Are all SA revolvers gate loaded?

[Proinsias]

I'm new to revolvers and only have experience with one SA revolver. It seems to me that most, if not all SA have a fixed cylinder and are gate loaded, while many DA revolvers have a flip out or top-break design. The main exception to the latter is the Nagant, although it might as well be SA due to the extremely high trigger pull.

Is my perception correct, or are there some examples of non-gate SA revolvers? Is there any reason for this, or is it just tradition? Are there any other fixed DA revolvers? Thanks.

 

[BCRider]

S&W model 3 top break load? Look at the European revolvers as well. There may well be some others.

 

[rcmodel]

The prime advantage of a SA revolver is simplicity, and a solid ridged frame with no cylinder crane cut, or moving parts.

Since there is no way to do that and not have a loading gate, thats the way they do it.

There have been SA target revolvers with a swing-out cylinder made.

S&W made the Model 14 Target Masterpiece in SA only for such use.

rc

 

[9mmepiphany]

the first one that comes to mind is the cowboy version of the High Standard Senteniel

 

[rcmodel]

But, it wasn't a SA.
It was a SA/DA the same as the Sentinel.

rc

 

[9mmepiphany]

oops...brain fart

i'm such a fool for appearences

 

[Virginian]

As already noted, the S&W Model 3 and the Russian were top break single action revolvers that competed with the Colt SAA head to head. I do not know why they were not more popular, but if the shooters of yesterday were anything like the ones today, I suspect the wimp loads it was available in had something to do with it. I remember eading how the chamberings came about, but it has been so long I forget it now. If they had bit the bullet and made it big enough to accept the 45 Colt, history might be different.

 

[Billy Shears]

As already noted, the S&W Model 3 and the Russian were top break single action revolvers that competed with the Colt SAA head to head. I do not know why they were not more popular, but if the shooters of yesterday were anything like the ones today, I suspect the wimp loads it was available in had something to do with it. I remember eading how the chamberings came about, but it has been so long I forget it now. If they had bit the bullet and made it big enough to accept the 45 Colt, history might be different.

No it wouldn't. The .45 Colt case back then had an almost non-existent rim. This didn't matter a bit in the Colt SAA, with it's ejector rod, but it meant that the extractor star of the S&W top breaks wouldn't catch it. This is also why no rifle maker back then made a long arm chambering the round. It wasn't until later that the rim got widened so the cartridge could work in modern, hand ejector revolvers, and even today, the .45 Colt case has a slightly smaller than normal rim, and the cartridge is more prone than others to slip under the extractor star. They couldn't widen the rim any more, or you'd be unable to load all the chambers on the old Colt SAAs, as the rims would overlap.

 

[Jim K]

There were plenty of DA revolvers that loaded through a gate or a port in the recoil shield. Examples of DA revolvers with loading gates are the Colt 1877, the Colt 1878, and the Merwin and Hulberts. There are a myriad of small DA revolvers with loading ports in the recoil shield.

Just FWIW, the .45 Colt is almost always considered the revolver round used by the Army in the West, but it was actually the Army service cartridge for only about a year. It was adopted, along with the Colt SAA, in 1873. But in 1874, the Army adopted the .45 Army cartrdge (it went by several names, including .45 S&W), and that was the only revolver round issued until the SAA was withdrawn from service. Even when the SAA was re-issued briefly in the Philippines, the shorter service round was issued with it, not the .45 Colt.

Jim

 

[Slamfire]

A Merwin and Hulbert , the cylinder stayed put, but the frame revolved around the cylinder to reload.

http://www.ocyoung.com/Merwin.htm

 

[Jim K]

Hi, SlamFire1,

You said, "A Merwin and Hulbert , the cylinder stayed put, but the frame revolved around the cylinder to reload."

Not quite. Unloading the M&H is done by unlatching the barrel/cylinder group, turning it to the right, and pulling forward, leaving the cartridges attached to the breech face by the rims. The empty cases then fall clear, but the bullets of the loaded rounds will still be held by the cylinder and will stay when the gun is closed back up, unless pulled out. Then the loading gate is pulled down (not swung out) and the empty chambers are reloaded. That way, the rims of the rounds go in behind the ring that retains them. You can't put fresh rounds in the chambers while the cylinder is forward, as the gun will not close.

Jim

 

[Coyote3855]

Can we expand the universe of SA revolvers to cap and ball, and conversions? I have a Pietta Remington New Army with a conversion cylinder that takes .45 Colt. To load, drop the loading lever, pull out the cylinder pin, remove cylinder, knock out empties, insert fresh cartridges, insert cylinder. No loading gate, although some original conversions and some replicas have been modified to allow use of a loading gate.