This is meant to be a serious discussion so lets please not stoop to belittling. I will start off by saying that I would never consider carrying a SA revolver for SD.
HOWEVER, I am very interested in understanding how those that do, well, do. What's your technique during drawing and firing, and do you worry about reloading?
There are many videos about this subject online and after having watched a few I just thought it would be nice to hear some feedback from folks who actually carry this set up every day.
I have participated in Cowboy Action Shooting for 20 years and Cowboy Mounted Shooting for 4 years and having shot many thousands of rounds I think I can speak with a degree of credibility. We also live in the country so I frequently carry a single action revolver for work around the farm, horseback riding and for self-defense.
The first and most important thing to decide is what type of single action you are carrying.
A Colt Single Action Army and clones are safe
only with the hammer down on a empty chamber. We commonly call this "five beans in the wheel." A Colt SAA action allows the firing pin on the hammer to directly hit the primer thus a hard impact on the hammer can cause the firing pin to hit the primer hard enough to fire the cartridge.
Rugers and Single Actions that use a transfer bar are safe to carry loaded with six rounds.
Carry of Single Action Revolver isn't any different than carrying a double action revolver. For iwb carry the bulk of the cylinder is the most difficult part to deal with. That is why some holster designs place the cylinder above the waistband of the pants.
Well
almost not any different than carrying a double action revolver. You actually don't need a holster to carry a SAA style revolver. Simply flip the reloading gate open and slide the gun inside the waistband of your pants. The open reloading gate will catch on the top of waistband keeping the gun from sliding down inside your pants.
When drawing the gun I cock the hammer as I bring it on target with my finger off of the trigger. Once my gun is pointed downrange I place my finger on trigger and acquire my sight picture. Just for the record I am proficient with both single (from CMSA) and two hand shooting.
When using both hands I use my weak hand to cock the hammer for each shot. The obvious advantage is I never have to break my strong hand grip and it is easy to get all of the shots off as rapidly as a double action revolver.
The reach for the hammer is a big disadvantage with shooting with one hand as it is necessary to break the grip for each shot. With my Vaqueros I have installed Bisley type hammers which place the hammer spur lower making it easier to reach.
As commented the Single action is designed to rotate up in the hand when shooting one hand. This is a big reason why rubber grips such as Pachmyer are a bad idea.
The grip rotating in the hand redirects the recoil away from the body.
When done shooting I simply stop cocking the hammer.
Reloads on the clock and SAA should not be used in the same sentence.
However the S&W American and Schofield top break models are easy and relatively quick to reload. The empty case are ejected from the cylinder when the gun is opened and the open cylinder makes it easy to feed rounds into the chambers.
While I no longer carry a revolver as my primary edc I am confident with my single actions and will carry one when going into town if it is more convenient.
I let the other Single Action fans add their advice now.