to be able to push or tap the balls out from behind using a non-sparking wood dowel or brass rod.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the way to do it. I once unloaded a cap and ball revolver for a woman who's husband had just died, she wanted to keep the pistol but not in a loaded condition, so I removed the nipples, tapped out the powder, and then with a brass rod and small hammer pounded out the lead balls from behind.
 
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