Nineteenth century revolvers were equipped with a six-round drum. They were fed to the barrel after the drum rotated around its own axis. There were other designs with drums of various sizes, but the most common were the standard six-charge models. It was such a six-shooter that cowboys used in the nineteenth century.
The main reason that the owners of revolvers never fully charged them was the primitive, as simple as possible trigger mechanism. In fact, there was no fuse in the models of that period. Of course, it was very easy to make weapons of this type and use them, but there was a serious problem - the revolver could spontaneously fire.
To do this, it was enough to hit a bump while riding a horse. A strong concussion could provoke a shot, since the firing pin simply rested on the capsule. As a result, a lot of people who did not have enough experience with firearms just crippled themselves by such an absurd accident.
Colt Single Action 1873, a variant for the army, professional military personnel advised loading not with six bullets, but with five, since it did not have a switch bar. Thanks to the empty chamber, the cowboys provided themselves with something like a safety catch (the drum was installed in the position of this empty cell). As a result, the striker did not touch the cartridge, which means that an accidental shot was excluded. But the cowboy could not immediately shoot.
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Only at the beginning of the twentieth century did they begin to make weapons with safety flags or with keys on the back of the handle. From that point on, the cowboys could safely fully charge the drums.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/080221/57760/
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