Going to Spurless Hammer?

[WR Moore]

Okay, from a legal perspective, and I'm licensed to do that (where is Cajun lawyer when I need him?), the so-called over zealous prosecutor is essentially a myth.

While I don't have brother Yoda's qualifications, I'd like to respectfully point out the 1982 case of the State of Florida (?) vs Luis Alvarez of the Miami PD. This is the case that led LA, Miami and NYPD to render their revolvers DAO.

 

[YkcorCal]

Even Jerry Miculek recommends removing the hammer for a proper high grip for optimal recoil control in rapid fire; so who am I to argue?

 

[Bumpus13]

The bottom line is: It's YOUR gun, you may configure it as you wish.

But it sounds to me like you have a confidence issue, not an equipment issue. Bobbed hammers are for avoiding snagging your clothing, not avoiding poor decision making.

 

[Bumpus13]

Even Jerry Miculek recommends removing the hammer for a proper high grip for optimal recoil control in rapid fire; so who am I to argue?

Probably not.


(methinks you left the word "spur" out. )

 

[S&W&J]

Thanks for all the opinions. Good reading and I learned what a single action notch is.

The more I thought about it and after researching buying a used trigger to cut the spur off, I decided to leave the S&W alone. It has too much sentimental value and is in great shape. Too bad I don't have any family to pass it on too. She's a real beauty.

The gun is more for my wife to use and that it my main concern. When at the range with my .357 Ruger, she preferred single action over double action. I never thought to help her break that habit. My bad. Back to the range when ammo is available… in a couple of years. She's shot the Ruger for 25 years and with .38 loaded she is very accurate with it.

I have a vintage Glock 21 that I've shot for 30 years and comfortable with.

I'll get her to a range to try a true DOA S&W or Ruger revolver and see if that works better for her. She has no interest in semi-autos.

 

[Doug M.]

While I don't have brother Yoda's qualifications, I'd like to respectfully point out the 1982 case of the State of Florida (?) vs Luis Alvarez of the Miami PD. This is the case that led LA, Miami and NYPD to render their revolvers DAO.

*
And this was a frivolous prosecution by an unethical prosecutor (I don't like the term over zealous as it understates the conduct problem). What you have to consider, in addition to the concern about the DA/SA vs. DAO, is the local prosecutorial culture. If you live someplace that the prosecuting attorney has been influenced by the "progressive prosecutor" garbage, you had best keep it in mind. My county, we respond poorly to that stuff. On the bad side of MP 52, in King County, one has a real risk of such a prosecution. There is one going on right now.

Living in a particular state is not a protection as a general rule. You could have a kook prosecutor in office regardless of the general culture of the state. The prosecution of Officer Betty Shelby in Tulsa is a good example - that was a pure self-defense shooting and it is my firm belief based on my education and background that the prosecutor should have been disbarred and senior TPD staff fired for their treatment of her. The prosecution in Minneapolis is the same - knowingly fabricated.

If one is not comfortable with having DA/SA capability, that's the only assessment that matters. If I had the OP's circumstances and concerns, I would have a factory DAO conversion, keep the original pieces if I cared about the collector fetishists, and drive on.

 

[haywood]

I only carry Snubs. All are DAO except my 3" 36. I only shoot DAO

 

[diyj98]

I've bobbed hammers for pocket carry, but I'd never bob one just because I didn't want to cock it. Just don't cock it. The internet tells us not to cock a firearm for single action fire in a self defense shooting, but I remember about 30 years ago a local guy saved a woman's life by cocking his Walther ppk and shooting her abductor in the head. I know that may be a one in a million happening, but I'd have sure felt better squeezing off that shot single action than using my ninja skills to pull through that heavy double action and risk not hitting the woman.

 

[Absalom]

... but I remember about 30 years ago a local guy saved a woman's life by cocking his Walther ppk and shooting her abductor in the head. I know that may be a one in a million happening, but I'd have sure felt better squeezing off that shot single action than using my ninja skills to pull through that heavy double action and risk not hitting the woman.

It doesn't have to be anything as dramatic as that.

I chatted about this with a friend the other day who retired after a lengthy LE career. He said he fired his service weapon "for effect" on only a couple occasions during his time on duty, at aggressive dogs. A Model 66 and later a 4006. Both he cocked for a single carefully aimed shot.

So there should be a good reason to limit your options. The OP's thinking appears reasonable.

 

[NavySCPO]

Single Action can be very hazardous... Witness "The Silence of the Lambs".

Seriously, if the Bad Guy had not cocked his Colt, Jodie Foster (aka an almost FBI Special Agent) would have been a goner, then what? He gets away with it! The girl in the well gets fattened up, Hannibal has dinner with Dr. Chilton...You see an upside here?

Oh never mind, I saw the movie today, couldn't help myself.

 

[WVfishguy]

Not a Smith, but...

I also like bobbed hammers for carry. I put a spurless hammer on this Ruger Speed Six (from Brownells - sorry it's not a Smith!). When you put this kind hammer on old Rugers it it actually changes the action ; it no longer locks up for single action, and the pull is just one smooth movement. Again, I apologize for this not being a S&W.

 

[BAM-BAM]

I've had both for 35 years now.......with a DAO 3" 65 customized in 1985, and DA/SA 686s and a 3" 66 since the same period.

I trained and qualified DAO out to 20/25 yds. IMO I'd go DA in a defense shooting....... all Carry my autos are DA/SA to give me that long DA first shot.....

That said I've shot SA on the range out to 50 yds...... hunted Pa. deer with a handgun single action shots.

It's all about how you train and when the SHTF you will fall back on your training...................................

 

[Bumpus13]

Owned an M66 smith with very light SA trigger pull. So light that I blew some leaves off a tree more than once bringing the gun down on line with the target. Always could shoot better DA than SA with it. It would have been crazy to cock that gun in self-defense situation. Just made it a habit to never cock that gun.

Then you should probably keep your finger off of the trigger before you're on target.

 

[jimmyj]

My primary reason for CCW a spurless revolver is not having the spur scratch my lower arm and wear the inside of my coat/jacket.
(I am also a old "thumb cocker" but have found double action better for combat shooting)

 

[kbm6893]

Some time in the later years of the revolver era, NYPD required its revolvers to be converted to DA only, after a patrolman cocked a Model 10 pointed at an unarmed suspect and then touched off a round unintentionally wth fatal results. I think that there was a similar LAPD policy at some point too.

I doubt that either or any department ever trained officers to cock their revolvers while holding suspects at gunpoint.

But officers are people too, who grow up watching the same crappy movies and cop shows where actors cock their revolvers (and when technically possible pistols) all the time to enhance their threatening appearance or reinforce orders. And under stress people have a tendency to revert subconsciously to stuff like that.

I wouldn't worry about lawyers, I'd worry about killing someone. If you think you might start cocking the hammer in a stress situation even though you know that's a dumb thing to do, maybe because you practice a lot of single-action target shooting, removing that possibility from your primary defense gun might not be a bad idea.

I'm retired NYPD and familiar with the incident that brought the DAO revolvers into play, but the job never converted revolvers. Those who owned the spurred hammer guns capable of firing in SA kept them and were grandfathered in to carry them. New officers hired as of July 1987 had the DAO revolvers. But you're right, thumb cocking was never taught, but I do know if a few guys who thumb cocked a revolver to fire it. Some kid fell into the polar bear exhibit at the zoo and was being eaten by the bear. Patrol cop first in scene leaned over the fence and placed a well aimed single action shot from his revolver into the bear and killed it.