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Starting a new thread here.
I contacted C Sharps Arms regarding their 1885 answer and this is the reply I got from Ty.  Very clear, very helpful:

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I checked with our shop to get additional clarification regarding the half-cock position and firing pin operation.

Our C. Sharps 1885 is built to duplicate the original Winchester 1885 High Wall, or thick-wall, receiver design. The receiver and internal components are manufactured to remain accurate in dimension and function to the original design.

With this design, the firing pin is mechanically retracted during the initial movement of the lever as the action begins to open. Therefore, after firing, you do not need to manually move the hammer to half cock before opening the action solely to retract the firing pin or prevent it from dragging. The lever movement performs that retraction before the breechblock is lowered and the fired case is extracted. Historical Winchester documentation describes the firing pin as being automatically withdrawn during the first opening movement and held back until the action is closed.

The half-cock position serves a different purpose. It is the recommended position for handling the rifle when it is loaded but firing is not imminent, as well as for storage. It keeps the hammer from resting directly against the firing pin. However, it should not be treated as a substitute for normal safe handling practices or relied upon as a separate manual safety.

In practical terms:

-   After firing, you may open the lever normally; the action will mechanically retract the firing pin.
-   You do not need to manually place the hammer at half cock before opening the action.
-   After loading, if you are not preparing to fire immediately, the hammer should be carefully lowered to the half-cock position.
-   Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and your finger off the trigger while operating the action or lowering the hammer.

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If you don't Jack then all of those rifles will start going off right inside the safe.  Even when they are unloaded.  Makes a big mess of the safe 

I had Joe come and eliminate my big squirrel. Took him two shots because ours are bigger than the Tacoma variety. However, I looked a quite a few highwalls over the years and I guess nobody read what was recommended regarding the half cock for storage. Probably explains why the things are often seen with scratches and dings- all the ricochets and splatter inside the safes.

At least the folks at C. Sharps don't stamp warnings on the barrel like on the modern Browning/Winchester highwalls.