The Uberti 1873 Single Action Cattleman is a replica of the famous 1873 Colt Single Action Army (SAA) revolver that became known as the Peacemaker. Whereas the original Colt held 6 rounds of .45 caliber cartridges, this particular Uberti replica is chambered in 22 Long Rifle and holds 12 rounds.
Like the original, this replica has the firing pin mounted on the hammer. And it is possible to have the firing pin sitting on a live cartridge. For safety, the recommended practice is to load the gun such that the firing pin rested on an empty chamber. For a six shooter, the recommended loading procedure is “load one, skip one, load four more”. This is sometimes called the “John Wayne load” because John Wayne referred to loading only five rounds in his movie “True Grit”; however, the practice of loading five predates the movie.
The instruction manual for the twelve shot Uberti 1873 Cattleman is actually for the six shot version and even includes the “load one, skip one, load four more” procedure. However, this is not the correct procedure for the 12 shot version. For the 12 shot version, the loading procedure should be “load three, skip one, load eight”.
Here’s my video showing how to load the 12 shot version of a Uberti Cattleman so that the firing pin rests on an empty chamber.
For more information, see
http://www.uberti.com/1873-cattleman-22-revolver
History of the Colt SAA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army