carrying a cap and ball revolver in the field

[ulfrik]

for the remington army and the colt army, whats the best way to carry the revolver safe and ready?, resting the hamer on an empty chamber or resting the hammer on a inbetween notch?



if you cock the gun then decide not to fire,how do you lower the hammer and get the gun back into a safe carry mode?

 

[Oyeboten]

I would go with the in-between-notch.

And or elect a Cap & Ball Revolver which has that amenity, if intending to Carry in the field or in earnest.


To lower the cocked Hammer, have your Thumb on the Hammer Ear, pull it back what little back there is to pull it to...depress the Trigger then with your trigger Finger, slowly lower the Hammer some of the way, while releaseing the Trigger and removing your Trigger Finger from the position, then lower the Hammer the rest of the way slowly...while of course all the while making sure the Revolver is pointed in a safe direction, such as to Earth.


The Hammer should be lowered surely and slowly so it will now nearly rest on the Cap, where it can be pulled back just a little to allow the Cylinder to be turned to the resting Notch for the Hammer Nose to rest in.

 

[ulfrik]

do most cap and ball revolvers have a half cock position? if so what would be the function of half cock position?

 

[StrawHat]

ulfrik

do most cap and ball revolvers have a half cock position? if so what would be the function of half cock position?

To allow the cylinder to spin while you load it on the frame. Also to allow you to more easliy remove the cylinder from the Remington style revolver.

I use the pins on the Colt style revolver to safely carry a loaded C&B revolver.

 

[mykeal]

Personally I would carry with the hammer down on an empty chamber. There is a slight difference in safety between the empty chamber and between chamber positions, with the 'safer' position being the former.

With the hammer in the between chamber position, the bolt is raised and resting on the surface of the cylinder, between stop notches. The only thing keeping the cylinder from rotating into the in-battery position is the hammer itself. That's perfectly safe as it would require a force sufficient to actually fracture the cylinder to rotate it.

With the hammer down on an empty chamber, the bolt is raised into a stop notch on the cylinder, thus there are two things (the hammer and the bolt) preventing cylinder rotation. While two things are better than one, as a practical matter in terms of safety this is equivalent to the same position in the between chamber case.

However, if the hammer were to be pulled back inadvertently, say by being caught on the belt or edge of a holster, the between chamber case is less desirable. In that case the cylinder will become free to rotate as soon as the hammer clears the back of the cylinder (remember the bolt is not in a stop notch), and while the hand is not yet moving the cylinder it is free to move and will be in battery after only 30 degrees of rotation. The hammer could then drop on a loaded chamber.

In the empty chamber case the cylinder will not become free to rotate until the bolt drops free of the stop notch, when hammer approaches nearly the half cock position. This is significantly further back (the exact amount depends on the gun) than the between chamber case. Further, the cylinder must rotate twice as far to come into battery.

This extra movement does provide a slight bit of additional safety when using the empty chamber method of carry. However, that must be weighed against the advantage of having the additional round available. Many people would prefer to have that bullet and eschew the slight, perhaps very slight, safety advantage. In the end, both methods are much better than the half cock position which depends on the sear remaining intact for holding back the hammer; dropping the gun is all that's necessary to break the sear and fire the bun. OOps. I meant gun.

 

[Bluehawk]

dropping the gun is all that's necessary to break the sear and fire the bun.

And we all know a fired bun is not fun!!!!

 

[madcratebuilder]

The holster makes a difference for me. If I use a flap holster, I drop the hammer between chambers. If it's a open holster I drop the hammer on a empty chamber.

 

[higene]

Carry

ROAs have a notch between each nipple for this reason. I believe that it is safe to carry them six up with the hammer in the safety notch. I wish Ruger 3 screws had the same feature. NAA cartridge guns have this feature. I am not sure about the BP Companion as I do not own one.

 

[Oyeboten]

As for me, if I wanted to carry a five shot Revolver, I would have bought one.


Lol...

 

[BlackPowderSmoke]

Though it is against the advice of some of the bp gurus, I am satisfied with the hammer resting on a notch in between the cylinders. I guess I just prefer a six shot over a five shot.

 

[Jim K]

Remingtons and clones can be safely carried with the hammer down in the safety notch. Colts and some Colt copies have safety pins, but most of the copies don't. If the safety pins are there and not battered down, they provide a safe way to carry the gun. If not, best carry with the hammer down and the chamber under the hammer empty.

Jim

 

[Hellgate]

If I were to use the gun in a battle I'd load all 6 chambers. But for 'in the field" where my adversary is not going to shoot back, I load 5 and keep the hammer down on an empty chamber. If the gun is long barreled a slim jim holster is OK but with a short barrel gun like my US Marshall '51/.44 Navy a flap holster or snap strap over the gun would be safer. The short barrels allow the gun to slide out of the holster easily when sitting in a rig or on the ground.