Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters De-cocking and lowering hammers

Thanks for the reply. This is great advice, and I do exactly as you describe. Regardless of the type of gun, I always try to get a finger or thumb, usually from my other hand, in front of the hammer as I let it down.

As stated in the reply post immediately above, my original question was to learn if people chose to lower their hammers such that the half cock (or other safety mechanism) could catch the hammer should they lose control, or instead trust that they wouldn't lose control, lower the hammer fully, and then return the hammer to half cock (or not, depending on what was appropriate for the particular gun.)

But, following your advice, I always do what I can to assure that I don't lose control of the hammer to start with. Thanks again.

What Phil said has always worked for me. I still remember when I was on a pheasant hunt in the late 50's with my Dad and my Uncle Ed. I was carrying a single shot 20 ga. exposed hammer, Saw a rooster running down a row of corn and cocked the gun. A moment later when I went to lower the hammer my frozen thumb lost the hammer and I blew a hole about two feet in front of my foot. I will never forget the look from my Dad and Uncle Ed.

I felt lots of shame and embarrassment. That was 60 years ago and I still can see their look, the hole in the ground and the loudest gun shot I ever heard. Negligent Discharges are always 10 times louder then intended live fire!

From there on out, it was off side thumb under the hammer when lowering the hammer. The only exposed hammer rifle I have now is my 1895 Marlin in 45-70. No problems lowering the hammer as this "grass hopper" learned his hard lesson years ago.

As to my 1911, always on and empty chamber when stowed, always in Condition One when on my hip and wearing a holster. Can't for the life of me understand why any one would carry a 1911 hammer down on a live round.

^^^^^
Thank for the reply. I agree that we should always get as much control of the hammer as possible, and a digit in front of the hammer is a lot of control.

But you didn't answer my question. On your 1895 Marlin do you lower to half cock, or fully lower then return to half cock? (You can do either one and still put that digit in front of the hammer.)

I don't see many uses for Condition Two with a 1911, but I can imagine one or two. If for some reason I had to carry it loose in a pack or briefcase, I don't think I would opt for Condition One. But if I wanted it "more ready than less", I might opt for Condition Two as opposed to Condition Three. In my opinion good 1911 holsters have features to "protect" the safety lever. If I was forced to "Mexican Carry" or use a holster I didn't feel adequately protected the safety lever, I might opt for Condition Two.
But here I go hijacking my own thread!

I use the decocker on my p245 all the time. Always in a safe direction but thousands of times with no bangs..Don't feel right doing it, then thumb it.

I don't know how I do it; only that I do. I have one Lee Enfield which does not have a safety so I use the half cock on it. I release the trigger right away on it just because it's a little harder to control than a hammer gun.
On a side note, I know of one guy who was hunting with a Model 94 which he borrowed from a friend. While manipulating the hammer to put it on "half-cock", he shot his buddy through the lower leg with the result that buddy lost his foot. To add insult to injury, he then tried to sue his friend for loaning him a defective rifle. This was where I came in as an "expert" witness. The friend was solidly in the "stuff happens" camp until the lawsuit.
All of us, if we have lived very long, have mishandled a firearm, a power tool, or a car and have gotten away with it and, hopefully, learned from the experience. Others are not so lucky and others are too stupid to learn.
I like the "half-cock" feature but it's not fool-proof. GD

On ones with a half-cock, yeah, I lower them all the way then pull back to the notch. Somewhere in my deep, dark past
I read that it was the only safe way. IIRC, my first hammer gun was a Marlin Mountie, and that one needed that treatment for certain.

No. Removing your trigger finger while you are lowering the hammer is an additional and unnecessary movement of your hand holding the gun while you should just be concentrating on lowering the hammer. Once the hammer is fully lowered, I remove my finger from the trigger, hold the barrel with my left hand (so both hands are holding the gun), and slowly pull the hammer back with my right thumb until the hammer clicks into the half cock notch.

^^^^^
Thanks for the reply. I see your point, and I agree. I too have found it a bit cumbersome and distracting to try to remove my finger from the trigger if I try to do it all with only my right (strong) hand.

However, I have found that if I do as Phil Shoemaker suggests and also use my left thumb (weak hand) to completely block the hammer when I release the trigger, it then seems easy to remove my finger from the trigger as I use both thumbs to lower the hammer, one on the hammer and one carefully sliding out from under it. I then lower to half cock instead of fully down. I then pull back on the hammer slightly (finger off the trigger) to insure that the half cock is correctly seated.

(With a double action S&W revolver, this means I lower the hammer to the hammer block rather than lower it fully. If you lower it fully with the trigger held back, then when you release the trigger the S&W lock work "automatically" retracts the hammer and places it on the hammer block.)

I do what I do so that if all else fails and I lose control of the hammer with both thumbs there is still a good chance whatever mechanism the gun has to catch the hammer should it slip the sear will also take effect and prevent a discharge.

But your point about not trying to control the hammer, trip the trigger, then maintain control of the hammer as you remove your finger from the trigger is a good point. I guess I could have elaborated more in my first post, but I was trying to keep the question simple to see what kind of answers I got.

Thanks again for the thoughtful post explaining why you do what you do.