Shooting hammer guns

[Seth Mackay-Smith]

I'm interested that pretty much everyone carries their hammer guns open and cocked because, of course, a hammerless gun is cocked when opened and will still be cocked when closed.

General question: do you also carry your hammerless guns open? I'm not making a case for changing your habits, but more interested in the reasoning if you carry your hammerless gun closed during a hunt but carry your hammer guns open during a hunt.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Seth Mackay-Smith

I'm interested that pretty much everyone carries their hammer guns open and cocked because, of course, a hammerless gun is cocked when opened and will still be cocked when closed.

General question: do you also carry your hammerless guns open? I'm not making a case for changing your habits, but more interested in the reasoning if you carry your hammerless gun closed during a hunt but carry your hammer guns open during a hunt.

I’ve had a couple hammerless no safety guns and I’ve used them at tower shoots . Standing at the peg typically I have the muzzles resting on the toe of my boot with the gun cracked open . And typically if the gun has a safety I wait with the gun closed not on my boot toe and the safety on .

[Bill Murphy]

OK, here it is. Some of us hunt with hammer guns cocked because they are slow to cock on the rise. They are open because hammer guns do not have a safety. Kind of end of the story. However, a hammer gun (closed) is pretty fast to get into action on the rise if the shooter cocks the left hammer on the flush and cocks the right hammer once the gun is at the shoulder. This is the system I choose to use.