Fanning a revolver

[bandit86]

Movie myth? Is it really possible to fan a revolver as fast as wild western movies have us believe? Maybe single actions, what about doubles?

 

[tiriaq]

It can be done. It is very hard on the mechanism. Double action revolvers don't fan.

 

[Trinimon]

Well if your name is Bob Munden... see 1:14 mark.

 

[Dexter Morgan]

It works just fine on any single action revolver. Just hold down the trigger and let the hammer fly.

But don't do it if you have a protruding rear sight, like on a Ruger Blackhawk. You will cut your hand open.

You want to use something with a low profile notch sight, like a Vaquero.

 

[BCRider]

As mentioned it's also a great way to wear or damage the internals and produce a "loose" gun in short order.

What the two handed cowboy shooters are doing these days is "slip hammer" firing the guns. They draw and as the gun comes up they pull the trigger and pull back the hammer with the support hand thumb. When the gun is on target they just let go of the hammer. Repeat for the next four shots by simply pulling the hammer back fully and let go as the gun swings to each target. It's not hard on the guns and it more easily ensured that you get a full advancement of the cylinder.

Check You Tube for the faster cowboy action shooters and you'll soon see that this is still a fast and obviously far more accurate way to rapidly shoot a single action than fanning the hammer.

 

[bandit86]

As mentioned it's also a great way to wear or damage the internals and produce a "loose" gun in short order.

What the two handed cowboy shooters are doing these days is "slip hammer" firing the guns. They draw and as the gun comes up they pull the trigger and pull back the hammer with the support hand thumb. When the gun is on target they just let go of the hammer. Repeat for the next four shots by simply pulling the hammer back fully and let go as the gun swings to each target. It's not hard on the guns and it more easily ensured that you get a full advancement of the cylinder.

Check You Tube for the faster cowboy action shooters and you'll soon see that this is still a fast and obviously far more accurate way to rapidly shoot a single action than fanning the hammer.

I thought that was what fanning was?

 

[banditos]

It helps if you wear a glove on the free hand you are fanning with. At least it works for me. Not a loose glove though.

 

[BCRider]

I thought that was what fanning was?

The two things accomplish the same thing but they are done differently.

Check out this video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDoMgV08HuY

The first guy is fanning. The second one is slip firing.

The problem with the fanning is that to fire the gun decently quickly you have to really slap the hammer fast and hard. That's hard on the cylinder notches, cylinder locking "bolt" and the hand which has to index the cylinder around. Slip thumbing the hammer doesn't have the same shock to the workings due to how it's done.