SINGLE ACTION

[Ghostrider_23]

What is the attraction about single action guns? Is it their accuracy or balance?:banghead: What is it looks? Can they be that much fun to shot?

 

[bakert]

YEP!! Plus a bit of nostalgia!

 

[Bula]

I too was a non believer in SA pistols. 2 weeks ago I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag SS, 4 & 5/8" barrel. I love everything about it. They shoot great, look great and feel great. I used to be a tac pistol fan but the more I shoot the more I realize I love shooting revo's. They are just more fun for me. Next in line is a Blackhawk in 45 colt!

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Very few moving parts, they feel so solid!

When I open up my Ruger Bearcat, it looks so simple inside.

-MV

 

[Essex County]

All of the above. Plus simplicity and ruggedness and romance. The rugers are fine for the hunter, houndsman and woodsloafer. A big plus is that they are affordable..........Essex

 

[Seancass]

yeah, they really are that much fun to shoot. after shooting these, semi-autos just seem boring. plus you can think you look cooler than you do imagining you are a cowboy and it makes it a lot of fun.

 

[MCgunner]

Accuracy is fun to me and Blackhawks are accurate! Also, they're very strong and weigh less in big, powerful calibers than a comparable DA. My .45 Colt 4 5/8" is about the same weight as a Smith and Wesson mountain gun and can shoot the "for Ruger's only" loads. Then, you have gems like the Freedom Arms revolvers, built ultra strong and able to handle the big boys in a gun much easier to carry than an X frame.

But, why do you need DA in the woods? I never shoot DA outdoors, never. DA is for close range self defense, not hunting or predator protection where your shot MUST count at extended ranges.

 

[420Stainless]

The 45 Colt Vaquero is the most fun gun I have. Besides that, with my short fingers, I do most of my shooting single action anyway. The trigger reach is too long on most double actions for me to shoot accurately at a distance. Like MCgunner said, for close in self-defense I like the idea of a double action for speed of 1st shot and reload and I practice accordingly. For everything else, single action is just fine with me.

 

[Robereno]

I like their looks and accuracy. Actually, I think the popularity of single actions is on the rise.

Massad Ayoob has written an excellent article in Backwoods Home Magazine about the current popularity of old western style single action handguns here.

 

[Jim March]

SA guns are mechanically simpler and when based on coil springs instead of flat are more reliable. Because the cylinder is fixed in place, accuracy can be higher for the same price range. When you swing the cylinder in on a DA gun you're establishing a new alignment between barrel and cylinder bore. This alignment is crucial to accuracy.

Then there's the feel.

Until you've shot a gun with the size/heft of a Colt SAA, you just don't know. There are a number of near-clones made today with transfer bar safeties. My Ruger New Vaquero is one such, and is also all-coil-springs inside.

Mine has been customized with a lower-slung hammer (off a SuperBlackHawk) and better sights. And...one cosmetic mod:

 

[Eightball]

one word: Style.

Revos have style and soul that only a 1911 can come close to, and a SA anything just says "I am a sweet firearm, hold me, shoot me". Only reason I don't own a SA yet is that I have other holes to fill first, my Smith has temporarily satiated my niche for those right now. but someday.....when i can afford the "correct" ammo (.45LC, .41, etc).......

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Jim, you are a twisted, twisted man.

But in a good way!!

However:
Do you really think anyone close enough to see the face will be focused on anything other than that BIG hole at about 2 'o clock?

 

[Jim March]

Well see, it's like this.

If a cop ever asks why I pointed my gun right at the nose of a guy tryin' to steal my bike, I'll be able so say "Oh no officer, I wasn't threatening him, I was just showing him that my bike has my personal mark just like all my other stuff!"

 

[Ben Shepherd]

OK, I give.

 

[Eightball]

If a cop ever asks why I pointed my gun right at the nose of a guy tryin' to steal my bike, I'll be able so say "Oh no officer, I wasn't threatening him, I was just showing him that my bike has my personal mark just like all my other stuff!"

I'd like to see someone prove THAT statement wrong. You could show them, as well .

So, do you carry your single action while you're riding? That's pretty sweet.

 

[Joe Gunns]

Single action -colt clone or Ruger- seems to fit my hand the best. The grip and balance feel natural. Recoil management is easier. i usta think that I was a reincarnated gunman from the Old West because no other pistol feels so right. Now I think it comes from playing with all those Fanner 50's as a kid and shooting black powder navy's and army's in my twenties.
I have DA's and semi's, but the SA's are usually the ones I grab for fun or to check out the bump in the night.

 

[popbang]

There is a long list of reasons why I like single action revolvers. I shot a pistol match the other day with a Blackhawk. I can't keep up with the autos when I have to reload, but I can hit the target.

I like single action revolvers because they are what I started shooting. I never really switched to double actions or autos. I tried both, but I keep coming back to the single actions.

 

[biere]

Some people talk about how a glock points in their hand vs. how a 1911 points in their hand. I own both those and all I can say is my super blackhawk and most other single actions tend to just point perfectly.

A single action recoils differently than any double action revolver I have shot. My super blackhawk "rolls" back in my grip a bit. I can handle shooting 44 mag loads in it. When I owned a ruger redhawk I never really enjoyed how it recoiled.

When people talk about how nice their trigger is on their smith and wesson or their 1911 I wonder if they have ever messed with a single action. Stock my super blackhawk is great. I keep thinking about doing the simple tune up on it that does not cost much more than time, but then I wonder if that won't have me leaving all my other stuff in the safe.

A search for single actions will turn up threads where we have discussed using them for ccw and all sorts of stuff that cause some folks to question our sanity.

But after owning and shooting a single action for a bit, I just came to the conclusion that a single action is a simple and nearly perfect firearm for about all my needs.

Have to go, the 1911s are crying about me thinking about how many single actions I could trade them in on.

 

[Jim March]

I carried it in Tennessee last week, in a situation where I was (and remain) dead certain there was election fraud going on. See also:

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/44242.html

My CCW from WA state used to cover me in AZ but now that I'm officially an AZ resident my WA CCW stopped being any good. Gotta score in AZ now. I have a good open-carry holster I'll post pics of at some point but...since I'm working with a bunch of...well...lefties on election reform, my options there are limited.

I do however think that CCW with an SA lacking a modern safety is a bad idea. If you mess up on the "load five" issue you end up with an unsafe situation in public - not at a range, not at a SASS meet, not in the woods. I wouldn't want to see the practice banned but I just don't think it's smart - or necessary, now that Ruger, Beretta and Taurus are all producing transfer-bar guns with the same size/heft as a Colt SAA.

(Minor tip: the Ruger 50th Anniversary 357Mag is based on the SAA-sized frame of the New Vaquero, but has adjustable sights. It's a GOOD candidate for SA CCW. I like mine even better though: lower-slung fixed sights but significantly improved over a stock Vaquero. The custom sights set me back about $200.)

 

[moewadle]

The Single Action is history, tradition

and takes me back, to a certain degree, to the days of the SAA in the US Cavalry, Tombstone, Dodge City, etc. Call me a romantic if you wish, but basically guns are my toys...I go to the range and shoot away. There isn't anything like pulling out my hogleg New Vaquero .45 with 7 1/2" barrel and making a believer out of that paper target, tin can, clay pigeon (no not flying, stuck in the berm dirt), etc. I also have a Colt .22 Peacemaker that is a 7/8 size exact clone of the SAA and it is a lot of fun to shoot also. Great balance, feels nice in my hand, and, I will admit it, I love those Colt eagle grips with e pluribus unum on them. They are definitely a class act and dripping with history.

 

[JoeHatley]

What is the attraction about single action guns?

Because there is absolutely nothing "tactical" about them. That.. and the fun factor is very high!!



Joe

 

[xtarheel]

Because a Colt SAA .45 in an original Heiser holster on your hip is just COOL!

 

[Eightball]

Because a Colt SAA .45 in an original Heiser holster on your hip is just COOL!

Yup. Now, if only I could afford that......

 

[Jim March]

See...I don't see it that way. To me, a gun of the same size/heft as the Colt but more easily modified, tougher and with a transfer bar is more desireable as a "gun to own and carry" so long as resale value isn't factored in.

Offer me a Ruger New Vaq or Colt SAA with the proviso that I can't sell it and I'll take the New Vaq. Call me a Phillistine if you will.

If I *was* going to pay $1,500, my money would go straight to a Freedom Arms '97 in 357.

 

[ArmedBear]

after shooting these, semi-autos just seem boring.

True.

Sometimes I think I'd rather shoot cap and ball, but I'd rather deal with modern powder and lackadaisical cleaning requirements, so a SAA is the next best thing.