Heh,
Why does this whole thread bring to mind one-armed Clyde Ledbetter and his three guns?
Rather than worry about trying to reload a six-gun with only one hand in a gun figfht he simply carried three guns ( a Remington 1875 and a coupla Colt SAAs )
As far as how to manage the thumbuster with only one hand, in the movie he even unloads, then reloads his '75.
JT59, tell yer bro to watch The Unforgiven! Consider it a training film...
You don't need no fancy "belt device" to hold the gun for ye while you thumb fresh fodder into your shooter, just sit down and hold the gun between yer legs. Or kneel down and squeeze the gun with one folded leg.
Heck, in a gunfight you'd better be getting down behind cover anyway! Especially if the shooting has gone on long enough fer ye t' be reloading! What, you wanna stand up and make a target of yerself?
Naturally, this works pretty durn good with a proper single action thumb buster because you just put the gun at half **** and open the little loading gate, The gun indexes one chamber at a time in line with the loading gate, just thumb a round in, give the cylinder one click around, thumb another cartridge in and so forth.
Now I do recomend a modern version of Colt's fine old SAA, one with a transfer bar. That way you just fill up all six holes and don't have to worry about the 'ol " load one, skip one, load four" and bring the hammer down on an empty chamber, which can get awkward if you ain't been doing it fer the last two decades as I have been a-doin'.
Anyhow, when the gun is full-up, you snap the gate closed and away you go. No need to rack the slide or swing-flip a cylinder back into place.
Another advantage of the six-gun is how slow they shoot.
Huh? I hear ye saying - How can that be an advantage?
Well, because it teaches you to shoot Deliberatly! This is real important if you only got one hand and can't reload fast, and can't even take a two handed hold on a pistol. You gotta make yer shots count, and it is truly hard to imagine any scrap a feller can't get himself out of with five or six properly applied doses of .357, .45 Colt, .44 special, .44-40, or my personal favorite, .44 magnum.
( Six-guns do tend to come in pretty durn potent calibrations, don't they? Consider it another advantage of the breed )
Again, the movie The Unforgiven empasises this very point . Remember when Sheriff Hackman says - "Look son, being a good shot and quick with a pistol don’t do no harm but it don’t mean much next to being cool headed. A man who will keep his head, not get rattled under fire, like as not will kill you."
Only a movie sure, but true words none the less.
Yet one final advantage of the six-shooter for your bro, they were designed and intended for one handed use! None of that fancy two-hands-holding-yer-hogleg back in the day! Yer second hand held the reins of yer horse, or your saber maybe if you was cavalry, or even a second gun! The slim, trim grip of the old Colt 1851 Navy cap and ball gun is the very same grip used on the Colt SAA and many of it's clones. It will fit and feel perfectly natural in any hand, is comfortable to use with just one hand, and the gun will point like it's one of your own fingers. Some modern "handguns" really do seem intended for use with two hands, the grip is so thick and blocky.
Now if I broke my right hand and had to shoot left-handedly while healin' up I'd just keep on using the same hogleg as I'm always OCing these days, my Uberti .44 mag, and the very same holster, a sorta slim-jim-pancake thing I made myself.
How woud I manage that? Simple. I'd wear the gun on my left side with the butt facing forward and run with a left-hand cavalry draw!
It's perfectly safe, provided you don't **** the hammer as you draw, and certainly fast enough.
For those not familar with what the heck I'm talking about, back in the day the cavalry wore their issue cap and ball revolvers on their right side with the butt of the gun facing forward. The idea was to stick the reins in yer teeth, draw the saber at yer left hip with yer right hand, cross draw the revolver with yer left hand and CHARGE!
Or something like that. The strongside-butt-forward carry did allow a feller to draw the pistol easily with the right or left hand, as needed. It sounds funny and complicated but is actually pretty durn easy an natural once a feller gets used to it, and was probably handy in a melee on horseback.
Just don't **** the gun untill it's out in front of you!