Hammerless

However it inspired other models by a number of makers using trigger-plate designs by Green (1868), Murcott (1871) Gibbs and Pitt (1873), and F.B.

This type of hammerless action, or the similar cock-on-open variation, is nearly universal in the majority of modern American double-barrel shotguns.

The exposed firing hammer was also frequently caught on clothing and interfered with the operator's ability to aim accurately.

The introduction of hammerless firearm technology in rifles and shotgun and later on, handguns greatly improved their safety, firing rate, and accuracy.

The Savage Arms Company pioneered the use of hammerless technology in repeating rifles during the late nineteenth century, and this feature has carried on to the majority of firearms today.

[further explanation needed] Early pump-action shotguns, like the lever-action rifles that preceded them, had exposed hammers.

Modern pump-action shotguns, with the exception of replicas of older exposed-hammer designs required in Cowboy action shooting, are all hammerless.

While shotguns have gone almost entirely hammerless (inexpensive single-shot models being the main exception), handguns are available in significant numbers in many different forms, with or without exposed hammers.

Prior to this hammerless technology, rifles were fixed with an exposed firing hammer and, at times, would be dangerous to the operator.

[5] The fear from gun owners of these accidental discharges were well deserved, and even applied to the earliest models of hammerless weapons.