[DL] Re: Speed load cylinders

[Andrew Greene <blaze@netaxs.com>]

On the subject of speed-load cylinders, I'll say the following:

In seven years in the gun business and fifteen years as a shooter,  I've
learned a bit about black powder and single action revolvers (I've owned
about eight of them, total).  If you disagree with me, E-mail me,a s i
don't read the digest very often.

1) Speed load cylinders are a black powder thing.  Nobody ever bothered
with them for cartridge guns, because they negate the advantage of
cartridges.  Instead, they tended to stick to the old standby - carrying
two to four pistols.  Considering how long it takes to load a black powder
cylinder compared to reloading a cartridge repeater, it's pretty obvious
why this wasn't considered necessary for the cartridge guns.  It's not
mentioned in gun books, because it's just not done.  yeah, youc an remove
the cylinder from many pistols. No, this isn't so you can carry spares,
it's so you can clean it and clear jams.  Back when metallurgy wasn't quite
what it is now, cases sometimes bulged and prevented a revolver from
revolving.  So, you pulled the pin and removed it.

2) solid-frame guns like the Peacemaker were slower to reload than
breakopens like the Schofeld and swing-out guns.  Schofelds fling their
empties over your shoulder when you open them; the usual way of re-loading
rapidly was to use a drop pouch, that would drop six rounds into your hand.
 You then loaded them two at a time into the empty cylinder.  I found my
Schofeld replica would fling the empties but not the live rounds, which
meant you could keep two spare bullets poking thru the fingers of your off
hand for 'topping up'.  Similar methods were adaptable to the solid-frame
guns.  

3) Not only must black powder spare cylinders be for that particular model
of gun, they need to be fittd by a gunsmith. Remember, these guns are still
hand-assembled, and hand-finished.  Using a mis-aligned cylinger can
convert a black powder gun to a grenade, as the ball slams into the frame
instead of going down the barrel.  Some guns, Colt Navy revolvers, for
example, came with a spare cylinder as a matter of course.  Some guns (the
British Adams comes to mind), often came with THREE cylinders - one for cap
and ball, one for Euro-style Boxer cartridges, and one for US style
cartridges.

4) On the subject of Schofelds again, the cylinder doesn't remove.  It's
atatched to the center post, which activates the spring loaded star that
ejects the empties.

5) fanning lever-actions.  - You've seen the old Rifleman TV Western?  The
rifle the hero used had ben modified by having a short metal bar welded
into the rifle's trigger guard, which simply pushed the trigger back
whenever the lever was fully closed.  So, all you had to do was work the
lever to fire the gun.  I've verified that this works, using my old '94 and
a small clamp.  You can fire 11 rounds in seven seconds, but don't expect
to hit much.

Please reply to me in mail if you want more information.