ELi5: In a wild west movie or game, when a gunslinger puts their revolver into their holster it often makes a “click”. (for example in Red Dead Redemption 2). Would this happen in real life, and if so, what is it caused by?
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You can actually try it yourself, lay a piece of metal like a knife or something like that on a piece of leather, and check if it makes a noise. You will see there is no clicking noise involved.
On any type of gun, there are no lose parts that could make any type of noise as they are not some show item like in movies. People also wouldn’t add any metal to the inside of a leather holster as there is no reason for it besides scratching the gun in the long run.
So long answer short, when you see weapons used in movies, in many cases this isn’t the realistic use of it.
You can actually try it yourself, lay a piece of metal like a knife or something like that on a piece of leather, and check if it makes a noise. You will see there is no clicking noise involved.
On any type of gun, there are no lose parts that could make any type of noise as they are not some show item like in movies. People also wouldn’t add any metal to the inside of a leather holster as there is no reason for it besides scratching the gun in the long run.
So long answer short, when you see weapons used in movies, in many cases this isn’t the realistic use of it.
In my experience guns are pretty tight and solid when handling them. Not 100% sure about old revolvers though. I think this is a fake sound added in. I find the same issue with modern handguns in movies. Many films have the gun make a sort of crunch/clicking sound just by pulling it up and aiming. Loaded guns especially don’t have loose parts.
In my experience guns are pretty tight and solid when handling them. Not 100% sure about old revolvers though. I think this is a fake sound added in. I find the same issue with modern handguns in movies. Many films have the gun make a sort of crunch/clicking sound just by pulling it up and aiming. Loaded guns especially don’t have loose parts.
You can actually try it yourself, lay a piece of metal like a knife or something like that on a piece of leather, and check if it makes a noise. You will see there is no clicking noise involved.
On any type of gun, there are no lose parts that could make any type of noise as they are not some show item like in movies. People also wouldn’t add any metal to the inside of a leather holster as there is no reason for it besides scratching the gun in the long run.
So long answer short, when you see weapons used in movies, in many cases this isn’t the realistic use of it.
In my experience guns are pretty tight and solid when handling them. Not 100% sure about old revolvers though. I think this is a fake sound added in. I find the same issue with modern handguns in movies. Many films have the gun make a sort of crunch/clicking sound just by pulling it up and aiming. Loaded guns especially don’t have loose parts.
It’s a best practice safety thing. Some revolvers called single action require you to pull back the hammer with your thumb and the trigger only releases the hammer. Pulling back the hammer locks it, this is called cocking the gun. A double action revolver allows the trigger to pull back the hammer and release it when you pull it all the way back. But most double action revolvers can also lock the hammer manually because squeezing the trigger fully can affect your aim. There are hammerless revolvers which are always double action, where it’s an internal mechanism and squeezing the trigger hard is the only way to fire. Jostling the revolver while cocked could also accidentally fire it. So when you holster the weapon you’d want to deliberately uncock the hammer or check that’s it’s uncocked if you were not sure how you left the hammer.
When you see a gunslinger use their off hand to swipe the back of a gun while quickly firing that’s usually a single action. When Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood movie character) pulls out his enormous 44 magnum and locks the hammer, he’s actually just getting his double action pistol ready for a clean shot.
I was usually under the impression they tend to pull the hammer back on the revolver, to save a little time in pulling the trigger and to show intent you are really planning to fire. If holstering the weapon they would slide it back in and simultaneously flick the hammer back into neutral and that would be the click sound.
It’s a best practice safety thing. Some revolvers called single action require you to pull back the hammer with your thumb and the trigger only releases the hammer. Pulling back the hammer locks it, this is called cocking the gun. A double action revolver allows the trigger to pull back the hammer and release it when you pull it all the way back. But most double action revolvers can also lock the hammer manually because squeezing the trigger fully can affect your aim. There are hammerless revolvers which are always double action, where it’s an internal mechanism and squeezing the trigger hard is the only way to fire. Jostling the revolver while cocked could also accidentally fire it. So when you holster the weapon you’d want to deliberately uncock the hammer or check that’s it’s uncocked if you were not sure how you left the hammer.
When you see a gunslinger use their off hand to swipe the back of a gun while quickly firing that’s usually a single action. When Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood movie character) pulls out his enormous 44 magnum and locks the hammer, he’s actually just getting his double action pistol ready for a clean shot.
Old style single action pistols had a “Safety” setting where you’d pull the hammer back to a locking notch. This clicked. Pulling the trigger (single action) would not move the hammer or fire, so it was an early style of safety. You’d have to fully retract the hammer (another click) then pull the trigger to fire.
Lots of single action pistols had a tang on the hammer so you could thumb cock and fire. Some designs allowed you to “fan” the hammer tang for rapid fire. Old TV westerns made this famous in gunfights. You could fire all six in under two seconds. Aim, however, was a different issue.
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