Here is how my Browning 1885 Traditional Hunter works.
When the action is closed, the hammer stays at full cock. When you lower the hammer under your thumb, there doesn't seem to be a half-cock notch, but the hammer stops before it gets to the firing pin. You can't pull the trigger and make the hammer hit the firing pin without firing it from full cock. The firing pin is spring-loaded. There is no external safety.
When I hunt with it, I carry it with a cartridge in the chamber and the hammer lowered.
