doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Safety on hammer gun?

Though I find them redundant, safeties on hammer guns are almost as old as guns themselves. Here's a double flint shotgun from about 1815 with a very effective grip safety. Pretty handy when reloading from the muzzle, especially since the gun is "self-priming".

A lot of hammer rifles were fitted with hammer safeties .I have also seen percussinn guns fitted with them . Not common on shotguns in my experience .

Liked the idea of hammer guns and bought an old Walter Betts.

Would not walk with one,much less both, hammers cocked, found the notion of walking with the action open unacceptable.

Learned that the sensible thing is to own a hammer gun so made that you could: a) cock both hammers with your thumb at a covey rise; b) open the gun with the hammers cocked in case you did not get a shot and wanted to remove cartridges to most safely lower the hammers.

Regards

I have heard so many times over the years about how hammer guns are almost useless for grouse and woodcock, and it always makes me smile. I have been hunting grouse and woodcock my entire life, with many different styles of guns, and can probably count on one hand where not having both hammers cocked when mounting the gun has cost me a GOOD shot at a bird.

When I was younger I've had autos that have jammed after the first shot that have cost me more shots at birds than not being able to have both hammers cocked on mounting the gun. I don't know where you guys hunt, but in my experience if a grouse or woodcock is not hit with the first barrel, the chances of hitting it with the second barrel are slim to none. Now I do get ready to cock the second hammer as soon as I fire the first. A second flush is a common experience, and I would rather have a loaded second barrel than an empty gun due to wasting two shots on a fleeing bird.

Point is, don't be put off by a hammer gun, the handicap is not nearly as drastic as some people describe.

Beautiful flint gun you have there Joe. I have a Turner of Reading breechloading hammergun circa 1865 or so with a grip safety. Best safety is that between the ears of the user. Lagopus.....

I don't have total faith in safetys or unloaded guns, my practice with external hammers, internal hammers , or striker fired firearms is not to point the damned thing at anything that you are not willing to destroy. Period.

The stalking safeties on my Woodward .450/.400 2 3/8" from 1879 very firmly lock the non-rebounding hammers at half cock. The hammers can't be cocked, lowered, or the triggers pulled until the safeties are disengaged. Stalking implies to me that the hammers can easily be foreseen to be exposed to accidental cocking or trigger pulls. The safest thing, then, is to lock those pups down. IMO, the same line of logic would apply only slightly less to a rebounding lock. Would not intercepting sear safeties on a rebounding lock enclosed hammer gun (almost surely also equipped with a trigger block saftey also) be equivalent?

My apologies to Daryl who will have seen this gun before. It is a hammerless side lock with external cocking/de-cocking/indicator leavers.
It also has another interesting feature which is why I reproduce it here.
The safety catch operates in the opposite direction to the 'normal' way i.e. it is pulled back to ready it to fire.



For anyone reared on hammer guns the concept of pulling back the hammers to make your gun ready to fire would have made pulling the safety catch back on a hammerless gun the natural and sensible way forward.
Why the illogical opposite way was adopted is a mystery to me - but it was and this gun is the only one I know of - so another innovation passes away.
John

I have seen this "opposite" safety twice before and both were on early Cogswell&Harrison sidelock guns,and nowhere else.

I've been hunting with hammerguns all my life. [Well since I was about 7] and have never had much trouble cocking both hammers at a flush; [either grouse or woodcock] in enough less time than I could push a regular "safety" to make a difference. It is a bit more tiring to carry a hammergun at the ready, and a bit slower to get hammers back from a low carry position, but not enough to matter. If you are not "ready" you can't get a good shot off with any gun in close cover.

All the best, Mal