It looks like a Smith & Wesson clone, so it probably has a retracting hammer block. When you let off the trigger after firing, the hammer moves back about 1/8" and the hammer block slides up in front of the hammer. S&W used this safety and a hammer mounted firing pin for most of the post-war period. It's part 22 on this diagram. Scroll to the bottom and click Zoom.

http://www.gunuts.com/view.php?view=details&model_id=85&type=1

Bye
Jack

 

Thank you Sir. I always am delighted by quick responses from knowlegeable folks like you. Makes me feel good to be part of the RKBA community

 

I've got time to add a bit. The rebound slide, part 46, moves ahead when you let off the trigger. The hump on it retracts the hammer, and this was the safety since they started using swing out cylinders about 1900 and maybe before. A really hard blow on the hammer could break things and fire the gun. It's hard to see the hammer block in action, but if you let the hammer ahead slowly with your finger off the trigger, you can see it move up. It's loose in it's channel in the side plate and tends to rattle a bit.

Bye
Jack

 

Basically the safety on a double action revolver is the heavy trigger pull. None of them have a safety such as found on most semi-auto pistols. To shoot this gun you either pull the trigger with the hammer at rest like in the picture or you cock the hammer and pull the trigger.

One of the reasons so may folks carry a small frame double action revolver is there are no safety's to take off, just aim and pull the trigger. This is a very safe system. I own a little Rossi stainless 22 like that and have shot it for years. It is very accurate and a joy to carry and shoot. It also carries the lifetime forever warrentee that Taurus, it's parent company has on all it's guns. Here's my Rossi.

 

Most modern DA revolvers have one of two major "automatic safety" designs. Both designs involve steel parts that slide between the hammer and frame. The transfer bar system is commonly seen on revolvers with frame-mounted firing pins. In this system, when the hammer is at rest it rests directly on the frame, with a notch in the front of the hammer over the end of the firing pin but not touching it. When cocked, the transfer bar moves up between the hammer and firing pin, the hammer strikes the bar, the bar strikes the pin, and the gun fires. When the trigger is released to return forward, the hammer once again rests on the frame as the bar is withdrawn.

Revolvers with hammer-mounted pins use a hammer-blocking safety. Essentially, the hammer block works the same as the transfer bar -- but opposite! In other words, at rest the block is interposed between the hammer and frame so that a blow to the hammer cannot drive it forward. When cocked, the block is withdrawn so that the pin can reach the primer, and when the trigger is released the block slides back up as the hammer is slightly retracted.

 

I used to shoot Cowboy with my two Uberti 38/357 pistols and managed to never shoot myself or anyone else. Guess I just don't see the point of deliberately keeping a gun from firing. I may have to do a little "tweaking" when I get it. That is if the seller on Gunbroker ever contacts me. He has used up a day and a half with no response directly from him.

 

The hammer block does absolutely nothing to prevent firing. What it does is prevent accidental firing caused by an unintentional blow to the hammer. Such events are the reason for the rule of always carrying an empty chamber under the hammer of a Colt SAA or "Colt clone". During intentional firing, you'll never know the hammer block is there.

 

Correct. The hammer block drops out of the way when the revolver is cocked, either by a long pull on the trigger in double action, or thumb cocking in single action. It only blocks the hammer when the trigger is released after the hammer is down.

Bye
Jack