Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Facts Are Cowboys Were Poor Shots

A long time ago, around the mid 1970's IIRC, My hunting partner and I helped with a round up and branding One of the other cowboys did the job of nutting the calves. When we were al done my buddy and I went and did a bit of pheasant hunting. What is interesting is what happened after the hunt.
We were over by the corral and got to talking with a 90 something year old cowboy. He noticed my Ruger .44 mag. and asked if I had an empty chamber under the hammer. Well, the gun was a new model so I said no i didn't. I got one of the most beautiful ass chewing I've ever had the pleasure (?) of getting and when he finally ran out of gas I explained that it was a "new" model and was safe with 6 in the cylinder he just shook his head and said the did not believe that to be true. I found a fair sized rock and pointed the gun at the ground and gave the hammer a solid whack. Of course nothing happened but for some reason after that I now load even a new model Blackhawk with the hammer on an empty chamber. I also own old model Rugers and a few Colt single actions so just figure it's probably a good habit to maintain. I wish I could have talked with that old cowboy. What tales he could have told. He passed about 6 months after I met him. One old timer I met when I lived in Winnemucca was just a kid at the time playing hooky with his pals. They actually witnessed Butch Cassidy and his gang rob the bank. That old boy is long gone too. I worked part time with his nephew who was the local gunsmith.
Paul B.