closing cylinder properly

Bones741 said:

Wait!Your not supposed to flick it closed with your wrist than give it a finger twirl?!

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I believe twirling it on your finger would counteract the negative effects of closing the cylinder by flicking your wrist.

On a less serious note: What's the difference between a crane and yolk? I guess I'm not very familiar will s&w. The name would imply the yolk holds the cylinder front and back?

This advice has always served me well

The yolk feeds the developing chick.

Sorry. Seriously, the yoke and the crane both serve the same purpose. It's just a nomenclature thing.

stonebuster said:

I'm rather anal about taking care of my guns. I know better than to slam the cylinder shut and always used my thumb on the cylinder to close it. I have seen a few videos where they say it's better to close the cylinder by pushing on the crane to snap it closed. Is there really any difference as long as you don't use excessive force? Pretty nit picky but I was curious.

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Sounds to me like made-up advice, about something that makes no difference.

When I hurriedly reload a revolver, the cylinder is next to the ball of my thumb, so I simply press cylinder and frame toward one another and presto, gun is closed again. If there were a problem with that, it would have become evident at some point after people began doing it, which was some time in the century before last.

Assuming one is right handed, the revolver is held in the left hand, thumb and middle finger grasping the cylinder, as its close the two orientate the empty chamber mouth under the hammer as the cylinder is latched. This of course for target shooter loading five only, in my case I've been doing it so long that its habit even with the rare occasion of loading six.

A yoke is on a Colt and a crane is on a S&W, same part, same function. And while I'm at it, NO you don't need to close a Colt any differently than a S&W.

I've always lined up a cylinder with the barrel and then gently closed it.

I just reload the cylinder, and push it closed without holding the latch down.

Only makes sense to me if we're talkin bout a Dan Wesson or Taurus Raging Whatever that has a crane locking mechanism.

Bert W. said:

You guys have to admit the wrist flick is cool on TV though.

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Have to disagree on that one Bert. When I see that done the very first thing I think is the person doing it is an idiot. Particularly if they are portraying a cop. Nothing cool about being un-professional.

Dave

rdstrain49 said:

A yoke is on a Colt and a crane is on a S&W, same part, same function. And while I'm at it, NO you don't need to close a Colt any differently than a S&W.

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Nope, you got it backwards. S&W calls it a yoke, Colt calls it a crane.

S&W has their own names for other parts too.

The holes in the cylinder where the ammunition goes, most companies call them chambers. S&W calls them charge holes.

The part that pops up to lock the cylinder in place, most call it the bolt S&W calls it the cylinder stop.

The part that everybody else calls the firing pin, S&W calls the hammer nose.

Yep, senior moment, guess the yokes on me.

OK Dave T, I'll put sarcasm in parentheses. I retired with 30 years in law enforcement. I never close a revolver that way. I don't get to worked up about TV cops.

I've seen the flicking of the wrist cylinder closing a lot since I started shooting. The last time was at a pawn shop in Southern Ohio where a guy was looking at an S&W 66 in decent shape. When he did it, the owner of the pawn shop yelled at him, "Hey! You don't close a revolver like that!". The guy stood there and blinked and then said, "That's how I've always closed them!". The owner looked at him like he stank, and then asks me, "How do you close up a revolver?". I just said, "not like he did!". The owner watched that guy from that point on like my dog used to watch Possums coming into the yard before she killed them. After he left, I said, "He watched too many people do it on TV!". I think there was a show where it was shown in the opening sequence. I thought it was Mannix, but I looked on youtube and didn't see it.