One-armed revolver reloads (High Tech?)

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

What year is the campaign set?

He said 1875.

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

You hit the release with your RIGHT hand.
Cylinders swing out to the LEFT.
You reload with your LEFT hand and keep the cylinder from spinning with your RIGHT. (fingers through the frame)

Well, sure. I do. I have two hands. And I'm right handed.

This fellow does not. And no longer is.

His is obviously going to be something custom made. What he'll have to do is get the cylinder swung out, then place it in a special holster on his belly or chest (one designed to keep the cylinder held open). Then he will pull out his cartridges and load the thing.

Now, imagine doing that with your left hand. Which way do you want the cylinder to swing out? To the left. Since you'll be going to the right with it when you holster it.

Had he been right handed, this would have required him having the cylinder put on backwards, so that it swung out to the right. But since he'll be doing it southpaw, then the standard modification (if we can pretend such a thing would exist) will do.

Swing out cylinders didn't show up till...1890 or so I think anyway.

From spending a couple minutes looking around on Google, I see the Daniel Moore Revolver, from 1860. The first pistol with a swing-out cylinder.

If our one-armed hero can find Mister Moore, he might be able to get his Colt converted.

I'm sure I've seen some more modern-looking swing-outs from the 1870s. I'm just not finding pictures right this second.

Edit:

There's this thing, but I can't imagine turning a Colt into it. I saw a picture of a swing-out converted Navy and Dragoon last year, but I'm not able to find them now.

Edit 2:

Found something!

Stephen Wood, working for Winchester, should be able to do what our one-armed hero needs (it's my understanding that he was already working on it in '75, though I don't know what month y'all are in--or if you're even in 1875 and not a world that only has that tech level; either way, the tech existed).

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ
From spending a couple minutes looking around on Google, I see the [URL="http://www.auctionarms.com/closed/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=9587675.0"

Daniel Moore Revolver[/URL], from 1860. The first pistol with a swing-out cylinder.

If our one-armed hero can find Mister Moore, he might be able to get his Colt converted.

THe Moore doesnt swing out like a modern revolver, it leans out just enough for you to remove that rod from under the barrel and poke the empties out with it.(!!!!)

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

THe Moore doesnt swing out like a modern revolver, it leans out just enough for you to remove that rod from under the barrel and poke the empties out with it.(!!!!)

Right. But... it is the 'first swing-out cylinder revolver.' And it's from 1860. There was a lot of development in the next fifteen years. It's just not easily found over ten seconds on the internet (since most of those weapons were European, and not very well documented here in the good ol' U S of A). Well before 1890, in any case. Popularity? Sure, around then. But it was established technology at that point.

If you look at that Winchester from '76, you'll see what I was remembering (and I thought I remembered them swinging out the wrong way--was tickling the back of my mind).

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

Well before 1890, in any case. Popularity? Sure, around then. But it was established technology at that point.

Reliable swing out cylinder, cylinder ejecting revolvers still aren't commercially available till 1890 or so in the U.S. It is at that point that the technology was mature enough to be commercially viable.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

Reliable swing out cylinder, cylinder ejecting revolvers still aren't commercially available till 1890 or so in the U.S. It is at that point that the technology was mature enough to be commercially viable.

Well, we're obviously not looking at anything commercial here. I'm just saying it's possible to achieve.

If Manco sends out enough letters explaining his predicament to enough manufacturers, he might get a couple of names. And they might be willing to try making the right adjustments on his Colt, if the price is right. I imagine he'll have to pay for a whole big case of Colt revolvers for them to experiment on. And he might have to pay for a whole factory. I imagine the easiest way to do this would be to buy a factory, already equipped with workers, and then to get hold of Mister Wood's papers (where he has the designs all sketched out), probably with an agreement that he won't be competed with and that the resulting devices will be for personal use only (probably on the condition that he has access to the results of the experimentation) and to then set the skilled factory workers on it. After they have five or six Colts successfully converted, Manco can mail out his Colt and have them do that one and mail it back. Or they could ship out the craftsman capable of doing the conversion.

At that point he'd just have to hope he could make his money back on the factory, either selling it again or turning a profit with it.

This is the industrial revolution we're talking about here. Things get done. He could push forward the technology by fifteen years here if he's able to do some smooth talking on that patent.

[Genesis]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

I imagine the easiest way to do this would be to buy a factory, already equipped with workers, and then to get hold of Mister Wood's papers ... and to then set the skilled factory workers on it.

Yeah... The character is Struggling, so that's not likely. In any event, the year is more-or-less 1875: the world is very much like our own, but the presence of eldritch horrors does change things a little bit. I'm of a mind to allow custom swing-out cylinders (at exorbitant cost - a whole point of Sig Gear for one pistol covers it, I think...), although I've arbitrarily decided against speedloaders.

Hey. I'm the GM. I get to make the rules!

Now I want to run an industrial revolution campaign where the PCs compete to exploit the most people for insane profit...

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Genesis

Yeah... The character is Struggling, so that's not likely.

Ah. Well, I figured they may have picked up some ancient relics off a Cthuloid or something.

Now I want to run an industrial revolution campaign where the PCs compete to exploit the most people for insane profit...

Rather than the other way around?

Well, you got your pistol, but it cost you $1.2 million dollars! Now you have Nyarlathotep and every banker east of the Mississippi after you.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by Sam Cade

The weapon MUST be placed in the LEFT hand, the loading gate is on the RIGHT side as is the ejector and must be worked with the RIGHT hand.

Respectfully, Sam, I've always done this with the Colt in my RIGHT hand. Your forearm can pronate, turning the weapon upside-down in front of your face. Now you can manipulate the gate with your left hand. (And though the ejector rod is on the right, the knob you push it with is on the left!)

So, with the weapon upside down in your right hand with the barrel pointing to your left, the gate is facing you and the ejector knob is away from you. You thumb open the gate, then wrap your left hand around the cylinder to index it. Your index finger is on the far side of the barrel, on the ejector knob, and you slide the knob as each cylinder is indexed. OTOH it is easy to do this just by keeoing the barrel pointed at the target in front of you, too.

I've never seen ANYONE swap the weapon to their left hand. Is that how the cowboy-action guys do it or something?

All of that being said- Wow, I agree, this guy needs to change to a Schofield. They were designed to be used one-handed, by cavalrymen while their other hand was occupied holding reins, etc. The latch that holds the break-action closed is also the rear sight, which protrudes up a bit. The gunman just slides the top of the weapon against his thigh to pop the latch open, then braces the barrel on his thigh and supinates his wrist to break the action open and eject the empty casings. You can then tuck it under your other arm or (in your belt or whatever) to reload. Admittedly, when doing this on a horse in motion it is easy to drop the weapon, and most would just drop the reins for a bit. There have to be YouTube videos of it somewhere...

[Sam Cade]

Originally Posted by acrosome

I've never seen ANYONE swap the weapon to their left hand. Is that how the cowboy-action guys do it or something?

Proper manual of arms is to hold it in your left hand...the same hand your are holding your reins in and do all fine manipulations with your right hand.

Odd. Ive never seen anyone do it any other way.

Muzzle up, butt-toward your chest, work the ejector (furiously) with your right hand.

Muzzle down once you have the chambers cleared. You then can use your smarter, faster right hand to handle the fine motor task of getting the cartridges into the chamber.




Which hand is your pistol in while you load it? It bet its the left :-)

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Wow, I agree, this guy needs to change to a Schofield. They were designed to be used one-handed, by cavalrymen while their other hand was occupied holding reins, etc.

Yeah. I know next to nothing about pistols, but it certainly sounds to me from what I hear on this thread that the Schofield is the simple, cheap, direct, effective solution to the character's problem, and that the Colt-based solutions are complicated, expensive, roundabout, and problematic. Using the Schofield seems like what a one-armed gunfighter would do. If the character is sticking fast to his Colt in spite of the difficulty, cost, trouble, and ineffectiveness there must be a story behind that, and I'd love to hear what it is.


The S&W Schofield is basically the same as the S&W Number 3 on p.95 of High Tech, right? The version re-chambered in .45 S&W? That has a surprisingly low damage. Perhaps the player might like it better in the original .44 Russian. It also came in .44 Henry and .44-40 Winchester, I understand. What would it be like in those loadings?

If the character is going to have spent a lot of money (etc.) getting a pistol made or modified, might he not consider getting one made with a break-open like the Schofield, but in .45 Long Colt? Would that be easier and cheaper than having a Colt Single Action Army modified to have a swing-out cylinder? It certainly sounds more effective, because it sounds to me as though a man with one hand is going to find it slow, difficult, and awkward to reload a swing-out revolver.