Make a revolver. I think Henry is planning on doing this sometime in the next few years anyway, but it's something I'd like to see them do. Don't just make an SAA clone, it won't compete with Colt, Uberti, and the Rugers on the market anyway. No, I think it's high time somebody made reproductions of the Merwin-Hulbert.
The Merwin-Hulbert design is very modular, barrels can be changed out easily, cylinders too. Offer two or three different frame sizes, make them in .22, .327, .357, .44, and .45, offer lots of barrel lengths with options of either the classic fixed front sight or removable front sights, and make them in SA, DAO, and DA/SA.
Did somebody say Merwin Hulbert? By the way, it is not Merwin-Hulbert, it is Merwin Hulbert. No dash.
Good luck with that. I can tell you from experience that the myth of the Merwin Hulbert has been exaggerated by Art Phelps in his book The Story of Merwin Hulbert & Co. Phelps wrote the definitive book, claiming the MH was the most advanced and precise revolver made in the 19th Century. Nobody else has written an in depth book about the MH, so everything Phelps wrote is taken as gospel.
First off, Phelps never mentions that you cannot load a MH with the cylinder open. It must be reloaded with the cylinder closed, through a loading gate, no different than a Colt.
Unloading is accomplished by pushing the latch under the frame backwards, rotating the barrel 90 degrees, then pulling the barrel and cylinder forward.
The cartridge rims are retained by a ring in the frame, and when you open the gun, the empties should all fall out. I can tell you, they don't always all fall out, some usually have to be flicked out.
But what Phelps never mentions is that is impossible to load the gun while it is open. The retaining ring in the frame prevents the rims from seating. So a MH MUST be reloaded one round at a time through a loading gate, not much different than a Colt SAA.
In contrast, a Smith and Wesson Top Break was much quicker to empty and reload than a Merwin. lift the latch, rotate the barrel down and the empties pop out. Then reload while the gun is open, snap it shut and you are ready to go.
As for the myth that the Merwins were the most precise revolver made in the 19th Century, also untrue. S&W could easily have tooled up and made a mechanism that worked similar to the MH if they had wanted to. It was not that difficult. However S&W had no need to because they held the patents that made a Top Break revolver possible. Merwin Hulbert had to come up with their unusual system because Smith's patents prevented them from making a Top Break revolver at the time.
Making a modern version of the Merwin Hulbert would not be as big a deal as some think. Modern 3D Cad and CNC milling techniques could easily make it possible. The problem with the start up that tried to produce a Merwin Hulbert replica a few years ago was they were underfunded. They ran out of money. The problems were not technical.
Don't get me wrong. Shooting a Merwin Hulberrt with Black Powder is great fun. But the myth about them exceeds what they really were.
And, once the drawbacks of the design became known, demand would go down.
