DA Break top revolvers?

K

Kimio

New member
I know Taylor & Company make some re-production/replica break top revolvers such as the New Model 3 and the Schofield.

I'm not as savy with revolvers as I am with rifles, so I'm curious to if there is a DA revolver with the break top feature that is still around and available to purchase.

I think the Webley was the only one in more recent times and the MP412 chambered in .357 magnum (Manufactured in Russia and failed due to lack of demand)

Not sure what it is, but I've always had an interest in these types of revolvers, despite their inherent weaknesses.
 
H&R made some top break .22's back in the day, they're pretty easy to find and relatively inexpensive. An original smith and wesson in .32 or .38 smith and wesson is pretty easy to find for under a thousand bucks.
 
I don't have any experience on any of them, but shopping around on gunbroker and such It's pretty easy to find a lemon squeezed in the 4-6 hundred dollar range, they were made as late as the late 1940's I believe. 4th models are harder to find and usually significantly older, but they don't cost a lot either and are da/sa
 
H&R was probably the last maker of a top-break, DA revolver of decent quality. The Model 925 "Defender" in .38 S&W was made into the 1970's and the Model 999 "Sportsman" .22LR was made into the 1980's or early 1990's.

There are actually a few good reasons why you don't see top-breaks beyond old west styled reproductions anymore. The foremost among these is that the design is inherently weaker and thus not suited to modern high-pressure cartridges. Even the Webley Mk. VI, which is probably one of the strongest top-breaks ever manufactured, can be shot loose rather quickly if fired with standard pressure .45 ACP ammunition in a so-converted gun. Realistically, a top-break is best suited to pressures under 20,000 psi thus relegating them to use with cartridges like .38 Special and .45 Long Colt in standard-pressure loadings.

Secondly, the mechanism of a top-break revolver limits the length of cartridge that can be fully extracted. While this wasn't a problem with older, shorter revolver cartridges like .32 S&W, .38 S&W, or .44 Russian, revolver cartridges have gotten progressively longer over the years thereby making them less suitable for top-break actions. A solid-frame, swing-out cylinder gun, on the other hand, is limited only by the length of its ejector rod which can be as long as the barrel allows. Likewise, even a gun with a short ejector rod can fully extract long cartridges with a sharp rap to the rod while a top-break doesn't allow the user to deliver as much force to the extractor.

Finally, a top-break is simply more complicated and thus more expensive to produce. This is why the Italian top-break reproductions often cost 2-3 times as much as a solid-frame reproduction from the same maker. Such has always been the case and is probably the largest contributing factor to the top-breaks limited popularity among military and police users.
 
A lot of companies made top breaks in the olden days, but IMHO Webleymkv said it all about the possibility of a modern topbreak. Not going to happen.

Jim
 
I know about that gun but didn't mention it because it appears to have been more of an experimental gun than a production gun and its sales outside the USSR were very limited, though how much that was due to cold-war politics and how much due to the gun itself I can't determine.

The top lock does not appear to be very large or sturdy, and I have not seen any picture of it that indicates how the extractor worked, though it might have used a manual type extraction like some top break revolvers made in this country. That eliminates the problem with extraction of long cases, but adds a manual step to reloading, and negates one major advantage of the top break revolver.

Jim
 
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The S&W DA Perfected is as close to Nirvana as there is: modern, almost J frame lockwork, quick old fashioned break top. I have two, and have so much fun with them that will buy any other that comes my way.

 
I don't think that is a "perfected" model, those had both a top latch, and a slide forward release, on the left side of the frame, like those found on more modern S&W revolvers.
 
Some Perfecteds (apparently made around 1917) came without the side latch. A lot of them came to Venezuela- all six inchers, which are already a bit rare.
Click to expand...

that explains a lot... I bought a "mint" set of Mother of Pearl grips with S&W medallions that came out of Venezuela, for one on my guns...

Top Breaks are fun, can still be shot effectively ( I used a custom snubbie S&W #2 in 38 S&W, to re-qualify for my last CCW ) ( bottom gun on the right, in the 3rd pic )

these are 22's & 32's...



these are 38's, 44's, & 45's



& a couple top break 32, & 38 single actions here...



BTW... my favorites are the lil S&W #1.5's in 32 S&W's
 
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