I have a question for you Antique aficionados. I've been playing around with my new 38 4th model all weekend and admiring the action. I examined the mechanism in various stages of dissassembly to see how everything worked. The grip safety lever is such a simple design but positive and secure. I also noticed it is very difficult to catch the firing pin in the forward position, I had to put a chop stick down the bore to get confirmation of a strike. It snaps back in immediately after the hammer fall.

The only possible issue I saw was with the mainspring removed. With no tension on the stirrup, the hammer can be pushed forward, pushing the firing pin forward and letting it extend a small distance past the recoil shield. I suppose given a broken stirrup or mainspring, and a loaded revolver being dropped directly muzzle down, the firing pin could protrude slightly and touch off a primer.

Do you think the Safety Hammerless design is truly safe for loaded carry? Granted the design is very old, but excellent for what it is, and will do its job under nearly all normal circumstances. I'm just looking for comments from those of you experienced on the guns.

Thanks.