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how much force would it take for a SA to accidentally set off a round? A drop directly on the hammer from hip height? Would that do it? Or is the safety issue more so that if your thumb slipped, and the hammer fell back down, that could set off the round?
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Depends on which type of single-action mechanism you're talking about.
If you have an original Colt or Ruger 3-screw action with the firing pin sitting on top of a primer, then it doesn't take much of a bump at all to drive the firing pin into the primer and set it off. A drop directly onto the hammer onto a hard surface from a few inches will do it. Just a pretty mild bump on the hammer will do it. That's why you carry on an empty chamber. Do the "load one, skip one, load 4" routine and you'll end up with the hammer down on an empty chamber for carrying.
On any of the later designs with a transfer bar, the hammer can't reach the firing pin until the trigger is pulled. So you can beat the hammer into mush with a live primer under it and nothing will happen as long as you're not pulling the trigger.
If you're holding the trigger back, and the hammer slips and goes forward, then anything will go off if there's a round under the firing pin. That's kind of the point of pulling the trigger.