Originally Posted By: clearwater
The old ruger flattop does need to be carried with an empty under the hammer. Safe to use as long as you do it right.
Load one, skip one, load the rest.

That gives a gun to carry with an empty chamber. However, when the gun is cocked and decocked by lowering the hammer, it has a live round under the hammer. The user would have to remember to reindex the cylinder to make it safe to holster.
I would second chaosmagnet´s suggestion. If you carry, preferably select a gun that does not need to be carried with an empty chamber under the hammer.
The S&W can handle .44 Mag loads as long as they are to spec. If I felt the need for more power, I´d select a more powerful caliber.
Originally Posted By: clearwater
You can still buy reproduction revolvers without transfer bars. I think some of them have different firing pins too.

I own a pair of fairly new Uberti SAA clones. They are not safe to carry with a live round under the hammer. They are used exclusively for CAS. So it does not matter anyway. Shooting a CAS stage is probably much less stress than defending against a griz and I have a TO and three spotters to watch for safe gun handling.
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