Single actions

Something not possible on a New Model, even with professional tuning. A traditional sixgun is so much easier and quicker to manipulate than trying to line up the chambers on a New Model while loading or ejecting empties. If you watch someone who knows what they're about running one fast, you would quickly understand. Some folks just have a problem with having an empty chamber. Some don't.
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FYI, my New Model .45 Colt Flattop (medium frame) which has been tuned by Mundun Enterprises comes close. Let off is under 2# and crisp. I opted for a heavier hammer spring than what he normally would put on it and like it, yet it is lighter than the stock spring. Also since it is a flattop, the chambers line up with the loading gate.... BTW, I am one of those that has no problem with an empty chamber even when I can load 6 safely.

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I've always carried with the hammer down between cartridges. Not saying I recommend it, just that I do it that way.
 
I think it's pretty well established that a dropped single action will fall on the hammer almost every time you don't want it to.

An incident from my own childhood... One of my Dad's acquaintances had a Colt SA, which he kept loaded full-up as a house gun. One day he had it out of the dresser drawer, for some reason, and he promptly dropped it. Murphy was in charge of gravity that day and arranged for the Colt to land on its hammer. This sent a big roundnose slug ambling off from floor level at a slightly upward angle, through two interior (plaster) walls and out the kitchen window. Mrs. Deadeye was in the kitchen, cooking her little heart out. She walked across the bullet's path on her way to the table and turned around just in time to see it knock plaster all over her floor- and bust out her window. This would have been about 1963 and I'm certain it was not a high point on the Domestic Bliss Timeline for that particular family.
 
I have several Ruger SA, both 3 screw & transfer bars. They all have 2# triggers in them. You have to change some springs & do a little tuning, but it can be done. I love the SA & have always shot them better than any other guns.
 
Carrying six rounds in a traditional single action is not safe, period.
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I don't see anybody on this thread disagreeing with this statement.


Some of us place things like a smooth action, light & crisp trigger, charge holes that line up with the loading port, etc., etc., above having that sixth round.
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I like smooth actions and nice trigger pulls as much as the next fellow. You can have it all on a single-action revolver with a transfer bar and have six rounds safely on board to boot. It's called having your cake and eating it too. :)
 
You can have it all on a single-action revolver with a transfer bar and have six rounds safely on board to boot. It's called having your cake and eating it too.
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Yes, well I must've imagined having three dozen single actions, including several New Model and Old Model custom guns with light triggers tuned by some of the finest pistolsmiths in the country. If New Models were "just as good", I wouldn't own any Colt, USFA, Pietta, Uberti or Ruger Old Model sixguns.

Sorry but there IS a difference.
 
Thanks everyone for the answers for my question of "how much force with hammer down would it take for the gun to go off." The consensus, not much.

My next question in regards to all of this is something similiar that I always wondered. If you carried a gun with 6 rds, and the gun on the safety notch, how much force then would it take for the gun to go off? IIRC I read that the safety notch was not reliable on the older 1st gen SAAs, but what about a newer one, say a 2nd or 3rd gen, or even a Ruger Blackhawk? Is the safety notch worthless, or is it simply a popular opinion not to trust it?
 
The force required to defeat the (un)safety notch will vary according to the dimensions of the notch, sear tip and the quality of material and hardening of those parts by each manufacturer.

Consequently, there is no pat answer to your question. I don't consider ANY of them 'safe'.
 
Yep, several of Keith's guns had the 12-notch cylinders. There were also quite a few percussion guns modified so. Personally, I think it looks pretty cool but I'd never use it. Not a fan of dropping the hammer from half cock and despite what some think, it's just not worth it just to have that sixth round.

I wouldn't trust the safety notch either.
 
the "1/2 cock"...

... don't go off 1/2 cocked now, but this is what I heard...

... my understanding as to why "the real" cowboys of the day didn't carry on 1/2 cock, was that if the gun got dropped, while 1/2 cocked, it was relatively easy to damage it, & it could take a months salary to repair the gun, & the cowboy would be without his side arm for a week or two... if the hammer were down all the way, there was much less of a chance of damage if dropped, even if the gun landed on the hammer...
 
The sixgun will operate without a safety notch. It won't without a half cock notch. At least not very easily. However, if dropped, what will usually break is the thin trigger nose (sear), not the hammer notches. Then the gun is useless for anything but slip hammering.
 
I like smooth actions and nice trigger pulls as much as the next fellow. You can have it all on a single-action revolver with a transfer bar and have six rounds safely on board to boot. It's called having your cake and eating it too.
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I agree completely - a Ruger "New Model" action can be very finely tuned despite having a transfer bar.

A lot of the negativity about transfer bars are connected to the transfer bar "upgrades" Ruger "offered" for the Old Model actions that were originally no-safety. This setup was a Rube Goldberg nightmade even worse than Maurice the FrankenRuger :). It was less reliable and far worse in feel to the New Model action.

(Maurice's trigger (2005-era NewVaq) is very good. Cocking stroke is...well "funky" is a start, as it drags rounds past the magazine that is trying to push a round into the spot one left of the hammer - and succeeds only once an empty chamber comes up in front of it, at which point it gives this massive "klunk" as it slams a round home...which actually tells you that you're down to your last two rounds so...)
 
The real problem back in the day was when on a horse, ànd the hammer catches a tree limb, cocks it, then flies forward striking the round ... Ouch!!!
 
Why did so many old time cowboys limp?

Elmer Keith observed that when saddling a horse with the stirrup looped over the saddle horn, the stirrup slipping and falling on the hammer would fire the gun.
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Usually, if you drop the stirrup loop over the saddle horn, it will stay there. However, the common practice of just flipping the stirrup up over the saddle seat then tightening the girth strap often means the horse takes a step sideways, the heavy stirrup iron slithers down, and falls in a the perfect place to strike the hammer of the SA when worn on the right side. BANG!
(if there is a round under the hammer)

The "safety" notch on a Colt SAA (aka 1/4 cock notch) is there to catch the hammer if it slips when being cocked. That's all it's for. Colt literature (post 1900 anyway) advises against carrying the gun with the hammer in that notch.

I've got 10 "new model" Rugers, my first was back in 83. I'm fine with the trigger pulls, and they all work exactly the same way. I don't want a Colt or clone, simply because they work ..differently. (also, they feel "small" to me:D).
 
I wouldn't run from a 4 3/4" blue & case-colored Colt; but otherwise I am in the same camp, 44AMP. I do have the hots for an early, blue/CC New Vaquero with the short barrel. I find myself shooting fewer heavy loads through my old Vaquero and the new version does handle nicer.
 
New Family member

Just picked up my Colt Peacemaker, 2nd. Gen. (1956, its birthday!)

I love the Colt, but have also owned a few Freedom Arms big boys, .454 and .475 Linbaugh, and a few Rugers, .357 and .44 mag.

Single Actions are great tools, toys, and made for boys...
 

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My first revolver was an original 4&5/8" Ruger Blackhawk 357. Later I added one in 45 Colt. Then a 30 Carbine model. All are gone now.

Just hate the New Model system. Hate the open gate to load feature, miss the third click on the hammer, simply can't abide by it. Just me.

Currently have two SAs. A 3G Colt 44 Special and an Armi San Marcos in 45 Colt.


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