Lever Actions

[N.E. CHARTERS]

After reading the poll on semiauto slide release 1001 ways I was wondering if there may be more than one way to lower the hammer on a Lever Action Rifle.


This is the way I have been dioing it for years. No one ever showed me how so I learned by doing.

1) Load the Tube Magazine with as many rounds as you want.

2) Lever the Action to chamber a round. This also Cocks the Hammer.

3) While keeping your thumb firmly on the hammer. Point the gun at the ground and pul the trigger. Lower the hamer all the way down.

4) If the Pistol ( some do some dont) has a half cock position. pull the hammer back until it locks. If it does not. Put the hammer between chambers. I have yet to see a rifle that has a half cock so you just leave the hammer all the way down. This runs the risk if you snag on a branch that the hammer may pull back and you get an accidental discharge. There has to be a better way.


Any suggestions.

 

[jar]

I don't have any answers as I've never used a lever action, but +1 for an on-topic post with no unrelated images.

 

[FPrice]

Lowering the hammer on a live round in a firearm without a de-cocking mechanism or other safety device is risky at best. But in such a circumstance as you describe it's probably the only way to do it with any modicum of safety other than completely unloading the firearm.

 

[strangenh]

I have yet to see a rifle that has a half cock so you just leave the hammer all the way down.

Some Marlins do. But I don't know what the reason is, other than perhaps so you can take off the safety without the hammer dropping the rest of the way. It's more of a 25% than half-cock.

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Lever Action Safety

Lever Action Safety.

Saftey? What Safetys?


The Levers I have used just pull back the hammer and pull the trigger to fire.

Also the same on Hammer cock Shotguns and Rifles.

When you lower the hammer smoothly all is well and you can carry it around hunting. You would not want to have to lever in a round just before fireing like they do in coyboy movies as that would alert the game or the bad guys that you were about to shoot.

Using a Hammer cock shotgun and my Hawkins .50 cal I have even used the Stelth method of getting a bead on the game pulling the trigger and then pulling the hammer and letting it go. That prevents the "Click" that the game can hear before the BOOM!

 

[cdkayak]

The Marlin lever actions I've owned have both half-cock and a safety. So, in those cases I'm able to set the safety & slowly lower the hammer to half-cock.

 

[strangenh]

Lever Action Safety.

Saftey? What Safetys?

"Some" is a word that some people seem to not comprehend.

 

[FPrice]

When you lower the hammer smoothly all is well...

And when the hammer slips and falls with enough impact to ignite the primer? What then?

Actually I am not so much arguing the procedure (I don't know any other way to do it) nor the need for it (it sounds better to have the hammer down rather than cocked - although without a safety this would place the hammer on top of a live round, kinda like the problem in the old style SAA revolvers). I am just trying to make sure that people reading this thread kow what is involved when the firing mechanism is manipulated in this manner.

On the other hand, this is a situation shared between many Old Western firearms, lever action rifles and SAA revolvers in particular. Once the hammer is cocked, but you are no longer shooting, what do you do?

 

[Scrivener]

[From his post entitled "Lever Actions"]

4) If the Pistol ( some do some dont) has a half cock position. pull the hammer back until it locks. If it does not. Put the hammer between chambers. I have yet to see a rifle that has a half cock so you just leave the hammer all the way down. This runs the risk if you snag on a branch that the hammer may pull back and you get an accidental discharge. There has to be a better way.

Please identify this "Lever Action" revolver....

 

[jhrosier]

The old lever guns, except the Savage '99, had hammers with a safety ,or half-cock notch.
This half cock notch traps the trigger and does not allow it to be pulled to drop the hammer until the hammer is put in the full-cock notch.
Newer guns with rebounding hammers have a different arrangement.

The correct way to place the hammer in a half cock notch is to carefully lower the hammer all the way while holding the trigger back, then release the trigger and pull the hammer back until you hear or feel the click of the sear, then lower the hammer until it rests on the sear.

With this style of hammer, if you strike the hammer hard enough, the sear or notch will fail and the gun may discharge.
This design goes back to the muzzle loader days.

The Winchester Model 1894 also has a spring loaded plunger that slightly opens the lever and disconnects the trigger from the sear, if the lever is not deliberately pressed closed.

Folks used to know how to handle firearms and this arrangement served well.
Newer guns have rebounding hammers and multiple redundant manual and automatic safeties, as well as rebounding hammers and inertial firing pins. The guns are argueably safer, at the expense of reliability, and slower and less certain to put into action quickly.

If you are not sure how to use your firearm safely, a more experienced shooter can probably help you learn the proper method.

Jack

 

[Chuck Would]

If the Lever action does not have a safety them load the mag. STOP. When it's time to shoot, shoulder the rifle. Lever the action, aim and pull the trigger. Stealthy? No. Safest? Yes.

On a Single action pistol - not including a modern Ruger - Load one, skip one and then load four. Close the gate. Bring the hammer to full cock and then drop the hammer all the way down. This leaves the pistol with the hammer down on an empty chamber.

Rugers and the new Baretta Stampeed both have Transfer bar safety's and are safe to load all six chambers.

Never trust the half cock notch on any firearm as a safety. The hammer hooks are too fragile and can snap off with just a bit of force especially on a well worn firearm.

Hope that helps,

 

[PatMcD]

For Christ's sake, how many tens of millions of lever-actions with no "safeties" have been used safely for the past 100+ years??

Lowering a lever-action hammer manually may not be the safest thing in the world, but neither is riding a bike without a helmet, and there's a lot of us out there that are still alive to tell the tale.

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Lever Action Revolver

Please identify this "Lever Action" revolver....

Here ya go!

 

[Scrivener]

Nice picture.

However, that's hardly an identification. Again, WHAT is it?

 

[Chuck Would]

Nice picture.

However, that's hardly an identification. Again, WHAT is it?

Now, I wouldn't bet the farm on it, but I'm thinking that might be a S&W Volcanic.

 

[jhrosier]

Not a Volcanic, a Savage-North.

http://armscollectors.com/mgs/savage_north.htm

Jack

 

[b79holmes]

If the Lever action does not have a safety them load the mag. STOP. When it's time to shoot, shoulder the rifle. Lever the action, aim and pull the trigger. Stealthy? No. Safest? Yes.

SNIP....

Somewhere I was reading a long thread about DAO v. 1911 style pistols and someone said J.B. designed the 1911 to be carried with the hammer cocked and some other of his designs were designed to be carried with an empty chamber, and I think that was a reference to lever actions.

Bill