Feathering

[ConfederateNorth]

Ok, I don't wanna sound like a sissy or a tenderfoot, but here we go.
I work with my hands and get dirty for a living, so callouses I have in spades. I've been bit by the Cowboy bug BAD and have become reacquainted with my Ruger Bearcat. It's the only SA gun I have, but I've been fooling around (UNLOADED) with my draw style and today took a swing at feathering.
By catching the hammer wih my off hand around the metacarpal area I could dry fire mighty fast, but dang if it didn't hurt like heck.

Am I using the wrong part of my hand? Should I smooth out the knurling on the hammer? Should I just put on a pair of big boy pants and just suck it up?

And suggestions, especially from the Quick Draw crowd, and I'd be much obliged.

[Two-Step]

I am far from an expert on the matter but it sounds to me like you are using the correct part of your hand for "feathering". With out actually seeing how and where you are slapping the hammer, I don't know that I can offer much help, other than saying that you may need to lessen your sensitivity. I don't think that a skin callus is going to help much as the pain you are feeling is probably at the muscle and tendon level (like a stone bruise), rather than skin level.

Something else I thought of is that in your rush to feather, you could actually be hitting the frame of your revolver or slapping your hammer at a poor angle. Like I said, with out actually seeing what and how you are doing it, I don't think that I can offer any suggestions of much value.

Also, you probably don't want to suffer a tendon callus as they can be rather painful and decrease the flexibility in your hand. I know, as I have managed to acquire just that condition... mine seems to be hereditary rather than injury induced.

[Bugscuffle]

I'm not 100% sure that i understand how you are cocking this gun, mainly because I'm not 100% sure of where the metacarpal area is. I'm assuming that this is the palm of your hand and that you are using the edge of that to cock the gun. In the B western movie world I believe that they called this "fanning" the gun except that they kept the trigger pulled all the time and just let the hammer fall after pulling it back with the edge of the palm of the off hand. Yep, you can shoot plenty fast that way, but can you hit anything that way? I personally use the off hand thunb to cock the gun with. I am right handed and I draw and immediately take a two handed grip with the off hand thumb on top of the stong hand thumb. I can then cock the gun with the off hand thumb while shooting with the strong hand. When I change guns it is exactly the opposite. I take the two handed grip, but I just pretend that I'm left handed and the right thumb goes on top of the left one. I then cock with the right thumb and shoot left handed. To me it doesn't seem to matter much if I'm right or left handed, no I'm not ambidexterous, it is just that the two handed grip makes me feel like I am shooting with the strong hand irrespective of which hand the gun is in.