Q: Exchangable Cylinders as magazines?

P

PaladinX13

New member
Forgive my ignorance but as I understand it, one of the major advantages of an auto over a revolver is the speed and ease of reload... is it possible to make a revolver where the main cylinder is rapidly exchangable (ala auto magazine)? Possibly cheap and "disposable" polymer? If not, please explain.
 
Polymer or similar,,,,,,no. Revolver cylinder contains the firing chambers for the rounds. Subjected to great shock, pressure and heat.

Switchable cylinders easy but not cheap. Revolver is a rather refined instrument, the spare cylinders would require a fair amount of individual gunsmithing to insure that they functioned properly in an individual gun.

Point is moot tho, good wheelgun shooter can reload bout as fast as most autoloader shooters. Faster if using moon clips.

Sam
 
Moon clips or speed loaders step-wise there's more to do than an auto magazine... but I guess the difference is negligible.

Speaking of curio guns and their engineering... would a revolver shooting from the bottom chamber have any significant disadvantages over a normal setup? I imagine it would help somewhat with the kick-up. This is Mateba aside (as it's easy for a thread to go off topic discussing this piece of curio)! ;)
 
Last time that was tried (semi-successfully) was on the early civil war Remington revolvers. In that case it didn't work very well-the moveable cylinder pin tended to back out of place.
 
Ya know, even though it was a movie I remember Clint Eastwood in one of those cowboy movies changing out the cylinders in a gunfight. It had the chingis on the front below the barrel that folded down and that released the cylinder. Anyone else see that? :confused:
 
Spare, fitted, cylinders been around for a long time. Pricy. Pretty quick reload on tip up or tip down revolver. Little slower on a swing out revolver. Reloadin with speedloader is quick, with moon clips quicker by a hair.

Drop the fired cylinder and you are out some bucks.

Sam
 
Clint was using a cap and ball revolver in the scene where he swapped out cylinders.

I guess it would really have to suck reloadin a cap and ball revolver in the middle of a gunfight...
 
A while back there was a thread on a Colt sky marshal gun that had pre-loaded cylinders that would not accept conventional ammo. Reloading was accomplished by snapping out the cylinder and replacing it. There was no ejector or ejector rod, and the cylinders could be reloaded only at the factory or a special facility.

The idea is probably feasible for conventional ammo, but would be pretty costly; unlike a magazine, a revolver cylinder is a fairly complex piece of metal.

Jim
 
The movie was pale rider. FWIH, it was a cap and ball converted to percussion revolver. Believe it was a remington, but I've heard others say colt. Been too long since I've seen it to give my opinion.
 
Tangential to the orig. question. I think in the CE movie it was a Remington. Colt's you've got to knock out the barrel wedge, pull the barrel forward, take up the fired cylinder, put a new one on the arbor, barrel back on, wedge back in etc. Probably the closest workable alternative to the question might have been some of the old british break top revolvers which had what amounted to a proto moon clip. Changable cylinders, as noted, are too expensive to machine, drop as empties etc.
Could be some way to do this is with the newer ceramics. But by the time that happens-will the rev. be as obsolete as the percussion Rem's and Colts?
 
Point is moot tho, good wheelgun shooter can reload bout as fast as most autoloader shooters. Faster if using moon clips.

BS

The average revolver shooters I have seen can reload with speed loader in about 3 seconds. the average shooter with an auto can do it in 1.5 seconds. Mood clips a bit quicker than speed loaders and hence most people can reload them in about 2.5 seconds.
PAT
 
I have to agree with Pat, sorta

He's got the concept right, but I would contend that those times are for better than average shooters. Remember friends, Jerry Miculek is not average.:)
 
Well, the interchangeable cylinder idea was quite common in the old percussion revolvers. However it does require that each cylinder be fitted to a particular gun. They aren't interchangeable between different guns (the combination of hand and cylinder ratchet points is what sets the timing in a revolver). I believe in early times that SAA's may have been available this way as well. I have seen period cavalry setups that did include pouches for spare cylinders.
 
About the issue of cost...

While magazines are less expensive than exchangable cylinders, I'm not throwing them away after each use at the range... the only time they'd become "throwaway" is in a life or death situation in which case the money should be the farthest thing from your mind. Cost, in that sense, shouldn't be an issue... though manufacturer cost would certainly seem significant. From a "tactical" sense, then, what matters is reload times for which I'm getting conflicting input.

If they're equal for average users then it's interesting from a curio/design standpoint, if they're not, then can a reliable/robust exchangable cylinder mechanism be designed that's just as fast (if not more) than auto magazines? I've seen that Clint movie and that mechanism doesn't seem much faster than a moon clip.

[Disclaimer: In no way is this meant to be an auto vs wheelgun debate... just speculation around design.]
 
As posted above, moonclips & speedloarders are the way to go when you're armed with revolvers. They're lighter and less bulky than a spare cylinder (even if it was polymer & titanium lined).

BTW, changing cylinders wasn't really done by the calvary in the Civil War. Try changing a cylinder on a galloping horse and you'll see why. I've never read any accounts of it but know that Mosby's men carried 2-4 revolvers. Their willingness to close in with (multipe) revolvers made them very effective over Billy Yank.
 
Gary,

Quite correct on trying to swap cylinders on a galloping horse. Not practical and multiple revolvers were the norm. But I have seen saddles with both saddle holsters AND cylinder pouches. I assume for recharging pistols when one had a chance.
 
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