The Loaded Cylinder and trouble

J

James K

Member In Memoriam
It is pretty well known that some troopers and others "back in the day" carried spare cylinders for their percussion revolvers, since reloading in the normal way took a lot of time, even with cartridges.

So some modern users of percussion revolvers have taken to carrying a loaded and capped cylinder for the same purpose. I strongly recommend against the practice. Unlike those fellows in blue and gray, no one today is being shot at, and if you are, I hope you have something a lot more modern than a percussion revolver.

But a loaded and capped cylinder is, effectively, a short barrel pistol. If it drops or receives a blow in such a way as to fire a cap, the ball can kill. So, guys, it is great to feel a kinship with the old timers, but we need to realize that to them an accident that COULD kill them was of far less concern than an enemy soldier who WOULD kill them if he could. They lived in constant danger in a dangerous time.

But if we have an accident and someone is injured or killed, not only is that a tragedy in itself, but it reflects badly on the hobby and can lead to more restrictions on the shooting sports.

Jim
 
It might hurt but I wouldn`t say it would kill ya , if ya crono a ball fired from a loaded cylinder only , its moveing at around 150 fps , from the lack of a barrel not much pressure from the burn . I wouldn`t want it too happen to me , like a chain fire it would scare the crap out of ya .
 
You may be right. I posted after being reminded of an incident some years back, and thought it wouldn't hurt to remind folks. In that incident, the ball buried itself pretty deeply in the man's calf, but did not break the bone. IMHO, that is just a bit more than a scare.

Do I hear anyone volunteering to help test this?

Jim
 
In the old days they'd remove the barrel and use the gun as a hideout. Pretty deadly over a card table.
 
Hawg Haggen said:
In the old days they'd remove the barrel and use the gun as a hideout. Pretty deadly over a card table.
Click to expand...

Have you ever tried that?
All my Colts, when I remove the barrel, the bolt stop will hold the cylinder but the hammer may not have a solid enough hit to strike the cap to fire the round, &/or cocking the weapon without the barrel "unless you have the weapon pointed up" may not rotate the cylinder sufficiently..
 
...my two cents...if you know part of your firearm can hurt you, and it can hurt you because it's loaded...and you knowingly loaded it because it might not kill, it might only harm...then this is not firearm safety
 
Do I hear anyone volunteering to help test this?
Click to expand...


Sounds like a job for Adam Savage on Mythbusters. He's always juggling something anyway, why not capped, loaded cylinders. After all, if they can't get a good explosion at first, they manage to create one before they're done, so who knows where this could go?
 
Size of charge

If you think about it the lighter the charge, to a point, the more dangerous it is. A full charge on the cylinder will not have the ball seated very far below the face of the cylinder. A light load will have that sucker pretty far down in there. Being farther in actually gives the ball a longer 'barrel' down which to accelerate.
 
I was always nder the impression that while extra loaded cylinders were carried, so were extra loaded guns.

Some where I read that Jessie james and his ilk would stuff their belts full of revolvers. Cossacks and Budyenny's Red Cavalry did the same with Nagant revolvers, they load as slow as cap and balls....

I hate when you guys even start threads about black powder, I have a set of Colt 1860 Army STAINLESS at the shop staring me in the face and I keep looking at flintlocks. If you guys influence me, my blood is on your hands as SWMBO will make sushi of my guts with an ulu if she finds me working a new hobby :)

WildshethinksreloadingisterroristAlaska TM
 
Raider your right ...the test fire I saw , the Colt used had the barrel removed and was in a pistol vise , they used a fuse stuck in the nipple to light off the cylinder to fire it through the crono , with the barrel off it probally wouldn`t have been a hard enough hammer hit to pop the cap .
I always load my cylinders out of my pistols ( Remmies ) I do so much shooting I would wear the loading rammer pins very fast if I didn`t use the cylinder loading stand . I always cap `em in the pistols , for fear of dropping one with by standers around , But when I`m alone boonedocking I cap the cylinders out of the pistols because it`s much faster .
 
Ya know, derringers, and for that matter, claymores, don't have much barrel either. (and yes, I DO realise the difference between BP and C-4)
 
I was out shooting a Remington 1858 (replica) using an R&D conversion cylinder. The R&D has six firing pins on the rear of the cylinder. On these, you take them out of the revolver, remove the back plate, remove the empties, reload, replace the back plate and return the cylinder to the revolver. While returning the cylinder to the revolver, my old stiff fingers fumbled, and dropped it. All I could think of was all those firing pins headed toward the ground. Luckly it hit on its side.
After that I don't see much difference between inserting a loaded and capped cylinder and a loaded R&D cylinder. I still cap after the cylinder is in the frame but I don't see the difference except the caps are less exposed than those firing pins.
 
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