Why I load five in my Blackhawks, even today....

[BobWright]

Comments made recently about loading the New Model Ruger Blackhawks with full six rounds. The gun is certainly safe for carry so loaded. Then why do I continue to load in the traditional way?

Well, When I'm on the range, my cartridges are in those plastic slip top cartridge boxes. These boxes hold fifty rounds, ten rows of five. I normally shoot twenty five rounds at a string, so five of five works for me. Loading six means I am left with less than a cylinder full at some point as I finish off that box. And, should I want to mentally keep score, five is an easier multiplier.

I usually, though not so much anymore, load only five when afield. Totally unnecessary from a safety standpoint, but that extra round has never been needed for any critter I've shot.

Now, when you see me on the street, be it known the cylinder is filled to capacity.

Bob Wright

 

[CraigC]

Same here Bob and for the same reasons. For me, it's mostly to be in the habit of always loading five so that I'm not stopping to think about it. It took a lot of repetition to be able to reload a single action fast and I use every opportunity to keep that sharp. I'll usually load six in the NM's in the field.

 

[tbob38]

Yeah, I do that too.

 

[sabbfan]

When I’m just having fun at the range I’ll load 5 in my DA revolvers as well. Makes the ammo last a tad longer, plus I’ll check for a flinch when the hammer falls on an empty cylinder.

 

[reddog81]

I have a S&W 686 that holds 7 rounds. I typically just load 6. Loading 7 just seems odd... I have no problem with loading 8 rounds in a 627 or 929, but 7 is just weird.

 

[Seedy Character]

Shooting Cowboy Action requires loading 5.
7 Blackhawks, 3 are unmodified Old Model, safety requires loading 5.

Just load them with 5 and stay consistent.

Or load 6 and shoot until it clicks.

When hunting or just walking the pasture, those that safely carry 6, get loaded with 6.

 

[mcb]

Fill'em up every time, but I only own one single action and its a new Blackhawk, safe fully loaded. All the rest of my revolvers are also safe with full cylinders and I always fill them up.

I have had a critter encounter that required a reload (6 shot revolver, 7 rattle snakes). Everyone says you will never need to reload your revolver in a rush, that is until you do, and then the rush will feel very VERY real. Practice your reloads just like your marksmanship. Having shot enough IDPA and USPSA the reload in that critical situation happened without me consciously thinking anything other than the revolver needed reloaded.

 

[Pat Riot]

In my Ruger Vaqueros:
I load 5 for SASS.
I load 5 when testing new reload recipes.
I load 6 for all other shooting.

I kind of do the same for my DA revolvers regarding load testing and all other shooting.

 

[1942bull]

Well Bob it sounds like efficient management of repeatable, equal consumption of range ammo. Some might call it compulsive, but not me. When I go to the range with my 10 round magazines I do not add a round to the chamber. I then get 5 mag loads from a box of 50. However when I take my 15 round magazines it does not work. So my compulsive solution is to load 3 two 15 round mags and then three 10 rounders. It’s obsession personified. But I do not end up with partially filled ammo boxes.

 

[Bazoo]

I load 6 into new model revolvers. When plinking, I occasionally shoot only a shot or two and top off. Those extra 2 rounds per box is handy for that.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I never mind walking away from the shooting line/bench or indoor facility with live ammo. In fact, I plan on it.
An empty gun's a bludgeon.
I reload everything so it doesn't matter if I'm putting 50 in the To-Be-Processed bucket or 48; they'll get reloaded in batches of 100 anyways (because primers come in trays of 100
I can count to six just fine but rarely need more than one. Which is why I also hunt with a Contender.
Coyotes and deer tend to scatter after the first shot but boar hogs and sows defending pups sometimes go into fight mode instead of flight mode. And I've learned sows will work as a team when threatened.
Snakes - never seen more than four at one time, @mcb. I'd say that was bad luck on your part but having hunted some up in Alabama I think it's just that I've been real lucky never to have seen more than that. Timbersnakes ought to be the state animal.

 

[Jim Watson]

Once upon a time 3D commercial reloaders packed .38 wadcutters in 60 round boxes for the PPC match.

 

[mcb]

I never mind walking away from the shooting line/bench or indoor facility with live ammo. In fact, I plan on it.
An empty gun's a bludgeon.
I reload everything so it doesn't matter if I'm putting 50 in the To-Be-Processed bucket or 48; they'll get reloaded in batches of 100 anyways (because primers come in trays of 100
I can count to six just fine but rarely need more than one. Which is why I also hunt with a Contender.
Coyotes and deer tend to scatter after the first shot but boar hogs and sows defending pups sometimes go into fight mode instead of flight mode. And I've learned sows will work as a team when threatened.
Snakes - never seen more than four at one time, @mcb. I'd say that was bad luck on your part but having hunted some up in Alabama I think it's just that I've been real lucky never to have seen more than that. Timbersnakes ought to be the state animal.

Getting ready for the 20/21 hunting season dad uncovered the wood pile next to the cabin and saw a snake. He motioned to me and I came over to shoot it and for a minute there every piece of firewood we moved seemed to have a snake under it. It was definitely exciting for a minute or two. Normally I let snakes (poisonous or not) go but that firewood stack was only 10 ft from the cabin door and my brother would have shot me if I did not dispatch poisonous snakes that close to the cabin. Brother does not like snakes at all.

A year previous I uncovered a nest of rattle snakes in a pile of stumps and dirt I was moving but that time I was away from the buildings and on the tractor. I gave them a minute to clear out and then just kept digging and moving stumps. Probably got some of them but certainly not all.

 

[cfullgraf]

When I was shooting IHMSA revolver, I got in the habit of loading five since strings were 5 targets.

Since I stopped shooting silhouette, I slowly drifted back to filling them up.

 

[twarr1]

For normal shooting I load 5 in my revolvers as well. For the same reasons. Good to see I’m not the only one!
I usually load 10 rounds in my semiautomatic handguns’ 17-19 round magazines. Why?
Because it’s easier to keep up with round count, and perhaps more importantly, when friends or family shoot them for some reason they feel they need to empty the magazine. Saves ammo.

 

[SwampWolf]

I have a S&W 686 that holds 7 rounds. I typically just load 6. Loading 7 just seems odd...

To me, having a Smith 686 Plus revolver with seven chambers and not filling all of them with rounds (for hunting or self-defense reasons as opposed to target shooting) seems very odd.

 

[trackskippy]

I load the full amount. Not doing so programs your brain to do what you do at the range, and if thats different from what you do off the range, then you will likely do what you do at the range when you shouldnt.

I load everything I shoot to full capacity, revolvers or autos. Other than a couple of my revolver calibers, most of my ammo gets loaded into small coffee cans, as I dont have enough boxes for all my reloads. The average for a small can is 200 rounds for the small bore calibers, like 9mm, and 100 rounds for the big bore calibers, 45acp, etc. When I do shoot the revolvers from a box, unless Im shooting the couple of 5 shooters I have, I usually have two rounds left at the end of each box, if I only bought one box, which isnt often, and I usually just load from the next box until Im down to the end. If you keep shooting, it evens out, if it bothers you.

 

[Tallball]

When I’m just having fun at the range I’ll load 5 in my DA revolvers as well. Makes the ammo last a tad longer, plus I’ll check for a flinch when the hammer falls on an empty cylinder.

I don't do that all of the time at the range, but I do it often. I spin the cylinder before I close it, so I won't know where the expect the empty chamber. It's helped me learn to squeeze the trigger more gently.

 

[reddog81]

To me, having a Smith 686 Plus revolver with seven chambers and not filling all of them with rounds (for hunting or self-defense reasons as opposed to target shooting) seems very odd.

There's no logical reason other than habit. I don't hunt and have much more appropriate guns for carrying so those don't really apply in this case.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I don't do that all of the time at the range, but I do it often. I spin the cylinder before I close it, so I won't know where the expect the empty chamber. It's helped me learn to squeeze the trigger more gently.

I leave a fired round in when I do that. Some of my revolvers have problems with snapping firing pins when dry fired.

 

[kidneyboy]

Every SA I own, except one, get loaded with 5 for the same reasons #BobWright lists. My Heritage RR 22 gets 6.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

In CAS, they load that way always.

It's a good habit no matter the single action, and it's what John did.

That's enough for me.

 

[BobWright]

As to fifty round boxes, my empties go right back into the cartridge box from which they came. I keep a count on how many times a box of brass has been loaded. From one to ten times I load full power/serious loads; over ten times, mild target loads. Box label identifies the brass:







Obsessive? Maybe so, but its been my routine for over forty years.


Bob Wright

 

[mcb]

There is some serious OCD going on in this thread. I got no problem loading that last cylinder with only two rounds after 8 full 6-shot cylinders full.

 

[cfullgraf]

Or plan to shoot three 50 round boxes.