A Couple of Revolver Basics

Jacqueline over at Great Satan, Inc is the lucky winner of the Single-Ten revolver donated by Ruger for Project Valour-IT. She wrote in the comments of the Minimum Ruger Requirement post, "revolver is one of my weak areas." Ruger single action revolvers are good vehicles to learn the basics of revolver shooting, and I have been around them so long that I forget others may not know how to operate them efficiently. These videos are for Jacqueline, and anyone else who is new to revolvers.

The first video shows Cowboy Action Shooter Jim Finch (NSSF video)demonstrating the basics of manipulating the hammer for quick shooting. Old western movies often showed revolvers being fanned, but that method is very inaccurate, and can damage the notches in old style single action guns, rendering them unsafe. The method Mr. Finch demonstrates is something I learned from a Skeeter Skelton article about thirty years ago, and it could be a valuable skill in a self defense situation. Skeeter wrote that he practiced this method with the butt of the pistol against his belt buckle for those times when the action was way too close for comfort.

The second video is good old Hickok45 providing a demonstration of the power of the gas that escapes the cylinder gap. New revolver shooters take note that you never want to have your fingers around the front of that cylinder.