We’ve all seen the guy cock a single action revolver with his strong hand. Hollywood would have you convinced that’s the proper way to operate one. It is not. This video demonstrates why.
Notice how at the 2:20 mark he has to relax his one handed grip to cock the hammer with his strong hand. For the moment he is cocking, any shot he fires is going to cause the gun to leap from his control. There is however something about his strong handed cocking method that concerns me even more.
At the 3:37 mark, he operates the gun one handed. Notice when he cocks it, his trigger finger is squarely inside the trigger guard of what he himself calls a light trigger. The likelihood of a negligent discharge in this operation is significantly high. And while he has a relaxed one handed grip on the pistol, a discharge will likely result in the pistol jumping from his hand.
Neither are good options and demonstrate why we don’t cock a single action gun with the strong hand.
Instead, this video demonstrates the proper operation.
Note how even though she has to cant the gun to get her support (operating) hand on the hammer spur, she maintains a full strong hand grip and the muzzle in a safe direction.
That’s why we cock a single action pistol with the support hand.