Six shooter or five shooter?

[JDM2126]

The NM Blackhawk is built so that 6 rounds can be carried safely. So why is it that some gun writers insist that you should only load 5 cylinders anyway, with the hammer down on an empty chamber, regardless of the newer technology (Ayoob is quite emphatic on this, saying that "real pistoleros" know that 5 is best)?

Don't want to practice unsafe gunhandling, so someone school me up please.

[DJ Niner]

Mainly because shooters will still run across older or newly-manufactured-in-the-old-style single actions from time to time, and if you load one of these with 6 rounds and hit/drop it on the hammer, it WILL fire. Folks do things by habit, and if someone hands you an old-style SA and you load it the same way you do your NM Ruger, it sets up a possible accident. From a CYA point of view it's much safer for them to tell folks the safest universal way to do it, rather than try to describe every possible type of single-action you might end up handling, and which way each should be loaded/carried.

Personally, I use the "If it doesn't say 'Ruger New Model' on it, load five (load 1, skip 1, load 4, cock hammer, ease it down)" system.

[noway]

simplely put transfer bar vrs non-transfer bar.

btw Ruger also has a kit or will update OM to NM designs with a transfer bar system. The transfer bar system makes it more safer and guns doesn't go boom without somebody pulling the trigger.