How many ways are there?

Well, you can knock out the wedge and pull,

Remove the axis pin and pull (or unscrew), as in a Single Action Army,

Pull down to flip up a tip-up,

Pull up to flip down a top-break,

Pull the rod,

Pull back,

Push forward,

Push forward AND pull up,

Push in,

Push down,

And of course, push forward AND down,

Then ya got sum weird ones like pull down the lever such as in the Galand and Sommerville,

And twist-the-barrel like the Thomas.

On a Mauser Zig-Zag, you pull the ring and flip up,

And then theres the Mateba with its swing UP cylinder......

Korth hammer-side.

Todd.

Lever break-top.

Todd.

Full-pull & full-drop.

Todd.

Don't forget the Merwin-Hulbert. Slide button (in front of trigger guard) sideways, twist front of frame and barrel, and pull.

Or the SA actions where one just flips down a gate.

French 1892 "Lebel", open the loading gate and the cylinder swings out to the right.
I think there are other European revolvers with similar action.

There is a minor make US revolver whose cylinder swings out to the right on an axis perpendicular to the barrel. I wish I had kept a copy of the picture the last time I tracked it down.

The rare Colt pattern top break.

Rare indeed, most likely one of a kind

whughett said:

Rare indeed, most likely one of a kind

Click to expand...

Nah... My stoopid-uncle used to custom build that exact revolver before he discovered Ruger Blackhawks.

Todd.

ApacheCoTodd said:

Nah... My stoopid-uncle used to custom build that exact revolver before he discovered Ruger Blackhawks.

Todd.

Click to expand...

Ruger makes 'em too!

.38 Special said:

View attachment 901223

Ruger makes 'em too!

Click to expand...

DAMN!
Even my; "It's not a load unless it's a compressed-load" Uncle hash't done that.... as far as he's letting on.

Todd.

Oh lord, thank you for THR, relief from an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon in the spring doldrums of tv.
Stoopid Uncle LOL. I’ve outlived all of mine.

whughett said:

Oh lord, thank you for THR, relief from an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon in the spring doldrums of tv.
Stoopid Uncle LOL. I’ve outlived all of mine.

Click to expand...

And mine lives on, despite his ballistic shenanigans.

Still has all his fingers and both eyes too.
He's the type gives manufacturer's warranty departments fits and lost sleep.

See's a Redhawk as more than a firearm. "Dam-blit!.... It's a CHALLENGE!" Says he.
Only guy I know with a cheater-bar on his reloading press.
Todd.

He must have been who I got my .357 mag. 125 HP data from back in the 80's.....Compressed loads of Blue Dot.

bihj said:

Don't forget the Merwin-Hulbert. Slide button (in front of trigger guard) sideways, twist front of frame and barrel, and pull.

Click to expand...

Not quite. To open a Merwin Hulbert first you put it on half cock. Then you push the button under the frame back, not sideways.







Then you rotate the barrel and pull it straight forward to eject the empties. Yes, these are loaded cartridges, but you get the idea. Ideally, if there are some unfired cartridges in the cylinder, they will remain in place while the empties will fall clear. In actual practice it does not always work so well.










To pull the barrel and cylinder off the frame you push in the lever on the side of the barrel and pull them straight forward. But you better be holding the cylinder together with the barrel, or the cylinder is likely to fall to the floor.









But what most people don't realize is you cannot reload a Merwin Hulbert while the cylinder is open. Cannot be done. To reload you have to close up the gun, and reload one chamber at a time through the side loading gate, not much different than a Colt. Except with a Colt you load one, skip one, and load four more. Because of the position of the loading gate on a Merwin Hulbert you have to load two, skip one, then load three more.






Unlike most other Smith and Wesson Top Breaks, with the Schofield model you pull the serpentine, frame mounted latch back, not up.










While I'm nit picking, these guys are called Tip Ups, not bottom breaks. You pull up the latch at the bottom of the barrel, and rotate the barrel up, just like with a Remington double derringer. Hence the name Tip Up.

Howdy Again

Did anybody mention the Remington New Model Army? Often called the 1858 Remington.

This one actually has a six shot cartridge conversion cylinder. Some of these conversions can be loaded through a side gate.






With this particular type of conversion cylinder you have to remove the cylinder to load it. You pull the loading ram down, pull the cylinder pin forward, then remove the cylinder. To empty or reload you remove the cap at the rear of the cylinder.