Have a .45 Colt Schofield, and it's a ball to shoot; I use mild Trailboss loads. It's Uberti, and beautifully made.
Like the OP, really like break tops, and snagged a 188-something S&W (sorry, not at home at the moment to know the exact year, in .38 S&W. It is mint, excepting one spot of peeling nickel, and I'm not sure if it has been fired since the factory...no marks on the recoil shield, no flash markings on the cylinder face or at the forcing cone. Have a handful of .38 S&W cartridges of indeterminate vintage, and the thing has a hernia inducing trigger pull.
In any case, understand the desire to shoot such things, but the Schofield scratches that itch.
A previous poster suggested he'd like a .357 Mag Schofield; have my doubts the top break action would tolerate that kind of pressure, even with modern steel.
Did have a North American Arms top break in .22 mag, but had trouble with the top latch.
Moon
Howdy Again
I often see requests for a 357 Magnum Top Break. Trust me on this, the current replicas of the Schofield made by Uberti absolutely could not take the pressure and pounding of the 357 Magnum Cartridge. If they could, Uberti would have done so already, as they did with replicas of the Colt Single Action Army which are chambered for 357 Magnum.
Perhaps a refresher course is in order about Smith and Wesson Top Break Revolvers.
Starting in 1856, Smith and Wesson entered into a licensing agreement with Rollin White, who owned the patent for revolvers with cylinders bored through to accept metallic cartridges. It is commonly believed that S&W owned the patent, but that is incorrect. Daniel Wesson offered to buy the patent rights from White, but he would not sell. Instead a licensing agreement was worked out where S&W would be the sole licensee allowed to build revolvers that could be loaded with metallic cartridges. White would be paid a royalty of 25 cents on every revolver made. White would also be responsible for policing the patent to prevent patent infringements. S&W began manufacturing revolvers under this licensing agreement in 1857. Form top to bottom in this photo is the #2 Old Army, #1 1/2 Old Model, and #1. The top two were chambered for 32 Rimfire, the bottom one was chambered for what we would call today 22 Short. Interestingly enough, the order of manufacture was #1, #2, #1 1/2.
These revolvers were called Tip Up revolvers. In order to load them a latch at the bottom of the frame would be released and the barrel rotated up. The cylinder was then popped off the revolver, loaded with cartridges, popped back into the frame and the barrel lowered and latched into place. The rod under the barrel was used for poking empty brass out of the cylinder when reloading. It was a very simple, but effective system. S&W experimented with a 44 caliber Tip Up, but decided the design was not strong enough for a 44 caliber cartridge. These were the only cartridge revolvers that could be legally manufactured in the US, which must have irked Colt and Remington and all the other manufacturers no end. The big 44 caliber Cap & Ball revolvers of the day were more powerful, but because of the White Patent, S&W was the only revolver manufacturer that could legally make cartridge revolvers during the Civil War. The #2 Old Army pictured was popular with Union Army officers who purchased them with their own money. Not as powerful as a 44 C&B, but much faster to reload.
The White patent expired in 1869. Daniel Wesson believed all the other revolver manufacturers would have their own cartridge revolver designs ready for the market. So he came up with a revolutionary new type of revolver.
These were the Top Breaks.
There were five basic models built on the large, #3 sized frame. They were all slightly different, as can be seen in these photos, but they were all approximately the same size.
The first was the American Model. Manufactured from about 1870 until 1874. The American Model fired a 44 caliber cartridge that used a heeled bullet. The rear of the bullet was the same diameter as the
inside of the cartridge case. The business end of the bullet was the same diameter as the
outside of the cartridge case, just like a modern 22 Rimfire. The Army bought 1000 of these making them the first cartridge revolvers the Army bought. This is not an actual American Model, it is a 1st Model Russian. Identical to the American Model, but chambered for the 44 Russian cartridge instead.
Interestingly enough, although Colt made a number of cartridge conversion revolvers after the White Patent expired, they did not come out with the iconic Single Action Army until 1873, and Remington did not introduce their cartridge revolver until 1875.
Rather than rotating the barrel up, as with the Tip Ups, the barrel of a Top Break was unlatched and rotated down. An extractor would automatically rise up as the barrel was lowered, to eject spent cartridges.
Smith and Wesson entered into a lucrative contract with the Russian government, eventually producing over 150,000 Russian Models for Russia, as well as Turkey and Japan. The Russians specified several design changes. The cartridge would use a bullet the same diameter as the
inside of the cartridge case. This meant grease grooves on the bullet could be placed inside the cartridge, reducing the possibility for the soft bullet lube to pick up dirt or other contamination. This resulted in a bullet of .429 diameter, which is the same as the later 44 Special and 44 Magnum cartridges. The Russians specified the large hump on the grip, believing it would reduce the tendency of the revolver to rotate in the hand in recoil. And the Russians specified the spur on the trigger guard. This is a 2nd Model Russian. I can speak with some authority how the large hump prevents the grip from rotating in the hand during recoil, but it also makes it much more awkward to reach the hammer spur with the thumb to cock the hammer.
Not wanting to be left out of lucrative Army contracts, S&W produced the Schofield model in 1875. The distinctive latch on the frame was developed by Col. George Schofield as an improvement of the American model. This latch allowed a mounted trooper to open the revolver with one hand, sweep the barrel against his leg to open it, reload and close the revolver, all the time controlling his horse with the other hand. Schofield patented his latch design, and S&W had to pay him a royalty for every revolver made. Sorry, I do not know how much. Daniel Wesson set his designers to work to come up with a latch design that got around Schofield's patent, but this model was only made from 1875 until 1877 and an alternative latch never materialized. S&W had been making revolvers with cylinders 1 7/16" long since 1869, and was in the middle of the lucrative Russian contracts. The Colt revolver fired the 45 Colt cartridge, which would not fit into a 1 7/16" long cylinder. Rather than retool for a longer cylinder and frame, S&W persuaded the Army to accept a shorter 45 caliber cartridge that would fit into a 1 7/16" long cylinder. The resulting cartridge became popularly known as the 45 Schofield cartridge. Yes, there are meany theories about the wrong cartridges being sent to the wrong revolvers, I am not going to go into that here.
This is a 1st Model Schofield, it shipped in 1875.
The best of the large S&W Top Breaks was the New Model Number Three. Cataloged from 1878 until 1908, it was available in a total of 17 different chamberings, although 44 Russian was the most common. There were two versions available with 1 9/16" long cylinders that could chamber the 44-40 and 38-40 cartridges. No S&W Top Break was ever chambered for 45 Colt.
The only double action revolver S&W built on the large #3 sized frame was the 44 Double Action. Typically chambered for 44 Russian, but there were two models with longer cylinders chambered for 44-40 and 38-40.
I also wonder why someone like Uberti would not make a copy of the Baby Russian or similar. I understand that it would be very popular in Cowboy Action.
Not really. Cowboy Action rules dictate that all Main Match revolvers have a large frame, like a Colt Single Action Army, or any or the replicas. The four single action Top Break models pictured above are also legal for CAS competition.
The only use of a smaller 'pocket pistol' such as a Baby Russian in CAS is in pocket pistol side matches. These are side matches that only happen at the larger CAS matches, which means they do not happen very often. So there is no demand from the Cowboy Action community for a modern replica of a Top Break S&W Pocket Pistol such as the 38 Single Action 1st Model (Baby Russian) or 38 Single Action 2nd Model, pictured below.
I did use a 38 Double Action Perfected Model at a Pocket Pistol side match a bunch of years ago.
Some other S&W Top Break Pocket Pistols that would be legal at a Pocket Pistol side match;
38 Single Action 3rd Model.
32 Single Action 1st Model.
Of course, since Pocket Pistol matches are based on time, as are all CAS matches, double action revolvers would fare better.
Such as this 32 Safety Hammerless.
Or 32 Bicycle Revolver.
Or 38 Safety Hammerless.
Or a 38 Double Action or 32 Double Action.
