Odd question / thought - Loading a Single Action 2rds at a time?

D

drobs

New member
I picked up a Colt New Frontier a few months back and was shooting it while home on vacation last month. I know the loading process for carry - load 1, skip 1, load 4.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever modified the recoil shield of their single action revolver so they could load 2 rounds at a time? Seems like there is enough room in there.

Random pic borrowed from the web:
19-2.jpg
 
Probably wouldn't work for 45 but seems like enough room for 357 and smaller diameter rounds.

Take some metal off at the top of the recoil shield.
Install a custom longer loading gate.

Might have to look into butchering a Heritage Rough Rider.

MS Paint:
25041123625_349ecee41a_b.jpg
 
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What I do for some of my antiques is to lower the hammer so that the firing pin is between cartridge rims. This way I can load the gun full. I can deal with loading one bullet at a time as I am a firm believer in the New York Reload.
 
Well,
You need a loading gate on the other side so you can load one cart. each side at a time and move the cylinder only three times for a fully loaded S.A.
Would be a great conversation starter!!

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com
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I guess my question would be "why?"? I have a number of SAA in 357 as well as a 45 Colt. Holding the revolver in the left hand and cartridges in my right, I can load plenty fast as they drop in. Holding the revolver in my left hand, I'm able to rotate the cylinder with thumb and finger of the same hand and just drop 'em in. It just takes practice.


On the reverse operation - getting the spent casings out - on my 45 Colt, my chambers are so generous that I rarely have to use the ejector. On my 357 SAAs - I do have to use the ejector at times. I would imagine that the main reason that a single cartridge loading gate was designed and used is due to the ejector and having to line up in order to eject. If your loading gate/recoil shield cut out allowed for loading two at a time, you'd still have to center the chamber and line it up with the ejector as you aren't going to be ejecting two casings at once.
 
With a mill, it can be done. However, you'd have to mill and then file a new loading gate. I've made one loading gate out of aluminium to replace a polymer on an import that broke. It took over ten hours and wasn't fun. If you're faster with a file, have at it.
 
Hi, Hartcreek,

Some of the old timers did carry six rounds with the firing pin down between rounds. It works OK with caliber but .45, where the rims are so close together than the cylinder can still turn easily and leave the firing pin resting on a primer. It may also have worked better with the old pointed firing pins rather than the newer rounded ones.

They also used the safety notch, and just let the hammer down on a primer. A lot of the modern stuff, like the $20 bill in a chamber, was made up by Colt's PR people to avoid government action that would have required a transfer bar or hammer block. (Ruger did not change their system because they wanted to; they were under a lawsuit settlement order that would have destroyed the company had they not done so.)

Jim
 
What I do for some of my antiques is to lower the hammer so that the firing pin is between cartridge rims.
Click to expand...

That's the way I was taught to do it when I was young and still do. I don't have a .45 Colt tho so don't know if the modern rims are too big to do that with or not. I never gave it any thought back then.
 
While I see that working out fine, would that put a bit of strain on the cylinder stop, though, because it's pushing against the cylinder instead of resting in the hole? Then again, probably doesn't matter.
 
Howdy

With any revolver, you pretty much have to line the cartridges up straight with the chambers for them to drop in, or extract. With a 45 Colt SAA, there simply is not enough room to open up the loading gate enough to allow cartridges to slip into two chambers at once, without cutting pretty seriously into the frame. Have one in hand right now, just not enough room. Maybe with a smaller caliber, but not with a 45.

Besides, who in heck would want to do that? Not me. Simple enough to hold the gun in the left hand, rotating the cylinder with the thumb and forefinger, and pop cartridges in one at a time.

Regarding not using the ejector rod; I wish I had a dollar for every time I have stood at the unloading table at a CAS match while somebody is banging the butt of their gun on the table to try and shake empties out. I usually ask them what they think that thing under the barrel is for.

Absolutely not enough room between 45 Caliber rims for the firing pin of a Modern Colt to sit between rims. Tried it a while ago to see. Oh, the firing pin will drop down between the rims, but it is barely protruding beyond the case head, and it is easy to rotate the cylinder so the pin rides up the bevel of the rims. Then the pin will be resting wherever the cylinder stopped rotating. Even worse with 45 Schofield rims. I'm sure you can do it with a 357, but not with a 45, 44-40, or 38-40.

clearancebetweenrimsandfiringpin_zpsd93bba81.jpg


No, it won't hurt anything for the bolt to be resting against the cylinder, the split trigger/bolt spring will just be trying to push the bolt up, but it won't hurt anything. Of course in doing so you have violated the rule about always bringing the hammer to full cock before lowering it. If you lower the hammer from half cock, which you would have to do if you lower the firing pin between rims, the bolt will be pressing against the cylinder, and any subsequent rotation of the cylinder will help create a line around the cylinder.
 
My 44-40 will ride the firing pin over the case heads but it's not overly easy. Not something that is likely to happen in a day to day situation and thanks to that little experiment I now have the tiniest hint of a drag line on that part of my 2000 built 44-40 cylinder.
 
There were some percussion and conversion revolvers with 12 bolt notches in the cylinder. You could have the hammer in quarter cock/safety with the cylinder locked between chambers so if the hammer was forced, it would not come down on a live round.

It would look kind of odd to the modern shooter, but it would be safe fully loaded with traditional lockwork.
 
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