[Bartholomew Roberts]

It is quite easy to see if a revolver is loaded with blanks or real rounds. The nose of a blank looks nothing like the nose of a real round. Just spin the cylinder while looking at the holes!

Dummy rounds may be a bit more difficult but not impossible.

[hanamizu]

The nose of a blank looks nothing like the nose of a real round. Just spin the cylinder while looking at the holes!

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To inspect this way requires pointing the gun at one’s own head! No, to be sure, you’d have to unload each chamber, a bit more slowly than with a double-action. Had anyone involved done this, which might take 10–15 seconds, no one would have been shot.

As I said, the dummy rounds I’ve seen are bright colors, not brass. They are used for dry firing and for safety’s sake cannot be mistake for live or blank rounds.

[Vlad0]

Just spin the cylinder while looking at the holes! OK but if I'm looking at the holes the muzzle is pointed at my eyes, too. So, maybe I could point the revolver up at something like a 15 degree angle off vertical, and the revolver would be pointed in a safe direction, and I could still see enough into the cylinders to determine if the gun has blanks or live ones.

I'll have to experiment, but off hand it seems clumsy and potentially dangerous.

I'm imagining pulling the "lets see if these are the right bullets" inspection on a SAA at the range, and the Range Safety Officer and other shooters being quite unhappy with me.