Dave opening fire at a long-range handgun event. He’d never remove the hammer spur on his double-action wheelgun.
The late Elmer Keith perhaps summed it up best when he observed, early in Sixguns by Keith, “We have seen big holster guns with both the hammer spur and the front of the guard cut away, and see no reason for so ruining a fine gun. The hammer spur is necessary if singe action aimed fire is called for, which is often the case in defense work.
“Any time you have to hit a distant target,” he explained, “be it man or automobile, you can do a better job by cocking the gun, taking deliberate aim and squeezing off the shot properly.”
Hammer of a Smith & Wesson double-action revolver. It’s there to allow for precision shots when the need arises.
Everyone knows Keith as the father of long-range handgunning, and his prowess with large-bore single- and double-action sixguns is indisputable, as he did quite a bit of shooting in front of witnesses.
Having personally watched other feats of handgun marksmanship performed by people I consider incredibly good shooters—all firing in single-action mode with their double-action revolvers—they would have been severely disadvantaged had they bobbed the hammers on their guns.
Experience makes it difficult to argue with Keith’s observations. Having taken big and small game with double-action revolvers, and participated in long range handgun shoots where precision is a necessity, the notion of bobbing a revolver hammer has never found even a lukewarm place anywhere near my heart.
Besides, without hammer spurs, what would we do with hammer thongs on holsters, or thumb breaks, or snap straps?
Left, hammer on a Ruger Blackhawk. Right, hammer on a Colt Python. Hammer spurs have plenty of surface on which to get a decent purchase with your thumb.
Stay Hammered
Surprising as it may seem, a fair number of younger, or at least new, handgun owners have very little—if any—experience with wheelguns. This is not a bad thing, it’s merely a sign of the times, with far more semiautomatic pistols being available to today’s consumers.
However, interest in revolvers does seem to be picking up (it may be cyclic), and when someone asks me about shooting sixguns, my counsel is to begin with a model which has an exposed hammer. It’s for a good reason, of course. Someone new to revolvers should first learn careful, accurate shooting and that begins with single-action practice. One round at a time, slowly at first, and picking up speed over time. Accuracy and confidence will improve along the way.
Note how the thumb surface is fully engaged with the checkered hammer. New revolver shooters should learn accuracy by shooting single-action.
At a very young age, while learning to shoot with a double-action rimfire revolver, I tried the D/A approach only once, missing a tin can repeatedly until I was sternly told to fire single-action while trying to master the gun. “Cock it. Ya got thumbs for a reason!”
Sure enough, my handgun marksmanship gradually improved over time. It is doubtful I’d have progressed as rapidly, had I been stuck learning with a double-action only model. Like it or not, it is not easy for a new shooter to keep the sights on target while pressing a trigger which may require 10 pounds or more of finger pressure. By contrast, single-action letoff on a double-action revolver can be as light as 3-4 pounds, which makes it imperative to keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
Dave put the caliper on the hammer of a Model 19 S&W. At nearly a third of an inch, there’s plenty of cocking surface for thumb contact.
Hammer Dimensions
I’ve been blessed over the years to own or at least shoot some very fine revolvers from Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger, along with models from Charter Arms and Taurus. My brother owns a couple of dandy Ruger double-action models, one a Redhawk in .44 Magnum and the other a nice GP100 in .357 Magnum on which I once installed a replacement rear sight blade. Wheelguns sort of run in the family.
The target-type hammer spurs on my Colt Python and Diamondback revolvers are wide enough for a superb thumb purchase on the flats. The checkered Python hammer measured (with my caliper) 0.494-inch, while the Diamondback’s serrated hammer flat was just a hair narrower at 0.457-inch. Meanwhile, the checkered hammer on my N-frame Smith was a healthy 0.497-inch wide, while on the smaller K-frame gun, the hammer measured 0.373-inch wide. Anyone who can’t contact one of these surfaces isn’t trying very hard.
Notice where the trigger of this double-action revolver is positioned with the hammer down.
A double-action shot would require at least 10 pounds of pressure on the trigger …
In Keith’s autobiography, Hell, I Was There!, he described the dimensions of the hammers and triggers on a pair of N-frame .41 Magnums sent to him by S&W on the eve of a polar bear hunt back in 1964.
“Just as Charley Shedd and I were leaving for the Arctic and our polar bear hunt,” he wrote, “a pair of 4-inch Smith & Wesson Magnums, with target sights, and triggers trimmed to 3/8-inch, the hammers cut back about ¼-inch, arrived.”
For comparison, the narrower hammers on my Ruger Blackhawk and New Vaquero single-action models measured 0.292-inch, both with serrated cocking surfaces. People have been cocking single-action and double-action hammers for generations.
It may almost seem like blasphemy to fans of bobbed hammers, but when the hammer spur is removed, you lose the option of cocking for a precision single-action shot. This has never made sense to me.
… However, with the hammer at full cock, only 2-4 pounds of pressure is necessary to allow the hammer to drop and touch off a round.
A Place for DAO
I happen to own one (1) revolver designed as a double-action-only model, a 5-shot Smith & Wesson Model 442. Capable of handling +P loads, it makes for a discreet carry gun and is capable of reasonable accuracy at close range. However, for precision work, I’d grab either my K-frame Model 19 or N-frame Model 57, both with longer barrels and adjustable rear sights.
Even Keith acknowledged a use for DAO guns when he wrote, “Only the small double action guns should ever have the hammer spur removed,” adding this caveat, “If a true pocket gun is wanted, the Smith & Wesson Centennial or the Colt Detective Special with a hammer shroud, are the best choice.”
There is a compromise, of sorts, with the S&W Model 38 Bodyguard, which has an integral hammer shroud built onto the frame. The cocking surface of the hammer is still exposed in a narrow channel, so the hammer may be cocked for a single-action shot.
Dave considers the setup on the S&W Bodyguard to be the perfect compromise for people who prefer double-action shooting. The exposed hammer rides in a channel on top of the frame, which has an integral hump to prevent the hammer from getting fouled if the revolver is carried in a pocket.
Some years ago, Bianchi offered a rubber replacement grip called the Lightning, which fit on a round butt Model 19 S&W, likewise shrouding the hammer. Colt offered shrouds for the Detective Special and Cobra years ago, as well. While writing this article, I happened to find a couple of used Lightning grips for the Model 19, for sale online.
When one needs to fire fast for close range defensive shooting, double-action is definitely the best option. In an emergency, thanks to adrenaline, you might not notice the stiffer DA trigger, and at close range, say 7 to 10 yards, the odds of missing are diminished.
Still, to properly get started shooting revolvers, it’s my humble opinion that starting off single-action and working up to double action is the right sequence of events, and when one is ready for double-action-only, I’ll just beg a little here and suggest you purchase a DAO model and don’t de-horn the hammer on your existing sidearm.
Now, without a hammer spur, just what would we do with all of those western hammer thongs…
Or the safety straps on millions of holsters? A terrible waste of leather!
It may seem like a good idea at the time, but I have lost count of the number of social media posts I’ve read from people wondering where they can get replacement hammers for revolvers they’ve either purchased or somehow otherwise wound up possessing.
I’m okay with the likelihood some folks might disagree. My sixguns still have their horns.