Toby, I have no idea how the gun pictures got into my Bentley file. If I had had to guess, I would have thought it was from some auction or something from a Bulletin Board. Surely , if I would have known they were yours I would give you credit. Yes, the automatic safety would make letting the hammers down a "thumb thing". There are examples of Bentley patent guns with much larger cocking/hammer pieces. I suppose that's why.