Internal v. external hammer?

[shadowwalker]

Not being familiar with revolvers, I was unaware that there were some that had hidden hammers, therefore "internal hammers." Are there many of these? I saw that Smith and Wesson had some, but did not research further....

I mistakenly thought the OP meant striker-fired, which I have heard referred to as "internal hammers" in many forums and gun shops. If the OP was referring to a revolver with a hidden hammer, then I voted wrong.

jtg452: forgive me if this is a stupid question (because I'm not very familiar with revolvers) but doesn't the cylinder turn (advance) with every pull of the trigger? If so, in order to get a second strike you must have to turn the cylinder back one spot and pull the trigger again, right?

Most major Fire Arm companies have a concealed hammer model more for the ankle back up so the hammer will not snag when needed.

[eaccents]

Most major Fire Arm companies have a concealed hammer model more for the ankle back up so the hammer will not snag when needed.

shadowwalker: thanks for the info!

[freeman]

Carried a Kahr K40 (striker fired), cocked and ready to go. The slide got too difficult to rack with age, so now carry a Para C-7.45 LDA. It's a 1911 but considered double-action as racking the slide partially loads the main spring but leaves the hammer looking as though it's in the non-cocked position.

I carry it with the thumb safety off. I kept practicing it with the safety on, but my memory of the Kahr with no external safety interfered with my reflexes. Anyway, when it's pulled from my holster (similar to the Crossbreed) and the trigger squeezed, it goes bang as it's supposed to do.

[jtg452]

jtg452: forgive me if this is a stupid question (because I'm not very familiar with revolvers) but doesn't the cylinder turn (advance) with every pull of the trigger? If so, in order to get a second strike you must have to turn the cylinder back one spot and pull the trigger again, right?

That's one way. Or you can just keep pulling the trigger until you come back around once it's been established that the round isn't a 'hang fire'. Revolvers are cool like that.

What I like about hammers instead of strikers on semi autos is if you have a failure to fire on a round you can either just thumb the hammer back and try again or merely pull the trigger again.

Striker fired guns can't do this. With the striker mechanism, there is no way to reset the striker without the slide reciprocating. In the case of a failure to fire, that means you have to manually eject the suspect round. Personally, I don't like doing that immediately due to the possibility of a hang fire due to powder or primer compound contamination. I've had exactly 1 hangfire over the years and it's memory stayed with me.

[G50AE]

Hammers? Us Glock owners don't need no stinkin hammers. That's why we have Glocks.

[BruceGAtl]

Folks, ya'll realize that striker fired and internal hammers are two completely different things, right?? Internal hammers are actual hammers, just concealed in the gun. They also give you a 'second strike' capability that striker systems don't.

The question is internal or external hammers. Bringing up striker firing is just confusing the issue with an option not mentioned in the original post.

While you are correct... the OP was the one that mentioned the Glock, apparently as an example of an "internal hammer" and all mentioned firearms
appear to be semi-autos. I suspect that the OP simple got his terminology
a bit mixed.

Having said that.. I vote - either... I have striker fired (XDM) and hammer
fired... As for a 1911's size.... have you looked at something in an officers
model ? It's a bit smaller and may be a better fit - I carry a Kimber Ultra Carry TLE II because it is a bit smaller than my XDM and makes for a better
CC...

[RJT CCW]

Duh! I thought the poll was on carry methods....

I hear that reading is fundamental....

[Ropadope]

Either one is ok with me as long as it goes "Bang"