Benefits of Hammerless?

I have carry revolvers with and without an exposed hammer. I like a hammer for its looks and for fun when shooting at the range. I doubt I would ever use the hammer for single action shooting in a crises.

It occurred to me that I have not personally experienced a case of the hammer getting snagged on clothing, but I always use a pocket holster when carrying in a pocket, and admittedly, I do not practice drawing as much as many folks do.

Just curious, anyone ever actually have the hammer on a carry revolver get snagged on their clothing?

Anyone ever hear of it happening in a fight?

It can be a problem. Ol' Murphy and his Laws will have it in for us at the worst possible moment, so I learned to draw from my pocket by first placing my thumb on the hammer spur when getting purchase on the revolver. This makes for a smooth draw out of pocket.

Practice, practice, practice the draw every chance you get (unloaded, of course). Draw and reloading are two of the most important skills that get neglected and are of utmost importance when utilizing a revolver for self defense.

I actually prefer an enclosed hammer (642, 442) for pocket carry for an entirely different reason: pockets are fuzzy, gritty places. An exposed hammer provides an access point for said grit and fuzz to get into the works of the gun and make for a bad day if you don't stay on top of it.

Yup, hammer snagged and flipped an exposed hammer snubby onto the floor while doing a practice "panic draw" from my right front pocket.
I figured that if I needed it in a hurry, I'd just grab and yank. Tried it and the unloaded snubby snagged the hammer and clattered to the floor.

With my 442, that's not an issue.


It's started out as my designated carry gun. Then since I practiced with it so much, drawing and both dry and live fire, it's actually become my overall favorite.

Yes. And I've seen it during reality-based training drills. Not only that but, I've also seen revolvers unintentionally cocked trying to quickly get them out of the pocket during close-quarter force on force training. The idea that you can simply place your thumb over the hammer on the draw works well in calm, controlled environments, but not so much in a chaotic and dynamic ones.

The adavantages of the enclosed hammer revolver for practical defense go far beyond just a snag free draw. In addition to the points Massad Ayoob makes in the article below, I would add that in a close-quarter struggle or disarm attempt, the centennial models are more efficient since they have no hammer to get obstructed or entangled to block their movement/action.

Hammer Or… “-Less?”Guns Magazine.com | Guns Magazine.com

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Never had it happen in a fight but I have had it happen. Used to carry a mdl 36 when out walking my dog. I would throw it my jacket pocket. When I'd come home and go to take it out it would sometimes get caught on the pocket edge. Happened about 50/50 so I changed to 642

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I carry OWB every time and never had a problem with my draw using my 19-4 snub. I also carry my 640 OWB. A quality pancake style holster makes a real difference.

" A quality pancake style holster makes a real difference."

Who made that holster?

Most of my carry Snubs are DAO. With practice I can shoot about as good with or without a hammer.

The answer of course is like what I use, M 49 or M 638.
Best of both worlds....

sjs said:

I doubt I would ever use the hammer for single action shooting in a crises.

Click to expand...

While admittedly rare, single-action marksmanship with a small-frame revolver can come into play:

Gunman In The Courtroom:American Handgunner | American Handgunner

Early in the standoff, the judge made the conscious decision to cock the hammer of his little Chief Special. This was a man capable of shooting a perfect 300 out of 300 on the LAPD qualification exam, all double action and while overcoming the short sight radius of the snubnose .38. But Peetris recognized a 12-pound double-action trigger press on a 19-ounce revolver could pull the muzzle off-target if he had to fire reactively in an instant.

Even then, shooters were taught not to cock the hammer of a revolver in a gunpoint situation because it increased the risk of an unintentional stress-induced discharge if one was startled. But, as a law school graduate, he also understood the Doctrine of Competing Harms, the principle which holds one is allowed to break the rules or even the law in the rare circumstance where following the law would cause more danger to human life than breaking it.

Click to expand...

Mas Ayoob himself advocates for the Centennial model. He says he finds it smoother to draw, and prefers the trigger pull for reasons I'll let him explain:

Massad Ayoob: Hammer or… “-Less?” | The Daily Caller

Me, I think the Bodyguard is just the snazziest little revolver ever. I like the option to cock the hammer for single-action, while retaining the smooth profile. And I've never found the DA pull on any S&W revolver to be so bad I couldn't fire it accurately and quickly with appropriate grips.

And I'll admit there's a little bit of a "jewelry" factor at play. The shrouded-hammer Bodyguard makes a little bit of a statement--"I know CCW enough to appreciate the snag-free design, but I'm also enough of a marksman to appreciate the value of a single-action shot."

On the other hand, a DA-only revolver forces people to practice DA shooting, which I don't think many do. Just the same as I can't remember ever seeing a SA/DA auto shooter decocking his pistol to practice the DA shot--a shot he's going to have to make if he carries his auto!

I have a few revolvers and three out of four have hammers. I also have The Bodyguard 638. That's what I carry as a primary to my CCO 1911. The primary function of a snubby is for muggings, interviews and ambushes.

I always advocate that people should read _Shooting To Live_ by Sykes and Fairbairn as well as other point shooting instructionals by people such as Applegate. If you look at the history of training with point shooting which is probably 90% of what any of us would be involved with they didn't shoot really past 12 feet in training. Probably 80 to 90% of the training was done within these close ranges using point shooting ie not even really using the sights but using the gun itself as a reference in your peripheral vision in addition to indexing your body onto the threat. For such work double action is more than adequate.

However being the anal retentive I am I do like single action capability which is why I initially bought the 638. That plus I like to be able to check the hammer and make sure the trigger isn't being pressed as I re-holster.

I use a pocket and an ankle holster and I haven't yet found lint etc to be much of a problem either in terms of buildup or if it is present in terms of function of the gun. I do use some compressed air however to blow out my guns from time to time when I see they're getting linty.

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Now that I'm old and fat a hammer spur digs into my spare tire when I Mexican carry. Larry

I carry a Model 642-2 in my cargo pocket, pants pocket, or in my outer coat pocket when it's cold. Off-duty I've been carrying a Model 12-2 in an OWB thumb break holster (left or right). In soft clothes, I carry a 3 inch Model 13-3 with Bianchi Lightning grips that shroud the hammer in a Don Hume JIT holster to avoid wearing out my clothes from the inside out. (The Model 12-2 rides weakside in a thumb break.)

Roughly 95% of my practice shooting is DA with some precision SA shooting at longer ranges (out to 100 yards).

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Never been a fan of hammerless Revolvers! I ALWAYS want the OPTION of a SA or DA shot and have trained myself to place my thumb over hammer to avoid any possibility of snagging while drawing Revolver. Works for me......

I have inherit a few guns with bobbed hammers and the first thing I did to them was replace them with traditional standard ones. I have NEVER owned a true hammerless Revolver.

sjs said:

I have carry revolvers with and without an exposed hammer. I like a hammer for its looks and for fun when shooting at the range. I doubt I would ever use the hammer for single action shooting in a crises.

It occurred to me that I have not personally experienced a case of the hammer getting snagged on clothing, but I always use a pocket holster when carrying in a pocket, and admittedly, I do not practice drawing as much as many folks do.

Just curious, anyone ever actually have the hammer on a carry revolver get snagged on their clothing?

Anyone ever hear of it happening in a fight?

Click to expand...

I'd be OK with carrying a DA/SA revolver concealed IWB, but I would never carry one in a pocket if I had a choice. That is just too risky and I wouldn't be comfortable with that.

I carried a CZ-83 semi-auto for a while which has a traditional exposed hammer and it never snagged on me while practicing drawing from IWB, but I've never had to do so in a real fight.

If you think you will never use SA in a fight then you would be doing the gun and yourself a disservice by carrying it. That's fine if a DA/SA gun is all you have, but if you have a DAO option then I would be carrying that instead, while relegating the DA/SA as a home defense gun or as a vehicle gun.

Most experts in the field who carried (or still carry) revolvers recommend going with and training in DAO exclusively for self defense and for the possible legal ramifications that could arise from an unintended hair trigger SA shot.

You'll be forced to learn to shoot better with a hammerless. I see guys shooting a J-frame with a hammer sometimes fire a few rounds double action, think to themselves: "Damn, I suck!" and then fire 50 rounds single action to feel better about their ability. That doesn't do you any good at all.....Can't play that game with a hammerless. "But what if I have to take out a sniper from a hundred yards away who is targeting my family?!?!" OK, Walter Mitty...get the laser sight....

The problem with many jframes today is that they are airweights and the triggers and be a run in excess of 12 pounds. This mismatch between weight of firearm and weight of trigger pull makes pulling the trigger and keeping the gun on target that much more difficult. It's probably okay for point shooting out to 12 feet but then again why make your life more difficult? Even revolvers were meant to be shot relatively accurately and shootists have been working on actions and lowering trigger weights probably since the beginning of handguns.

I sent my 638 and Chief's Special in to Oglesby and Oglesby gunsmith for lighter springs care of wolf and action job and to disable the lock. I also had the cylinders chamfered and smoothed and they even numbered the cylinders for me for free. They also dehorned the hammer nub and cylinder release etc.

Generally there seem to be two schools of thought on the trigger the lock Etc. One school which I'll call the Ayoob school says that double action is better and the trigger should not have lighter springs even to make the J frame more shootable and accurate for reasons of legal liability number one and reliability of hammer strike on hard primers number 2. The other issue is the lock that the Smith & Wesson and other companies put in during the Clinton administration.

The Ayoob School says don't disable the lock again for reasons of legal liability.

Opposing School says that no one has been prosecuted for making their J frame or gun in general more accurate to shoot and in fact you can argue that a more accurate gun is a safer gun. In terms of the lock while the odds are very very small that a lock would tie up a jframe and render it useless during a life-and-death situation Jframes have locked up from time to time especially if you have one of the airlites shooting something like 357.

I had an action job done and later wolf Springs put in so that my double action is now 9 plus pounds instead of 12 plus pounds and my single action is in the range of 3 pounds instead of 4 + pounds.

I had the work done by a nationally-recognized top gunsmith in the guild and had to sign a waiver before they would disable the lock. If I ever go to court I will have the gunsmith from Oglesby and Oglesby on the stand if necessary. I am also a member of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network which will provide legal representation immediately if necessary. I have watched the videos they provide for training which can also be submitted in court for proof of competence and mindset.

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I like my 642 and 442 because there's no hammer to dig in my belly when I carry IWB . . .

Never had it happen during an emergency but when I was beginning an old clothes assignment my new boss suggested bobbing the hammer on my Colt Cobra. The range guys took care of it and it worked fine when in my waist band or front pocket. Still have the gun and I'm sure the bobbed hammer devalued the Cobra but I don't care. It will never be sold and lots of memories go with that old gun.