Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy Again
Rant Mode On: You are probably all getting tired of me saying this, but what is it with the four clicks?
(Disclaimer: I have real Colts and they do click four times when I cock the hammer. I still have one Uberti Cattleman in the safe and it clicks four times too. I have a bunch of New Model Rugers, some with half cock hammers so they click three times, some in their original condition so they only click twice I even have a few old Three Screw Rugers and they click four times too, just like a Colt. There is even such a thing as five clicks*, I'll describe that in a moment)
When I cock a single action revolver prior to shooting it I am always wearing ear plugs, so I don't hear the clicks at all. I always cock the hammer briskly, so if I were to remove my plugs the sound of the clicks would be a ratchety blur. Distinct clicks would not be recognizable, and I probably could not tell if there were two, three, four, or even five clicks.
I think this business of thinking about four clicks probably goes back to the old western movies, or maybe the western TV shows of the 1950s (yes, I am that old that I remember them). There was always a scene where someone, either a good guy or a bad guy would cock his revolver slowly and deliberately. The four clicks were clearly audible, although you still probably could not count them. But it was a very definite sound effect, that slow ratchety sound as the hammer was cocked. I suspect the directors wanted this sound included because it was very dramatic and somewhat threatening. It usually got the attention of the intended target, although usually too late. It usually preceded a good guy getting shot. (We will talk about the ratchety sound of a double action cylinder being spun in the movies while the gun is open some other time)
Flash forward to now, and the only time I cock the hammer of a single action revolver slow enough to actually hear the separate clicks is if I am up late at night watching an old oat burner on TV. I may have a revolver in hand (hopefully I remembered to unload it, knock on wood) and I may be pretending to shoot the bad guys. I would never pretend to shoot a good guy. That is the only time I can even hear the clicks, because I don't have ear plugs in, and even then, unless it is a particularly bad guy, like maybe Dutch Henry Brown (google him). I usually don't cock the hammer slowly enough to threaten him. It is just like that ker=chunk sound a pump shotgun makes when you work the action. Very cool and threatening on TV, not so much in real life (my favorite trap gun is an old Winchester Model 12, and I just put 75 rounds through it yesterday. Plugs in, didn't really notice the ker-chunk sound.)
So anyway, to all you guys who just have to have four clicks, exactly when are you going to be able to count all four clicks?
Rant Mode Off.
*Five Clicks. Typically with a four click single action revolver, the first click is when the hammer goes to the 'safety cock' position, #2 is when the hammer goes to half cock, the loading position, #3 is when the bolt pops up against the cylinder, and #4 is when the hammer goes to full cock and the bolt pops into the locking slot on the cylinder simultaneously. At least that is what is supposed to happen when the hammer goes to full cock. More often, the revolver is ever so slightly out of time, and the hammer goes to full cock a teeny bit before the bolt pops into the locking slot. On most single action revolvers, the hammer has enough over travel that even though it has gone to full cock, the hammer can still rock back a little bit further so the hand can push the cylinder around a teeny bit more so the bolt can pop into place, locking the bolt at battery. I can just hear the purists yelling that gun is out of time. Maybe so, but all my Colts do it, both 1st Gens and 2nd Gens. It is very subtle, I have to restrict the motion of the cylinder with my thumb to hear it, but most of my 'four click' revolvers are actually 'five clicks' if I listen close enough. This is an acceptable situation because when cocking a single action revolver I always give the hammer a strong yank, and the cylinder builds up enough momentum that it rotates that last teeny bit even if the hammer has already gone to full cock. And if I did not cock the hammer briskly, that little bit of over travel will bring the cylinder to battery anyway. This situation is much preferable to the opposite situation, where the hand has pushed the cylinder all the way to battery, but there is not enough slop between the hand and the hammer to allow the hammer to keep going all the way to full cock. I had this happen with one of my 'original model' Ruger Vaqueros. It was so tightly timed that the hammer did go to full cock and the cylinder locked up precisely at the same time. When I changed out the hammer for an after market half cock hammer, things had changed just enough so the hand did not allow the hammer to go to full cock once the cylinder went to battery. I had to file a teeny bit off the hand to allow the hammer to go to full cock at the same time the cylinder locked up.
Rant Mode On: You are probably all getting tired of me saying this, but what is it with the four clicks?
(Disclaimer: I have real Colts and they do click four times when I cock the hammer. I still have one Uberti Cattleman in the safe and it clicks four times too. I have a bunch of New Model Rugers, some with half cock hammers so they click three times, some in their original condition so they only click twice I even have a few old Three Screw Rugers and they click four times too, just like a Colt. There is even such a thing as five clicks*, I'll describe that in a moment)
When I cock a single action revolver prior to shooting it I am always wearing ear plugs, so I don't hear the clicks at all. I always cock the hammer briskly, so if I were to remove my plugs the sound of the clicks would be a ratchety blur. Distinct clicks would not be recognizable, and I probably could not tell if there were two, three, four, or even five clicks.
I think this business of thinking about four clicks probably goes back to the old western movies, or maybe the western TV shows of the 1950s (yes, I am that old that I remember them). There was always a scene where someone, either a good guy or a bad guy would cock his revolver slowly and deliberately. The four clicks were clearly audible, although you still probably could not count them. But it was a very definite sound effect, that slow ratchety sound as the hammer was cocked. I suspect the directors wanted this sound included because it was very dramatic and somewhat threatening. It usually got the attention of the intended target, although usually too late. It usually preceded a good guy getting shot. (We will talk about the ratchety sound of a double action cylinder being spun in the movies while the gun is open some other time)
Flash forward to now, and the only time I cock the hammer of a single action revolver slow enough to actually hear the separate clicks is if I am up late at night watching an old oat burner on TV. I may have a revolver in hand (hopefully I remembered to unload it, knock on wood) and I may be pretending to shoot the bad guys. I would never pretend to shoot a good guy. That is the only time I can even hear the clicks, because I don't have ear plugs in, and even then, unless it is a particularly bad guy, like maybe Dutch Henry Brown (google him). I usually don't cock the hammer slowly enough to threaten him. It is just like that ker=chunk sound a pump shotgun makes when you work the action. Very cool and threatening on TV, not so much in real life (my favorite trap gun is an old Winchester Model 12, and I just put 75 rounds through it yesterday. Plugs in, didn't really notice the ker-chunk sound.)
So anyway, to all you guys who just have to have four clicks, exactly when are you going to be able to count all four clicks?
Rant Mode Off.
*Five Clicks. Typically with a four click single action revolver, the first click is when the hammer goes to the 'safety cock' position, #2 is when the hammer goes to half cock, the loading position, #3 is when the bolt pops up against the cylinder, and #4 is when the hammer goes to full cock and the bolt pops into the locking slot on the cylinder simultaneously. At least that is what is supposed to happen when the hammer goes to full cock. More often, the revolver is ever so slightly out of time, and the hammer goes to full cock a teeny bit before the bolt pops into the locking slot. On most single action revolvers, the hammer has enough over travel that even though it has gone to full cock, the hammer can still rock back a little bit further so the hand can push the cylinder around a teeny bit more so the bolt can pop into place, locking the bolt at battery. I can just hear the purists yelling that gun is out of time. Maybe so, but all my Colts do it, both 1st Gens and 2nd Gens. It is very subtle, I have to restrict the motion of the cylinder with my thumb to hear it, but most of my 'four click' revolvers are actually 'five clicks' if I listen close enough. This is an acceptable situation because when cocking a single action revolver I always give the hammer a strong yank, and the cylinder builds up enough momentum that it rotates that last teeny bit even if the hammer has already gone to full cock. And if I did not cock the hammer briskly, that little bit of over travel will bring the cylinder to battery anyway. This situation is much preferable to the opposite situation, where the hand has pushed the cylinder all the way to battery, but there is not enough slop between the hand and the hammer to allow the hammer to keep going all the way to full cock. I had this happen with one of my 'original model' Ruger Vaqueros. It was so tightly timed that the hammer did go to full cock and the cylinder locked up precisely at the same time. When I changed out the hammer for an after market half cock hammer, things had changed just enough so the hand did not allow the hammer to go to full cock once the cylinder went to battery. I had to file a teeny bit off the hand to allow the hammer to go to full cock at the same time the cylinder locked up.