One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) - Page 7

Purple Haze · 03-25-2011, 02:03 PM

What about a harmonica pistol?

They are circa 1860, typically have magazines(harmonicas) of ten rounds (could make them larger) and changing magazines is probably easier than loading even a single round into a revolver.

Agemegos · 03-25-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

What about a harmonica pistol?

That's so cool! I'd never heard of those before!

acrosome · 03-25-2011, 08:25 PM

Yeah, but like all muzzle-loading repeaters they didn't work well and had a tendency to chain-fire.

BREAK

Sam- as I thought, we're talking about the same thing with the left hand, really. We're just arguing over whether the right hand secures the weapon by the grip and the left works the ejector while indexing (me), or if the left hand does double-duty securing the weapon and indexing while the right works the ejector (you). But in both of our cases the left hand is cradling the weapon and indexing the cylinder, and once the cylinder is empty the right is loading through the gate. My way just seems more intuitive to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if the official way the Army taught it was your way.

lexington · 03-25-2011, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acrosome

Yeah, but like all muzzle-loading repeaters they didn't work well and had a tendency to chain-fire.

That just means more bullets going toward the target!

Purple Haze · 03-25-2011, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acrosome

Yeah, but like all muzzle-loading repeaters they didn't work well and had a tendency to chain-fire.

The guns I've seen were all loaded with pin fire cartridges, no reason for them to be unreliable. Simple enough to build a gun for ordinary centre or rim fire cartridges.

acrosome · 03-25-2011, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

The guns I've seen were all loaded with pin fire cartridges, no reason for them to be unreliable. Simple enough to build a gun for ordinary centre or rim fire cartridges.

Pinfire would be different, but the pictures Brett linked to looked like the chambers had some sort of holes, not slots, so I had assumed they were caplock. I actually did wonder if they were pinfire since the chambers were bored all the way through, but eventually I had assumed they used linen cartridges. Is it some oddity where you insert the cartridge and then insert the pin into the cartridge through the hole, or something?

But apparently the player likes powerful guns, and to my knowledge pinfires were universally low-powered. (Same problem as my LeMat idea.)

Still, there is a reason revolvers were popular- they worked the best. I suppose I should edit my last comment to say "Like most muzzle-loading repeaters...", since revolvers work pretty well. But you can still find literally hundreds of pictures of burst chain-fired caplock revolvers with a google search. It was a common enough occurrence that it is mentioned with some regularity in the correspondence of the time. In fairness, modern revolvers (and really any guns) do occasionally fail catastrophically, too. Usually it's due to user error in modern cases (over-loaded handloads), or to technology that's pushing the limits like those uber-light magnum snub-nosed revolvers that S&W had a problem with a while ago.

EDIT- I looked closer at those pictures and I don't see nipples for the caps, so I suppose it is likely some bizarre pinfire where you insert the pin separately.

Purple Haze · 03-25-2011, 09:31 PM

I don't see why you could not build the harmonicas as strong as a revolver or in any caliber you could a revolver, I see the problem as it being near impossible to holster while loaded.

Depends on the campaign I guess, maybe draw gun, insert magazine, kick door could be the normal M.O.

Didn't I suggest the same solution to the multi-shot shotgun problem a couple of weeks ago? There were historical harmonica rifles in normal rifle loads so strength wasn't a problem.

acrosome · 03-26-2011, 01:42 AM

But then you're into the rules for prototyping, it's expensive, etc., etc. An off-the-shelf gun is a better solution if one exists that meets your needs. I get your point, though, for "Lefty's" purposes.

Purple Haze · 03-26-2011, 11:32 AM

Hardly, the hammer and firing pin are simpler for both rim and centre fire than they are for pin fire, and it can't matter whether the cartridge slides or spins into place. The rest of the mechanism is the same. This is the nineteenth century, making one of's in the local machine shop is the norm.

03-25-2011, 02:03 PM	#61
Purple Haze Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) What about a harmonica pistol? They are circa 1860, typically have magazines(harmonicas) of ten rounds (could make them larger) and changing magazines is probably easier than loading even a single round into a revolver.

03-25-2011, 08:25 PM	#63
acrosome Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Land of Enchantment	Re: One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) Yeah, but like all muzzle-loading repeaters they didn't work well and had a tendency to chain-fire. BREAK Sam- as I thought, we're talking about the same thing with the left hand, really. We're just arguing over whether the right hand secures the weapon by the grip and the left works the ejector while indexing (me), or if the left hand does double-duty securing the weapon and indexing while the right works the ejector (you). But in both of our cases the left hand is cradling the weapon and indexing the cylinder, and once the cylinder is empty the right is loading through the gate. My way just seems more intuitive to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if the official way the Army taught it was your way.

03-25-2011, 09:31 PM	#67
Purple Haze Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) I don't see why you could not build the harmonicas as strong as a revolver or in any caliber you could a revolver, I see the problem as it being near impossible to holster while loaded. Depends on the campaign I guess, maybe draw gun, insert magazine, kick door could be the normal M.O. Didn't I suggest the same solution to the multi-shot shotgun problem a couple of weeks ago? There were historical harmonica rifles in normal rifle loads so strength wasn't a problem. Last edited by Purple Haze; 03-25-2011 at 09:35 PM.

03-26-2011, 01:42 AM	#68
acrosome Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Land of Enchantment	Re: One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) But then you're into the rules for prototyping, it's expensive, etc., etc. An off-the-shelf gun is a better solution if one exists that meets your needs. I get your point, though, for "Lefty's" purposes.

03-26-2011, 11:32 AM	#69
Purple Haze Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?) Hardly, the hammer and firing pin are simpler for both rim and centre fire than they are for pin fire, and it can't matter whether the cartridge slides or spins into place. The rest of the mechanism is the same. This is the nineteenth century, making one of's in the local machine shop is the norm.