Am I foolish to carry a SA as my car gun?

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cookekdjr

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Hi folks. I'd like your opinions on this.
Recently I got a great deal on a .357 Blackhawk. I was going to sell it for profit, but it feels so great in my hand I've kept it as my car gun (I sold my old car gun a couple weeks ago).
Am I being foolish to keep this single action revolver as a self defense weapon? BTW, it points very naturally for me and I can pull back the hammer as fast as I can raise the pistol to fire.
Thanks,

David
 
Nope, not foolish. Some would say there are better options, but a big 'ol Blackhawk scores points for intimidation factor. Especially if the blue's worn off in the right places because it's been used a lot. (In other words, use it a lot first.)
 
Your car, your piece, your decision.

Personally, I wouldn't.

Try shooting all five rounds quickly and then quickly reloading. (Does the Ruger Blackhawk have the transfer bar safety, or do you still need to keep an empty chamber under the hammer?)

If you don't get the situation solved in five rounds or less, you're in a world of hurt.

hillbilly
 
a gun is better than no gun...
but if you do opt for a different gun, i bet you could send it off somewhere to have teh handles redone.

~TMM
 
A guy who is familiar with and can use a SA is somebody who you do not want to mess with. If it is good to you, you are in good shape. I suspect that in 99.99% of all encounters where you will need a firearm, it will suffice nicely.
 
I don't think you are foolish at all, as long as you feel comfortable with it. Back when I had a 6 1/2" .357 Blackhawk I carried it every once in a while for self protection. I even made a IWB hoslter for mine. It worked pretty well.
 
Well, so far I feel pretty good. Its funny, I took it out of the box to polish it up for a gunbroker.com photo (it doesn't really need it- it looks new) but I just couldn't put it down. Every time I raised it to look down the sights, I "naturally" pulled back the hammer- it was like second nature. I did it without thinking. I finally realized I really didn't want to sell it. My mind kept saying "be reasonable. be smart. sell it and buy a Sig p220/p228/229..." but my heart kept saying "man, this feels good. it balances perfectly. I wonder where I can get a holster for this. The cock of that hammer in my ear sounds as musical as a SAA. Bach could do no better"...
You get the idea. OK, so you all know now that I love my Ruger.
However, anybody who thinks they should point out any stupidity in my Blackhawk car-gun idea, I'm open to listen.
Thanks,

David
 
If you are good and comfortable with the Blackhawk...knock yourself out. . .

Many years back, I carried a repro of the 1858 "Army Remington"...yeah, a 7-1/2" barrel blackpowder revolver. But before that, I had a similar .357 Blackhawk (New Model 6-1/2" barrel). Shoulda seen the guys face after he tried to demand a ride with me:..."Oh, yeah, what I got in my pocket says you'll drive me anywhere I want..."

:what: :what: :what: :what: Deosn't begin to describe it after I hauled out the Ruger and thumbed back the hammer.
 
If you have to use it I doubt the badguy will complain about you not using a DA revolver so toss it in the car and go about your merry way.
 
Some searches about using birds head grip, single actions for carry, tips and tricks for single actions, and some other similar phrases will find old threads about carrying a single action or cheap and easy mods you can do to make your blackhawk better.

My short answer is I have no problem with what you propose.

I recomend you practice reloading it and to find some different methods to see what works for you I would run some searches about cowboy action shooting.

There are some folks who shoot 2 rounds and reload 2 rounds. This gives a quick reload time for 2 rounds and you can keep it up until you run out of ammo. Due to how a single action is made, at least my ruger, the 2 round method is easy.

Some do all 6 at once and use a tube or desert eagle magazine to hold their rounds.

Overall I have found that since I enjoy shooting my ruger single action I am becoming much better and shooting varmints at different ranges and the problems of shooting downhill are no longer a problem.

I think the biggest thing is to have a gun. Next you need a gun you know well and are comfortable with.

Eventually I guess I would get into the round count concept.

But for now I have decided that it is more important for me to know I will hit what I aim at and hit it where it needs to be hit.

And since I know the reload is slow I have found myself working extra hard to speed things up so I can make the most of what I am using.

And heck, with the assault weapons ban gone I figure that I can keep buying used single actions cheap since no one thinks they are good for much. :)
 
At the risk of being impolite, I think you are giving the bad guys WAY too much of a head start.

Only if budget considerations limited you to this choice,

would I agree.

That does not appear to be the case.

There is no place for sentimentality in self defense.

BTW, the famous Texas gunslinger John Wesley Hardin,

made his rep with SA cap and ball .44's

But when John Selman sneaked into an El Paso saloon and shot him in the back of the head,

Wes was carrying a DA Colt.38 (Lightning or Thunderer.)

Billy the Kid was ALSO a Colt DA man.
 
Oh come on, your not being impolite but I would like to know why you think having a single action is giving the bad guys a big head start.

I also don't go for the history of the single action, I go by how well I shoot it, the round it fires, how well I can work the gun for unloading and reloading, and similar things. Basically right now I consider my single action to be a very effective tool for firing a few rounds. And I have used the concept in past threads that since some folks carry a 5 shot revolver with no reload, that in this case a 6 shot single action gives you one more round at the very least.

I guess I also put a lot of weight on the idea of this being a car gun since I seperate a car gun from a ccw piece in many cases after trying to wear a iwb holster while in my car and buckled in and drawing the gun from where it is tucked into part of the seat back and the console in the car.

So in this case I guess I was thinking more of a supplement to a ccw piece in my mind and should have said it.
 
One of the few times in my post-LEO life that I've ever felt compelled to actually point a firearm at anothe human being, the only option within reach was a big ol' single-action .44 mag (hey, it was deer season!). Thanks to tunnel vision (extreme stress, dontcha know?), I'll never forget the shocked look on the wannabe carjacker's/robber's face when I swung the muzzle into line with his one & only body, and thumbed back the hammer. :what:

Of couse, after he &his two buddies fled at high speed on feets :D , I was faced with lowering that hammer over a live round (it was an old-style action) with the adrenaline shakes! :eek: I guess long years of frequent plinking & practice paid off; no holes in anything! :neener:

A single action revolver wouldn't be my first choice, but if I were carrying one for some other reason (hunting, etc.), I sure wouldn't feel underarmed with one, as long as its use & manipulation had become "second nature" due to extensive practice.
 
I like the Glock myself, but I would almost bet money that the single action revolver (black powder or smokeless) has killed more people than any other handgun. So with that in mind, I think a .357 Blackhawk will work :).

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
Yeah it's true that more than a few bad hombres bast in the wild and wooley west carried double action revolvers.

And if you have any experience with an original Colt 1877DA* or 1878 DA** you know that they have atrociously heavy double action trigger pulls. Accurate DA shooting with them is a matter of luck. Most cowboys thumb cocked them. The Colts used the same loading gate and ejector rod set up as their SAA bretheren so reloading was just as fast.

There were also a goodly number of S&W Double Action First Model and Double Action Frontier revolvers used back then. As a matter of fact, it was a Double Action First Model #352 .44 Russian was the DA revolver of choice of John Wesly Hardin. They also suffered from heavy trigger pulls and a more awkward grip/trigger angle. They did however share the same break-open-eject-all-six rapid loading as the single action S&Ws.


A good single action revolver is a fine tool. It is better suited for some applications than others.
It would not be my first choice for an everyday self defense weapon. But I have been known in my younger days to carry a 3" Colt Sheriff's Model chambered in .44WCF as my primary weapon. I never felt under gunned.

Some people don't feel safe unless they have a high capacity wündërgún with 9 extra magazines. Yet some people feel safe with a five-shot superstealth polymer pocket pistol and don't even bother with extra ammo.

I am reminded of something Elmer Keith wrote back in the early 1970s. He was referring to his carrying of a Colt Single Action. He stated something to the effect of, "After I have fired five shots I have plenty of time to reload." He gave no further explaination.
Now there are several ways you can interpret that statement. I have given that sentence a lot of though over the past 30 years and I have decided that once again Elmer knew what he was talking about.

It's all up to the individual.
What's best for one is not always the best for others.
Use the best tool that is available that you are the most skilled with.




*The Colt 1877 DA was also known as the .38 Lightning and .41 Thunderer.
**The Colt 1878 Army was also known as the .45 Double Action Army or the Frontier Double Action when chambered for .44WCF or .38WCF
 
Anyone who doesn't think a single action can be fast and accurate, has never been to a Cowboy Action Shoot. My CAS club has a charity event every year where we shoot against local cops with their duty weapons...we clean their clock every time.

Is an SA as fast to reload as a modern auto? NO. Would I carry an SA for SD for nostalgia's sake? NO. If it were handy and I was comfortable with it, would I use an SA for SD? YES.
 
"BTW, the famous Texas gunslinger John Wesley Hardin,

made his rep with SA cap and ball .44's

But when John Selman sneaked into an El Paso saloon and shot him in the back of the head,

Wes was carrying a DA Colt.38 (Lightning or Thunderer.)

Billy the Kid was ALSO a Colt DA man."

That's interesting trivia, but not really much of a case against using a SA, the whole "sneaking up from behind and shooting in the back of the head" part pretty much eliminates discussion on SA vs DA or round count...

I think for a car gun you have made a good choice you have already said
"Every time I raised it to look down the sights, I "naturally" pulled back the hammer- it was like second nature. I did it without thinking."

Now you need to shoot it to some to see if you are as comfortable shooting the gun as you are holding it.
I think round count is over emphasised, especially in this case, you are in control of a 4,000 pound weapon to begin with, your automobile. Use the gas and steering to either get away, or "attack" your attacker. The gun is just for last resort.

The only negative I can see for ANY revolver as a car gun, is firing toward the opposite window with passengers in the vehicle. The barrel/cylinder gap can spit some nasty gas and lead, I guess they better duck!
 
I think that a LEO will view you differntly if you are pulled over packing a S.A.

LEO sees S.A. - "Why hell, its just a good ol boy"
LEO sees Glock - "I need back up, I just pulled over a gangbanger"
 
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