How do you thumbcock your revolver without spooking your quarry?



My Ruger SBH and Anaconda seem too noisy to cock without spooking deer, given their great hearing.



MM

Bring along a huge blanket, wrap the gun in it, cock the gun, don't bother unwrapping it, just shoot through it, the blast will unwrap it pleanty! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

click...smart ass switch off... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I have spooked several deer (& have yet to get one) with my Smith 586. The best method I have come up with is pulling the trigger as I pull back the hammer, then releasing the trigger, the hammer stays cocked. Its not 100% quiet, but a heck of a lot quieter than just cocking the hammer. I have talked to several handgun hunters in PA ... once they get to their treestand (or the tree their gonna sit under), they cock the pistol then and there. I guess that is their style ... I'm not so bold, last thing I need is an AD taking off part of my anatomy. They counter the pistol is always in their lap and pointed away from themselves ... again to each their own!

Does this help?

I'm with you on that. I would not want to have a revolver cocked and UNlocked in my lap, too many unexpected things can happen. It is an open invitation for Murphy to really mess you up.

MM

The only time I "drew down" on a deer with my 629, he was standing 75 yards away, stairing me in the eye. We met face to face on a skid road. When I cocked my revolver he just froze. The click seemed to freeze him up.
When I pulled up, I took a deep breath and let half of it out. I ran out of air and hurried my shot, and MISSED the whole deer!
Nice 4x4 on top of everything.
I think the "click" was an advantage instead of disadvantage. Never know, next time might be the oppisite.
Virgil B.

Unfamiliar, instantaneous noises like clicks don't -- in my experience -- spook game as often as arm-chair conjecture supposes (with some logic) that they would. In the field, I've used noisy cameras and guns (including a passel of revolvers) that you'd have thought would spook nearby animals, and I can't think of a single time when the sound of a shutter or a hammer-cocking stirred any discernible response from either unaware or alerted animals. Many are the times when I've shot several photos over a period of several minutes while stalking animals, without any indication that they even heard my noisy focal-plane shutters. I suspect that such sounds (a) aren't loud enough out there where the animals are and (b) are masked by the other sounds of the plains and forest that neither we nor the animals notice. (It's seldom actually dead-quiet out there.)

OTOH, many were the times when heads turned toward me, in an audience of humans, at the sound of my shutter.

In the field, I've often used the technique already described to cock a revolver -- holding the trigger back as I draw the hammer back, then easing the trigger forward to engage the hammer's cock lip. I've also cocked the hammer as I brought the gun up, then aimed and fired almost immediately. I never shoot double-action, BTW -- never mastered the technique and have never needed it.

Under no circumstance that I can imagine will I ever again cock a hammer long before the target appears -- had a cocked rifle go-off on me once (1948) when I dozed with the rifle cocked and aimed (long story). No harm done, but that once was enough to get my attention and to set my resolve in stone.

Ken,

I didn't learn that technique until after I sent three deer running. All three were within 10 yards and I was sitting under an old oak tree. Two of them were the same day! Since I learned that technique I have only been handgunnin' once and didn't see anything close enough to cause my heart to pound. Someday again!

Should the need to pre-cock (before any game shows up, or ones you see coming from a distance), here is a method Ross Seyfried mentioned many years ago.
Once the hammer is fully drawn, place the thumb inbetween the cocked hammer and the frame, placing the fingers over (not in!) trigger guard.
The thumb prohibits the hammer from moving, and the fingers cover the trigger.
The revolver should be held by your off-hand, with the grip towards the shooting hand, so you can easily take the revolver in one smooth movement.
It is impossible for the revolver to fire when this is properly done. Needless to say, don't do stupid things while holding a cocked firearm. ~~~Suluuq

I'm with Ken on this one, I haven't had any trouble spooking game by cocking a trigger. In fact, if you do it right, you can get a ambleing deer to freeze long enough to get a good shot off. I once had a deer jump out of the brush and stand 15 feet away from me. The hardest thing in that situation was DRAWING the gun, not cocking. He didn't spook until I had it pointed at him. At little too late for him it turned out.

I don't think thumb cocking would spook most game. I have to thumb cock my .54 sidelock and it makes more noise than any of my S&W's. Your movement, quick or slow will be what gets the animals attention.