The Single Action Revolver Today
Do You Really Care?
The single-action revolver has been written off by a large percentage of younger shooters who grew up with striker-fired 9mms, but some are rediscovering the joys of “anachronism.”
Though I turned 41 this year, I’d hazard I’m still among the youngest contributors here at GUNS — a motley crew consisting of a number of veteran writers I grew up reading. Today, I’m about to let you, dear reader, in on a secret I’ve kept from some of the fellas I revere because I feared it might lead to a few frowny faces. So here goes — when it comes to the single action revolver, I could take it or leave it.
Heresy!
Part of this is cultural, I think. Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, a lot of my entertainment consumption was far more Die Hard than Gunsmoke. More Heat than Hondo, as it were. I’ve read a few takes on the decline of the Western as one correlates with the vanishing of any new “frontiers” left to discover, and of a general cynicism towards the notion of American or moral leadership. Whatever the case, it was my father’s generation who watched The Rifleman on TV and played Cowboys and Indians in the backyards of Suburbia — not mine.
Nevertheless, I have come to find myself in a position where I like and respect single action revolvers and all of their idiosyncrasies, even though I may never love them.
While other single action revolvers certainly exist, none
are more ubiquitous than the SAA and its clones.
First, The Grips
In 99% of all cases, to shoot the single action revolver well is to make peace with its plowhandle stocks. For just about everyone who has grown up with an autoloader or DA revolver designed since 1900, the grip is bound to feel foreign. It provides much less to hang on to, sits relatively narrow in the hand and positions almost all of the mass of the gun well past one’s knuckles. Some have argued the grip makes these guns instinctive pointers — I find it takes concerted effort to stop the gun from nose diving.
Additionally, the gun was designed such that under heavy recoil, it would roll up in the hand. This is theoretically convenient, as it puts the hammer nearer to the shooter’s thumb and allows the user to drive the gun back down and onto target fast and instinctively. I have also heard it said single action revolvers make big bore shooting less punishing since the recoil forces are distributed over a longer amount of time through the roll.
Speaking personally and having learned my best shooting comes from holding pistols with a “do it like you mean it”-level of grip strength, it doesn’t feel right to hold any gun in a loosey-goosey grip to facilitate the desired “roll.”
I would also add this touted recoil taming effect is greatly overstated. When Smith & Wesson developed the X-Frame revolver, they decided the way to make .500 S&W manageable for mere mortals was through a lot of mass, rubber stocks and a substantial muzzle break — not a grip shape that rolled in the hand. You’ll find similar design specs on most other big-bore magnums.
I owned a single action revolver for years in .45 Colt — many argue this is the “one true caliber” for any SAA or SAA clone. Simply put, I just didn’t like putting up with all the shoving and rolling it wanted to do. It’s one of the few guns I’ve sold and have very few regrets about doing so. It just wasn’t for me.
Sure, we know they couldn’t be more different, but both are “cowboy guns” to a new generation.
The Good
First, I will say this: Supposing you’re willing to commit heresy with respect to caliber, one’s concerns about recoil behavior can be mitigated by finding something with smaller holes in the cylinder. If one just wants to mess about with some manner of single action revolver and is unwilling to change the (otherwise helpful) habit of gripping every handgun as firmly as possible without inducing a tremor, shooting .38 Special or .22LR through these designs is indeed a lot of fun.
I have also come to appreciate the level of mechanical engagement the single action revolver requires of its user. Nothing happens automatically here. Cartridges must be loaded one at a time. Hammers must be methodically cocked to provide them with the potential energy to bust a primer and to index the cylinder, so the next round is carried up into position. Five or six rounds later, all of the empty cases need to be manually shucked out one by one.
Like a manual transmission on a sports car, shooters are invited to connect with the handgun as a mechanical object. Everything the gun does, it needs the user to make it happen.
Because of this, the single action revolver is a platform where every round matters! The pacing of loading, shooting, and reloading makes it virtually impossible for any shooter to show up at the range and blow through a box of 50 rounds in only a couple of minutes. While it’s not guaranteed, a shooter new to the single action revolver might find the going a little slower than they’re used to, which forces introspection, mindfulness of habits and a general appreciation of being away from the day-to-day grind.
Along the way, shooters are also invited to reconnect to a mindset of pistoleros from years gone by, where volume of fire was a losing strategy compared to placing each round as accurately as possible. If your ass were on the line and you were unable to make up for any misses with fast reloads or blistering split times, what would you have left? Making each and every shot count, of course.
Practical Pluses
The other benefits to the single action revolver are consistency and simplicity. While I don’t want to understate the complexity of any revolver’s lockwork, there’s simply less to do in the single action sixgun. Additionally, with the cylinder fixed in place with a base pin, there’s a lot of wiggle that can be taken out of the handgun overall, resulting in more consistent barrel/bullet engagement. It’s not to say this makes an SA revolver more accurate than a DA revolver, but a potential source of inaccuracy is removed.
Because of all these qualities, I would contend a shooter would probably not be able to find a more rugged, reliable, and accurate revolver than the Ruger Blackhawk at the price Ruger is asking. The same goes for any of the quality SAA clones existing on the market, such as those made by Uberti. To this, I would add the gun buyer who purchases a Blackhawk or any variety of SAA (or SAA clone) also has the benefit of knowing there exists a near-infinite amount of spare parts and extensive gunsmithing knowledge of how to tune and repair those guns. If it goes down, it can be revived!
Beyond all that, used gun counters are usually awash in single action revolvers. The reason is often a mismatch between what sellers “know” these guns are worth and what many buyers are willing to pay for what they see as antiques. After these guns languish on shelves for a year or more, sellers become a lot more willing to negotiate with someone — anyone — who throws out a reasonable offer! Those who still care to dip a toe into the past, whether through total adoration or morbid curiosity, are often handsomely rewarded for their interest.
With more pushing and shoving, .45 Colt is just plain harder to shoot than the ever-popular 9mm.
The Colt Anaconda tames recoil through mass and cushy rubber grips. No “roll” required!
Irony!
Despite my thoughts on the single action revolver, my relationship with the double-action revolver is something else entirely: I learned to shoot on a Smith & Wesson model 627 and very soon bought a S&W 586 of my own, followed by more Colts, Rugers and other wheelguns than any person reasonably needs. The DA revolver feels like a natural extension of my arm and I shoot them better than any of my semi-autos.
Now, however, I can say I’ve lived long enough to witness Gen-Z shooters regard even what I would call the modern DA revolver as an archaic “cowboy gun.” Even autos with visible hammers are suspect to them in an era where just about everything is polymer-framed and striker-fired. As a dude who feels well-armed with an S&W Model 15 as a home defense gun — a model with no rails or red dots, mind you! — my tastes are drifting farther and farther away from what the kids like.
I suppose there are two lessons. The first is that no matter what we find comforting or comfortable in terms of tools to get a job done, someone will eventually engineer something younger generations will unanimously consider “better.” Today’s whiz-bang striker-fired wondernine will undoubtedly become old hat, if its proponents only live long enough to see it happen.
Secondly, and just as importantly: We’d learn quite a bit if we were to give a full appraisal of how previous generations were able to adapt, quite capably, with the tools at their disposal. Again, I’ll admit to not loving the single action revolver. However, having shot a few thousand rounds through them, I can say somewhat begrudgingly I like them, and they can absolutely put rounds on target.
Colt’s original patents on the Model of 1873 have long since expired, making the Single Action Army — like the 1911 — essentially an “open source” firearm. As such, it’s a design destined to remain in continuous production, always findable, ever shootable, connecting shooters across generations. Sure, I shoot other guns better, and Colt’s “Peacemaker” was never really part of my boyhood dreams. Nevertheless, the single action revolver has taught even a skeptic like me that fun and simplicity will never be obsolete.
