Revolver Transfer Bars

I recently had a customer bring in a Ruger single action revolver from 1962, before the safety refitting. A young friend in the shop wanted to know if this was rarity. While there seems to be a number of people desiring it as a collectible, I feel its only value was as a nice 1962 single action revolver that doesn’t offer anything newer Rugers don’t while being potentially less safe. I cautioned the young fellow not to sell the revolver until after having Ruger upgrading it for free.

These older, unmodified Ruger single actions are becoming less common but are far from rare. It is one thing to own something for personal use and another to offer it for sale to a potentially unaware buyer having significant, correctable, and non-obvious safety deficits compared to newer handguns. If anew owner handled the older, unmodified Ruger single action like a newer model, it could cause problems.

The modern transfer bar action isn’t "lawyer inspired" to stop lawsuits, although it certainly is a good improvement on liability grounds. Even before we had such a litigious society makers were concerned with producing a revolver that offered greater safety and transfer bars do that. Transfer bar actions are nothing new but their application in modern centerfire revolvers is relatively recent.

Iver Johnson Safety Automatic revolvers were designed with a type of transfer bar around 1895; prior to this, most revolvers were carried with the hammer on an empty chamber. Some revolvers featured a rebound type lever in the action, while others, such as the Starr, featured a notch in the cylinder that allowed securely locking the hammer nose in a notch in the cylinder between chambers.

A similar custom cylinder was once offered for the Colt 1860 revolver and the modern mini revolvers from North American Arms offer it as standard. This neatly solves the problem of an accidental discharge—provided the user always uses the safety notch. The Colt Single Action revolver has been so popular and widely copied that several types of action changes have been invented to make it safer.

The original Colt featured a hammer-mounted firing pin, resting on the primer on a loaded chamber and susceptible to discharge if dropped. Given the geometry and balance of the revolver, such a drop could end up directly on the hammer with an upward oriented muzzle. It is less likely an object could strike the hammer while holstered but this has been reported, such as incidents in which contact with brush raised the hammer enough for it to slip and fall.

In its day, everyone seemed to know to load one, skip a chamber, load four more, cock the hammer, and lower it on an empty chamber as accepted practice. While newer designs prevent these issues, older revolvers still exist, which may confuse some owners. Some argue the chamber-empty practice should always be used, while others push for modernization. Iver Johnson went with the latter, which is the ideal approach for more casually interested shooters.

Ruger redesigned the Single Action Army design used in the Ruger Blackhawk and Super Blackhawk to a transfer bar system similar to the Ruger Security Six double action revolver, which is also similar to the Charter Arms revolver and much earlier Iver Johnson. Ruger recalled their older models for retrofitting, a conversion that remains available for those revolvers, most of which were manufactured prior to 1972.

Colt, meanwhile, had the safety notch hammer that was pulled slightly back to remove the firing pin from contact with the cartridge primer. These notches are easily broken. Again, not a real answer to the problem. Ruger went one further, and this addition is not as well understood or appreciated. New Model revolvers are loaded with the hammer down, not at half cock. When the loading gate is open the cylinder spins free.

It isn’t necessary to have it cock into place as there is no need to index the cylinder and load only five cartridges in a certain procedure. While we are concerned primarily with single action revolvers here, transfer bars on double action revolvers also operate in this manner. The hammer does not strike the firing pin; there is a step in the hammer face in these designs. When the firearm fires, the hammer strikes the transfer bar which

smacks the firing pin. The transfer bar is attached to the trigger. As the trigger is pulled, the transfer bar rises into place and in to the proper position to allow the hammer to fall on the transfer bar, striking the firing pin. The trigger must be pressed to the rear for this firing to occur. When the hammer is at rest the transfer bar is positioned so that the hammer cannot move forward even if struck a direct blow.

If you slip while cocking or lowering the hammer and the trigger isn’t fully to the rear, the revolver will not fire. The combination of a modern transfer bar ignition and loading the revolver while the hammer is down is a tremendous advantage. I think this explains my caution to my young friend and his reputable shop. The modern revolvers are much better in every regard in my opinion. Older revolvers with screws holding the hammer—a The action isn’t terribly complicated. giveaway—may have the original system.

Modern revolvers have pins holding the hammer. If Ruger changes the revolver over to the safer system the frame remains the same and the original parts are returned with the gun. This is a can’t lose situation in every way. After Iver Johnson introduced their Hammer-the-Hammer transfer bar safety system with advertisements of a hammer pounding the firearm’s hammer without a discharge, other makers had to catch up. A hammer block was introduced in both Smith & Wesson and Colt revolvers.

The hammer block works in a different manner than a transfer bar—practically the opposite, in fact. The hammer block slides out of the path of the hammer just before firing and allows the hammer to strike the firing pin. Smith & Wesson also incorporated a hammer rebound into the hammer block design. The hammer retracts after firing as the top of the rebound slide moves the hammer to the rear. Far The Colt, below, features a firing pin mounted on the hammer. Only five rounds for this one!

Competition moved some makers to safety improvements. In the case of the Italian makers of single action revolvers, import regulations as a result of the 1968 Gun Control Act demanded improved safety features. Some of the answers were ridiculous, almost monstrosities. I recall a Hämmerli single action revolver, well made of good material, with a small wheel safety on the hammer. It was turned forward to make the hammer safe and turned upward to fire.

I would wager this wheel was intended to beat import restrictions and gain points, not for actual use. I think most users simply loaded five cartridges. Another safety touted was to move the cylinder base pin to the rear to block the hammer. This was very slow and not a real answer. A notched cylinder was not part of this design effort as far as I know.

With Charter Arms, then Ruger, and later Dan Wesson introducing double action revolvers with transfer bar ignition, it was a matter of time until makers began to design a single action type revolver with a transfer bar system. As a point of interest, Winchester developed a lever interlock safety as early as 1873 for their lever action rifles. This prevented firing if the lever and bolt were not fully closed.

The safety notch is regarded as more reliable in these rifles; some of the early revolver rebounding hammer designs were thin in cross section. While a laudable effort, they were not robust enough to

prevent discharge if the revolver were dropped on the hammer. In a true rebound type, the trigger spring will force the hammer back as the sear moves into a recess in the hammer, preventing forward hammer movement. This seems an elegant system if the parts are strong enough to prevent hammer movement. Interestingly, all double action revolvers are not necessarily safer than single action revolvers. Colt did not introduce the Positive Lock until 1906.

The early Colt New Service and New Police did not have the effective Colt Positive Lock. The Positive Lock is simply machined parts added to the action in the right place. A pin in the trigger and machined cuts in the frame were the high points. The Colt is a hammer block, not a transfer bar. Webley revolvers also feature a type of hammer block which official literature referred to as the mainspring auxiliary. This system retracts the firing pin, an unusual step.

In the break top or hinged frame revolver the firing pin safety is intended in part to make it less difficult to break the revolver open. Most such designs are not particularly strong. The mechanical design also influences safety procedures by the shooter. With the new Ruger being the lone exception, single action revolvers were loaded by bringing the hammer to half cock. The loading gate was opened, the cartridges loaded one at a time, and the cylinder clicked as it was indexed.

After loading the cylinder the hammer must be cocked fully back and then lowered on an empty chamber—or unsafely on a loaded one. I am personally aware of at least one negligent discharge from a shooter lowering the hammer after loading the firearm. Transfer Bar Types There are several types of transfer bar systems. It might seem all will have an upside down L-shaped hammer, this isn’t always true. The Uberti revolvers have a different transfer bar than the Pietta riding close to the hammer.

The Freedom Arms centerfire revolvers transfer bar actually rides on the hammer itself. The upper portion of the hammer of the Freedom Arms revolver has an internal channel, slightly curved. The hammer will not contact the firing pin the transfer bar Far pushes the firing pin. The Ruger features a more squared off hammer and the transfer bar has more loose motion. Smith & Wesson revolvers with the frame-mounted firing pin look like a transfer bar action but they are not.

With this understood, many shooters feel that the original action without the transfer bar was smoother on the single action revolver. This may be true from the factory but it isn’t difficult to modify the transfer bar revolver for greater smoothness. There are more parts but they don’t over complicate things for a good gunsmith. I improve smoothness in the action by eliminating hard spots and burrs. The bottom line is always to be careful and concentrate on not removing metal.

Learn how to disassemble the individual design you are working with. Use proper hollow ground screwdrivers. Most of the transfer bar action single action revolvers are not terribly complicated, though double action types are more complicated than the single actions. Getting the hammer strut smooth is a key point. The end where it sets in the hammer is sometimes rough. I won’t compare castings to forgings and their differences but they are there and sometimes castings particularly benefit from careful polishing.

After polishing the ball end of the hammer strut, you’ll note a Far

Far It seems to work well. While this is okay with a very careful user, perhaps an empty cylinder under the hammer may be a better choice. smoother action as the hammer is cocked. It doesn’t take much to get this part very smooth. Burrs on the mainspring and mainspring seat are another priority. The spring should not bind during the operation of the trigger action. The spot where the hammer strut fits into the hammer needs polish in almost every example you will encounter.

I put emery cloth on a rod with a very small diameter and gently polish this area. An alternative is to roll up a sliver of emery cloth and put it on the end of a drill and spin the drill. As a caution, some like to polish the hand or pawl that serves to index the cylinder. It is too easy have an adverse effect on timing by over polishing the hand. The engagement between the ejector star and hand must be solid. I would have to find a rough edged part or burrs to polish this area at all.

I have worked with Colt, Uberti, Traditions, and Ruger single action revolvers for years. I have been asked to loosen the loading gate on some examples. Sometimes I cautioned the customer against it and they did not pursue this step. Other times the gate, particularly on Rugers, is not just tight but stiff. The loading gate spring may be clipped a bit to lower the force needed to open the gate.

Simply bending the loading gate spring downward will make for easier loading; just don’t bend the spring so much that it allows the loading gate to open during recoil. On both single action and double action revolvers the cylinder bolt slides into a recess in the cylinder, the cylinder notch, to lock the revolver up tight during firing. Be careful, whichever revolver you are working with, so that you don’t lose the spring that powers the bolt stop.

The bolt stop is often rough even in a normally well-fitted revolver. This is another area to go slow. Just the same, 600 grit works well and makes the bolt stop smoother. All of this judicious polishing work adds up to a smoother action. As you go over the action, polish the hammer and the sear as well as any rough edges, but only so much. Don’t remove too much metal and don’t change the angles. This is the same for any revolver. One last note on work specific to a transfer bar action.

A transfer bar runs in a channel regardless of the exact design of the handgun. In revolvers with cast frames there is often a burr or rough spot in this channel. It takes a good light and magnification to discover these. A very thin file—even a nail file— with emery cloth wrapped around it will suffice. I have worked a Ruger GP100 with this technique recently. The results were very good, even surprising. The same works for the Ruger SP101. While these are rugged revolvers they are made by man and not perfect.

AG Far Without retraction of the firing pin a revolver with spent cases could not be opened.