357 Part IV..Safety Issues and Gun Styles

The 7th photo in Part III showed 4 automatics on the kitchen counter.  Do you remember which safety was for each gun?  Would you remember it at 2 in the morning when the glass is shattering at the back door downstairs?

Assuming there's a loaded magazine in it, did you remember to put a live round in the chamber?  If you aren't sure, you're gonna have to "rack" one IN there....and that makes noise, and sound that travels well at night, and has ALSO just alerted the intruder that you're UP!  You just lost a HUGE advantage....the element of surprise.

Here is where a good double-action revolver is worth its weight in gold!

For the "newbies" out there, let's make sure we're on the "same page", concerning this "double-action and single-action" jargon.

Since we were kids watching "Gunsmoke" on television, there's always been a fascination with the old western "6-shooters".  Strong and reliable....it was always the "good guys and the bad guys".

And if you don't remember THIS Colt.........you just weren't a FAN............John Wayne's old 45, blueing mostly worn off, and those old yellowed  bone handled grips, is on permanent display today in the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma City.

Anyway...SINGLE means "ONE", and there's only ONE way to fire a single-action.  You have to physically pull the hammer back for each shot.  Just squeezing the trigger when the hammer is down, does nothing.   They have that movie-cherished "clickety-click" sound when you draw the hammer back....sounds really "cool"........but makes NOISE too.  Not good when you don't want to be heard.  There is also only ONE way to load & unload.......ONE at a time, as the "wheel" goes 'round.

Here's where the DOUBLE-action is CLEARLY the way to go........

"Double, meaning "TWO"....there are TWO ways to shoot THESE.  You can pull the hammer back (which "lightens" the squeeze for the shot.  Or.....you can merely just pull the trigger, which makes the trigger pull a bit stiffer, but it also revolves the cylinder quietly and the only thing the intruder hears is "BANG!"...as the bullet finds its mark (if you've done YOUR end of it properly.

With their "swing-out" cylinder and modern speed-loaders, they are much faster to reload than the old-style single-actions.

Fully loaded, double-action revolvers are always "ready to go".  There are NO SAFETIES to be concerned with either.  All well-built double-action revolvers have solid steel "safety bars" built into the gun, that keeps the hammer AWAY from the firing pin until the trigger is purposely squeezed.

Resting on the nightstand as you see here, the hammer is down----fully loaded.  If it fell off and landed on its hammer, the gun would NOT go off.  When the trigger is PULLED, the "hammer-block" is dropped down out of the way (inside the gun), allowing the hammer to hit the firing pin, driving it into the cartridge primer, and "BANG!"

After the shot, and you release the trigger for the next one, the hammer-block is mechanically pivoted back up into place, keeping the hammer away from the firing pin. 

Double-action revolver are inherently SAFER than any other types of pistols........and are available in more powerful calibers as well.

For ME anyway.......the main asset of a revolver, is RELIABILITY, especially with the double-actions. "You squeeze the trigger and they go BANG!"

I'd rather have 6 BIG ones for SURE....than 15 smaller ones ("if all goes well").

And the auto-pistols??...............Hey, I still love 'em!  I wouldn't own so many if I didn't.  And in my own humble opinion, there'll always be a place for them......................................at the RANGE!