Dave (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:12 pm There are no safeties that I remember on single and double acting revolvers. We're talking revolvers and not semi-automatic pistols with all sorts of other actions.
Cocking the hammer produces a heavier blow to the bullet because the hammer must be cocked farther away form the bullet to be held in place. Then the trigger released the holding mechanism. When you pulls the hammer back without latching it, the distance is shorter and the hammer drops and hits the bullet with less force. The real danger is the firing pin.
Modern pistols have a transfer pin that prevents the hammer from accidentally firing the gun due to rough handling.
Here's the important part -- cowboys with Colt's 45, used to leave the hammer rest on an empty chamber (load five and not six shots) so that handling he gun wouldn't accidentally fire it. Ammunition wasn't as uniform and sometimes rather light jarring would set off the firing cap on the back of the bullet. If the cowboy didn't shoot his foot, then his horse might get it. These revolvers were not made to be tucked in trousers. They're big, heavy guns more likely to drag your pants to the floor.
There is a reason that a Colt 45 (peacemaker) and other guns with 357 calibers and higher have only six bullets in the cylinder. The metals involved don't have the strength to hold together when bored for a seven or eight shooter.
I had a Ruger Single Six which fired nine 22 shorts or six 22 longs. Of course I had to manually replace the cylinders to change caliber because the bullets were physically different
I once had a Dan Wesson 357 that was dual chambered in one cylinder for 357's or 38's.
I agree, many revolvers and many replicas of other old-fashioned guns obviously don't have safeties. But like you say, who loads a revolver cylinder fully? That's stupid. Furthermore, with most revolvers you can tell at a glance whether it is loaded as you can usually see a bit of the bullet, and if you really want to make sure you can quickly check. Also, like you said modern revolvers prevent the hammer alone from causing a fire, and some double-action actually need single action on first pull.
But even in these cases at least four things have to go wrong at the same time to hurt someone: fully loaded, full hammer action, full trigger action, and pointed in an unsafe direction. Still seems like a lot of coincidence and stupidity rolled into one.