Colt I frames.

Yes.

This was known as Colt's "Bank Vault Lockup".
If you just cock the hammer, the cylinder locking bolt should drop into the cylinder locking notch and lock the cylinder, but the cylinder will have some rotational movement.
When the trigger is pulled, the cylinder is forced into tight lockup with no cylinder movement at all.

This is for the old Colt action ONLY.
Later Colt's like the Mark III-King Cobra, S&W, Dan Wesson, Ruger etc. are deliberately designed to allow the cylinder to be slightly loose even with the trigger pulled.
This is so the bullet passing from the chamber to the barrel can force the cylinder into alignment with the barrel.

In these guns, when the trigger is pulled the cylinder may seem to lock tighter but that's only some spring pressure.
The action has enough backlash built in to allow the necessary cylinder movement.
With the hammer cocked, the cylinder is as tight as it's going to get. pulling the trigger tells you nothing.
 
Back
Top