When I saw the title my memory went back to my early teens when my dad acquired a 5 gallon pail of assorted (and very old) .303 and 12 guage ammunition. One day he picked up the ancient 12 guage single from the rafters of the garage, set up some cans in the field and suggested we see if any of the shells were good.
I knew the sear on the old 12 guage was bad and asked about it. He suggested I just pull the hammer back and let my thumb slip off to release. When he demonstrated, I failed to note he moved his thumb sideways. That was significant. I tried a shot from the hip, pulled my thumb straight back and the recoil drove the hammer back into the end of my thumb. That was painful and bloody, but an important lesson. After a quick handkerchief bandage, we fired off dozens of rounds.
Later I pulled apart the old jacketed .303 for the cordite and lead cores.
Definitely a different time.
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