One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?)

[AmesJainchill]

Schofield or the S&W Number Three would do him better. Or he should make his shots count--Aim, Targeted Attacks to the Face, Skull or Vitals.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Genesis

Doing it like Roland does it is extremely cinematic - I'm trying to keep the PCs less superpowered than that.

Yeah. I've thought some more about that. If it's physically possible to do what Roland was doing, it's not going to be possible to do it any faster than loading it in some other way. I think the biggest problem with what Roland was doing is getting the cartridges into your hand. I can imagine someone moving them up with their fingers and loading the pistol while still holding it, but I can't imagine them drawing the cartridges (out of a belt?) and doing all of it together in one motion.

That said, I can imagine a fair technique for a modified Colt with a swing-out cylinder...

Yeah, but without speedloaders, it's probably going to be easier to remove the cylinder and replace it with a pre-loaded one. If he can get a Colt .45 modified to swing out the cylinder, he can probably get it modified to pop the cylinder off and on. But I would give that a pretty hefty malfunction.

It looks like the swing-out cylinder on a custom rig might be the fastest he can do, then. He'll want the cylinder to swing out to the right, so he can tuck it into a holster across his belly designed to hold the cylinder in an 'out' position. Then he can draw his cartridges and slide those in, all one handed.

He might want to look at using something with a top-break cylinder, but I've never seen old Colts converted to that. I have seen them converted to the swing-out cylinder. But those conversions may be more advanced than what you want to allow. Maybe a quest to find a master gunsmith?

I do want reloading to be a painfully slow, and dangerous in combat. Plus it gives the PCs a chance to engage in witty dialogue with their opponents while everyone takes 30 secs to reload!

If they're taking thirty second breaks, they're either at rifle range or the knives are coming out, aren't they?

The player has considered the 'New York'-style reload, but found it unsatisfying for dramatic reasons - the gun is Sig Gear, with Weapon Bond... it doesn't seem right that he'd drop it after 6 shots.

Well, holstering it and drawing a backup isn't 'dropping' it. He's not tossing it into the mud. How common is it that he needs more than five (six?) shots, anyway? Presumably, whoever he's shooting at is shooting back. That's not any kind of position I'd want to be in. If my turn is ending, I want it ended without anyone there to shoot at me.

I told him he could use a pistol with a top break and auto ejector - he planned on two guns, one with such a set-up, for a while - but the lure of 3d pi+ .45 shells was too great, and he's become wedded to the Colt.

The top-break is going to be difficult to use one-handed, isn't it? Out of combat, none of this even matters. But if he needs it done within the next half hour, I imagine that might give him a little bit of trouble.

As a provision we're discussing a technique that defaults to Guns-5 and lets him manipulate the gun and the shells with one hand up to the bandolier on his chest. It'll still take (5i) to reload, though... I'm of half-a-mind that it's too generous.

I don't see how it could be done as fast as with two hands. Turning the cylinder is going to be a big problem time-wise. If he practices, I could see him getting it down. But I don't think it would ever be as fast as someone with two hands could do it.

Is he going to be holding the pistol the whole time? Trying to turn the cylinder with the hand that's holding the gun is going to be pretty hard. As is taking out a cartridge and maneuvering it in there. And then doing it four or five more times.

There may be some way to hold the pistol to do that. If he's holding it with his pinky pressing it against his palm, leaving his other four fingers free, he might just be able to do it. But he's going to have to maneuver the pistol around into that awkward position, and then back out of it.

[Sam Cade]

It would be pretty much impossible to load a SAA revolver one handed, in a hurry.

The once on half-cock the, cylinder has to be turned manually so as to index it in such a way that the ejector can knock out the empty cartridge.

You have to have one hand on the cylinder to keep it lined up (it spins freely in either direction) and the other to work the ejector.

[Comedian]

If you're going to go through all the trouble of modding a Colt 1873 to accept a swing out cylinder, you might have an easier time converting a S&W Number 3 Russian to .45 long colt, or having one custom made (it is sig gear after all). In defense of the new york reload, most pistols of the day were capable of accepting a lanyard, so dropping it just means it hangs at knee height while you continue shooting with your secondary.

[Sam Cade]

pop the cylinder off and on

They do that already, sorta.

THe only thing that holds the cylinder is the cylinder pin. Pull the cylinder pin, cylinder falls off. It has to be removed anytime you clean it anyway.
It was retained by a screw up till the late 1890s, after that its spring loaded.


Problem with that as a quick reloading method would be pretty obvious.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

It would be pretty much impossible to load a SAA revolver one handed, in a hurry.

The once on half-cock the, cylinder has to be turned manually so as to index it in such a way that the ejector can knock out the empty cartridge.

You have to have one hand on the cylinder to keep it lined up (it spins freely in either direction) and the other to work the ejector.

Well, people are able to do some amazing things.

If Houdini spent ten years working on this trick, could he ever get it to where he could do it in combat?

This is straddling the line between 'really, really hard to do' and 'impossible.'

But, if it's possible, then someone may be able to train their muscles to do it reliably. Muscle memory can do some amazing stuff. Watch some guitar or piano virtuosos. If this guy's willing to put in as much time to doing this as Ana Vidovic did into playing Asturias, then could he do it?

Are there any modifications to the weapon that could help facilitate this?

Also, I think we're trying not to stray too far from the mythos of the old west. If it's not something anyone ever really did, and it looks almost impossible, you might want to disallow it out of principle.

For all we know, it might be easier to go chop the tentacle off a star-spawn and attach that to his shoulder and use that as a new arm than it is to learn some magic trick with cartridges.

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

If Houdini spent ten years working on this trick, could he ever get it to where he could do it in combat?

Not unless he can have one hand in two places.

[Comedian]

Having just played with an 1873 replica last weekend, I can say that it's difficult to unload and then reload with even two hands. You could half cock and index the cylinder with your hand and then "rack" the ejector rod on your belt and then tuck the gun somewhere and begin loading in fresh shells. Again, not easy. Definitely not something I'm going to do in the middle of a gunfight.

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by Comedian

You could half cock and index the cylinder with your hand and then "rack" the ejector rod on your belt and then tuck the gun somewhere and begin loading in fresh shells.

Ejector rod is on the right side , in order to work it on your belt you would have to hold the pistol upside down in your right hand.

[Comedian]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

Ejector rod is on the right side , in order to work it on your belt you would have to hold the pistol upside down in your right hand.

I was thinking it wouldn't be difficult to twist your hand, but I suppose it would be awkward at the least. It's still a sound concept, just find another place (or make one) that doesn't require you to twist your wrist so much. If he were carrying in a strong side hip holster couldn't he use the outer edge of the holster?