Hammer guns today are in a sort of class of their own because they are liked or disliked for all sorts of reasons, some of them are true and others are total nonsense because at the end of the day all a matter of personal opinion.
For myself some of the following seem to make sense.
The one remark you do hear often is hammer gun is an extremely reliable side lock by virtue of fewer moving parts because of the hammers being external. Closely followed by being far easier to effect repairs by not requiring a highly skilled gunmaker to undertake the work, simpler to strip and clean therefore cheaper servicing costs. This I feel may have held true some forty years a go but not today.
No safety mechanism needed you can tell at a glance that that the hammers are down in the safe position.
The one remark I do here regularly is it is easy to accidently hit a hammer whilst in the full cock position and cause the gun to discharge also the same is true if the hammer is in the down position. I HAVE NOT MANAGED TO DO EITHER IN SOME FORTY PLUS YEARS!!!!!
I am sure there are other opinions?
