Single action revolvers

[simon1]

Over the past few years I've seen the idea floated in some gun rags about carrying a single action revolver for defense. There was even an article about the Gunsite training for defensive use of one.

Lately I've seen a couple of articles in the gun rags about Cimarron's Sheriff Model as conceald carry. At least that one has the ejector rod instead of the original Colt Sheriff's Model that you had to poke out the empties with a piece of wood or something.

There are much better ones to carry, but I've been shooting single actions since I was about 5, so I don't feel exactly unarmed with one. I know how to use the support hand thumb to thumb back the hammer and don't feel too stressed just to use the firing hand thumb. On rare occasions I'll stick my old 1st Gen. Colt SAA .45 in my belt when I run to town.

Anyone else entertain the idea to carry one at times like that?

 

[xxvaleria]

It would depend on the revolver. If you need more than six shots, the 1873 Colt Army model is a PITA to reload.

 

[simon1]

It would depend on the revolver. If you need more than six shots, the 1873 Colt Army model is a PITA to reload.

I do give a nod to the S&W Schofield for reloading. I've been thinking about getting a Wells Fargo Model repro of one for quite awhile.

 

[Ad Astra]

Possible but not ideal.

You could train to do so ...

Picturing an SA with a light rail ... WWST?

What Would Skeeter Think?

He certainly carried SA.


AA

 

[jar_]

Remember that in most cases what I start with is only 5 shots not 6. Or with most of the smaller Smith autoejectors only 4 rounds.

 

[nortac]

All my SA's are Rugers, so 6 is safe, but I've never really considered carrying one concealed. A lot of steel to be packing. I'd probably want a pair, and a Bowie knife for backup. Definitely need both belt and suspenders. I'm tired just thinking about it.

 

[jar_]

Some of us are still using them old SAAs.

 

[nortac]

Very, very nice. I wish I had me some!

 

[nortac]

I'd love to take the Gunsite SADP course.

 

[Acmemfg]

Never owned a SA revolver. Shot a few. Would not mind getting one someday.

 

[simon1]

My 1894 Colt that's only safe with black powder loads. It does have a tactical advantage...I can hide behind the clouds of gunsmoke it spits out.

 

[noelekal]

Great thread Mike!

I've toted a single-action revolver a dab through the years. Always thought I was well-equipped when it was along. Single-action revolvers are repeating firearms. They just don't hold as many shots as folks are now accustomed to having on tap and the reload is hopelessly slow. Rate of aimed fire is actually pretty good and the revolver's design is conducive to good hammer manipulation and control. Single-actions do have a certain point-ability that may be better felt than told. The single-action revolver is easily had in any of several calibers which can be depended on for solving most handgun-appropriate chores.



I did get into what I thought was a jam once when I was toting it and began to rue the choice for the circumstances in which I thought I found myself. Turned out to be a false alarm and I've still toted it locally since.

The job was stressful, the kids were growing up and I was really looking forward to a weekend away on a deer hunt at a lease in northern Coke county Texas. I determined to make it a vintage hunt weekend and commit myself to only taking vintage guns along.

I was working with a 1887 vintage Winchester Model 1886 .45-90 at the time, making up various handloads and was hunting with it a bit that season for the first time since acquiring it. I had worked up both a really good accurate smokeless powder load and a fun black powder load that mimicked original ballistics.

So I took the Winchester along, supplementing it with a 1905 vintage Colt Single Action Army in .38-40 that I've owned for many years. I was really enthused to spend the weekend with only these two oldie guns.

Was delayed getting away from the office Friday afternoon so by the time I got to the deer lease it was really late and after midnight before I got into the sack. Had dropped off only to be startled awake from a sound sleep about an hour and a half later by a brilliant light shining right in my eyes!

The windows in this room of an old farm house converted into a deer camp had been covered in opaque plastic sheeting. I had awoke facing one of these windows which now was bright as day. It was as if a vehicle was right out there in the yard shining its headlights onto the side of the house and into the window!

The camp at the old house was behind several locked gates, deep within a large ranch which itself was miles from the ghost town of Silver. Most of the hunters on the lease were done for the season and lived out-state-besides. My brother-in-law and his older brother were the only other two hunters and they were both away that weekend. The rancher lived 40 miles away in town and wasn't prone to showing up at 1:30 in the morning.

The Colorado River flowed through the place and was only a few hundred yards from the old house. Wetbacks occasionally traveled the river bottom. The rancher had sustained occasional theft of stock, tools and farm equipment and had run off people he'd found straying so far into his place. I strained to listen and observe, wondering if the old house had been chosen for some midnight rendezvous point for gathering travelers, contraband, or who knows what.

Then the thought intruded that my pickup was out there and still had a few items locked in its cab. I didn't want someone messing with the pickup. I had heard not a sound but only sat there on the bunk inside a room bathed in the intense light.

When I was startled awake by the light I had reached for the Colt which had been beneath the bunk. I didn't feel I could noiselessly retrieve the .45-90 ammunition from my shooting box and load the Winchester. This was in the pre-cell phone days, the place is probably yet out of range of current cell phone service, so it was "them and me" and I was going to have to deal with this predicament by myself.

I crossed the very creaky floor as slowly as possible to the front door, lifted the flimsy hook-and-eye latch and prepared to crack the door open a bit so I could look out and see who was out there.

As I made to crack open the door I held the Colt ready, muzzle up beside my face, ruefully pondering why I had deliberately limited myself to rely on it when there were more modern choices with quicker reloads back home.

With a soft high-pitched squeak of hinges the door opened just a bit to reveal a full moon, now well above the eastern horizon and blazing its vivid light on the house, the yard with my pickup in it, and the entire perimeter. The moonlight had been defused by the plastic sheeting which lit up the room in a most spectacular and eerie manner.

I couldn't help chuckling out loud at the discovery, amused at myself and how flummoxed I had become over nothing more harmless than moonlight. I crawled back in the sack well satisfied that I hadn't had to "do battle" out in the yard with the Colt Single Action. Managed to go right back to sleep in anticipation of that 5:00AM alarm too.

I did load the Winchester first.


Imagine that! Black hair! A photo with the Winchester '86 taken on that same deer lease on a different occasion though likely the same deer season.

 

[xjrob85]

I mean you can do it...people depended on them for a long time...but there are much better options now. I wouldn't carry a single action revolver personally.

 

[jar_]

I have a feeling though, no matter how "Badass" I felt I was at the time, that seeing someone point any one of the old SAAs and the sounds of the hammer cocking might just be enough to make me consider a career change. It's just one of those distinctive sounds that seems to go straight past any conditioning and damn them things do look big and serious.

 

[simon1]

Remember that in most cases what I start with is only 5 shots not 6. Or with most of the smaller Smith autoejectors only 4 rounds.

Some people think they need three spare 15 round magazines to go get groceries.

 

[nortac]

Some people think they need three spare 15 round magazines to go get groceries.

Blatant open carry.

 

[OkieStubble]

Blatant open carry.

Hey, I properly conceal all three of my mags.

 

[nortac]

I guess the guy with the belt feed could wear a poncho for concealment.

 

[simon1]

Hey, I properly conceal all three of my mags.

Hey, Rob. I'm sure you saw where Okie carry with no permit required is making its way through the legislature now. Saw that in the Tulsa World recently. I don't know about anything with no training required...I mean...I've seen some stupid stuff. I'm all for civilian carry though.

Dang, is it as cold 100 miles away over there that it is here? The predicted sleet didn't get the memo...yet. I don't know if I want to drive over the San Bois mountains until about Wednesday though. It's a boring drive home, but doing it in the snow and ice again should make it interesting.

 

[machinisttx]

If OK passes open carry without a permit/training yet still requires it for concealed, then someone will challenge it in court. Unequal treatment under the law. Carrying a handgun is carrying a handgun, so either everyone should be required to undergo training and the permit or no one should. I said the same thing when TX was considering open carry.

I wouldn't voluntarily carry a SA revolver for defense except defense against animals, and even then I'd rather have a DA.