NewportNewsMike said:
OldePhart said:
I will probably leave a little rounded nub with checkering on the top so I can still thumb-cock it when desired.
There's a reason factory bobbed hammers are DAO only.
Once you cock that "little rounded nub" and change your mind about shooting that round, it can get pretty exciting trying to let that hammer down gently with nothing to hang on to. It can be done but it is not always easy to do so. One little slip and "Bang" goes the SP.
It's not all that difficult and, obviously, you want to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction any time you're lowering the hammer on a live round, regardless of the size of the spur. I would never be cocking for SA in a defensive situation, for numerous reasons...not least of which is the whole adrenalin dump, thing.
When I bobbed the hammer on my model 19 I took the spur completely off and I can still cock it and lower the hammer safely by hand. Is it easy? No. Can you do it with one hand? Not really. Do you want to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction? See first sentence above.
I bobbed the 19 because I was using it for action pistol games at the time. I never actually "used" it in SA after bobbing it, except for a few times when I was testing some hand loads for accuracy. Even so, I practiced cocking and decocking it with the bobbed hammer just because.
As for factory bobbed hammers - they don't have the little serrated nub I'm talking about leaving on the SP. Besides which, on a purely defensive gun as most factory bobbed revolvers tend to be manufacturers want to strongly discourage people from holding someone at gunpoint with a cocked revolver (with good reason). The only reason I'm thinking about leaving a little nub on my 3" SP is for ammo testing sessions or maybe potting a coyote or what have you. Defensively, it's DA all the way.
John