Hello All,

I want to share a recent brush with disaster. Many years ago I stumbled on a like new hardly used Super Blackhawk in .44 mag with 10 in barrel. Had to have. It came with a decent western holster and cartridge belt. I used it for Metalic Silhouettes Hunter Class with great success. Sent it to Larry Kelly and had it magnaported. Shoots like a rifle. But I digress. A friend of mine was helping me get deer stands ready for the upcoming deer season and my plan was to take a deer with 180 gr. XTP with the Blackhawk. Even though I am left handed I would carry the gun in the holster it came with. The weather was cold and I was wearing the holster under a Carhart jacket. We worked on a couple stands and I would climb up and down as needed to make repairs. My friend mostly stayed on the ground and handed material up. A great day for sure. With work completed and strategy in place for upcoming season we went back to the house for some warm lunch. I go inside, take off my jacket and look down at the Blackhawk as I unbuckle the holster and see the hammer in full cock position. With one hand I gripped the holster with my thumb between hammer and frame and finished unbuckling belt with the other hand. I stepped back outside and separated the gun from the holster with my thumb under the hammer and then let it down carefully. The first though crossing my mind, once the gun was safe, was an article about Freedom Arms being sued because some guy blew a hole in his leg and they added a saftety device to the hammer in later 83's. Similarly the Blackhawk has the transfer bar added and we all know it is taboo to carry a round under the hammer with single action revolver. The problem with all this saftey engineering is it would not have prevented something horrible happening if someone or something had tripped the trigger. I consider myself saftey conscious. This was clearly a case of operator error on my part. I have no clue when or how that gun ended up cocked. I can only guess that somehow the spur caught on the coat during a climb up the stand or bending over to pick something up. My other hip holsters have a strap on them which would prevent the hammer from being cocked. This one doesn't. This holster must be the model worn to a showdown at high noon. I would post a picture if I knew how. The good news is nothing
bad happened and I thank the Good Lord for that! I wanted to share this experience with fellow handgunners to help others avoid a tragedy.

Thanks for your story. Definitely something to keep in the front of our minds for sure. I think everyone here loves handguns, but they do add another element of risk to hunting or shooting. It's easier to keep track of a long gun both with muzzle control as well as keeping track of the gun and what it's doing.

Good write up.

thanks for sharing. no mater how safe we try to be Murphy can still sneak up on us and bite us in the

I for one am happy to hear that nothing bad happened! These things happen from time to time and fortunately all is well. However, it is safe to carry a New Model Ruger with a cartridge in every hole.

If the gun was a new model Blackhawk with a transfer bar nothing would have happened. Unless the trigger is held back fully to the rear the transfer bar drops down out of the way as the hammer falls.And older 3 screw model [MUST] be carried with an empty hole under the hammer. A hammer thong on your holster that slips over the spur of the hammer or a strap that crosses the hammer spur, can fix the problem also. You are correct in that Safety is foremost at all times.

close....very close

Your Guardian Angel had his work cut out for him that day.

Thanks for sharing.

I am very greatful for my Guardian Angel saving my bacon this time and many times in the past. I will add something to the holster to make sure this doesn't happen again. The trigger guard is exposed when gun is in the holster and I was carrying 6 rounds in this new model. It is nothing short of a miracle that whatever was able to move the hammer to the full cock position while rotating the cylinder in the holster didn't manage to move a three pound trigger a fraction of an inch.

The safety lesson here is to not climb trees, cross fences, etc. with a loaded gun of any kind. I'll add don't case a loaded gun either. There was another incident that involved an old-style action that resulted in a discharge that did inflict serious injury. The story doesn't match up with the evidence but it didn't prevent a lawsuit against the dealer and the manufacturer. You also should not depend on the transfer bar to prevent such an incident either. When I was in HS my best friend had a relative who killed himself when he dropped a Ruger on the asphalt and it went off an killed him. It had the transfer bar. This was before we became so litigious. If it's a revolver leave an empty chamber under the hammer! Period.