But there are some lessons that even the most experienced (and I use that term somewhat loosely) shooters never seem to learn, as this cardinal sin is committed by many shooters who should know better. I will never forget being in a hunting camp with another gunwriter who is a few years my senior. At one point, he asked if he could look at the pristine third-generation .44 Special Colt singe action I was packing.

Scoped behemoths such as this stainless Premiere Grade Model 83 in the powerful .500 Wyoming Express have brought the single action into the 21st century.

Although I had owned the gun for a number of years, I always carried it in a lined holster and was quite proud of its unmarred condition, even though I had taken it afield many times. I flipped open the loading gate, put the hammer on half-cock so my fellow scribe could see that the gun was empty and handed him the revolver, butt first. He immediately lowered the hammer from half-cock, then cocked the gun again, thereby etching a nice, faint gray line around the otherwise unblemished cylinder.

I promptly assumed the role of a veterinarian, describing my friend's direct lineage from a female canine. He merely looked at the gun blankly, not knowing what he had done.

In a way, you can't blame him. Many of the rules that stemmed from the original 1873 Single Action Army changed in 1973 when Ruger brought out its transfer-bar system. This revolutionized single-action shooting, for it enabled New Model Ruger single actions (those made from 1973 on) to be loaded by merely opening the loading gate. This frees the cylinder without having to cock the hammer. In fact, there is no half-cock notch on New Model Ruger single actions.

Part of the Oglesby & Oglesby Vaquero's secret to accuracy is Bill Oglesby's custom crowning of the barrel. Also, a serrated front-sight blade can reduce glare, thereby aiding accuracy.

Yet, it is still possible to scar the cylinder if you do not manually align the flutes on either side of the topstrap before shutting the loading gate. Otherwise, when the gate is snapped shut the cylinder bolt will rise up against the cylinder rather than into the cylinder notch. Which is why so many New Model Ruger single actions have this tell-tale line around the cylinder.

But an even more dramatic change has taken place with the advent of the New Model Ruger Blackhawks, Vaqueros and now the New Vaqueros (same basic gun as the Vaquero but built on a smaller, Colt-style frame with Ruger's original XR-3 frame from the '50s). With these New Model Rugers, the cylinders may be filled with a full complement of six rounds, as the transfer-bar system prevents the hammer and firing pin from coming in contact with a cartridge unless the trigger is fully depressed--which can only happen once the hammer is brought to full cock. Thus, these New Model Rugers are true six-shooters. However, other, more traditional SAs such as Colt and the Italian clones must still adhere to the five-shot rule.

With the exception of single actions with adjustable sights, most thumbbusters incorporate a historically correct grooved topstrap and a high-blade, fixed-sight arrangement. These guns typically shoot high and to the left--more dramatically with some brands and barrel lengths than others. Traditionally, Kentucky windage was employed to bring the gun on target. Additionally, when shooting at ranges that hover around 25 yards with barrel lengths of 4 3/4 and 5 1/2 inches, only about half of the front-sight blade should rise above the rear-sight groove; with 71?2-inch barrels, just the top third of the front-sight blade should be showing.