Cylinder moves when you (squeeze/release) the trigger

[BBroadside]

I was a little surprised to find that the cylinder on my new Smith & Wesson turns when you squeeze the trigger. Seems I'm an old hat at reading about revolvers, but a total neophyte when it comes to using them.

Was there some revolver I heard about where squeezing the trigger raises the hammer, depresses a spring, and drops the hammer, and that releasing the trigger is what rotates the cylinder? I.e., so you know the next cartridge you'll fire is in the top position and you don't have to remember if you have a clockwise or counter-clockwise weapon....

This may be some fictitious thing or a really old design, I don't remember.

Another thing: what's the company who uses the really unusual spin direction? Seems like either Colt or Ruger or someone uses one direction when everybody else uses the other.

 

[Guillermo]

your gun is normal.

and it is also true that Smiths cylinders rotate the wrong way

here is an interactive link to the way a revolver works

http://www.rattlesnakeridge.org/flash/SW357Mag1.swf

 

[dfariswheel]

Colt cylinders rotate clockwise, most other revolvers rotate counter-clockwise.

I don't think there was ever a revolver that rotated the cylinder when the trigger was released.
That would require an extremely powerful trigger return spring to power the cylinder rotation mechanism.

The reason revolver cylinders rotate when the trigger is pulled, is because cylinder rotation is powered by your trigger finger. If the cylinder is sticky, you can simply pull harder to get it to rotate.
A spring powered rotation would fail to operate if the gun was dirty or fouled.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Colt cylinders rotate clockwise

Even Colt succumbed and made their cylinders turn backwards with the Mk III line.

 

[Guillermo]

Even Colt succumbed and made their cylinders turn backwards with the Mk III line.

Colt really messed up at times...especially at the end

as Dan Wesson advertises

The unique clockwise rotating cylinder turns into the frame reducing stress on the crane. Keeping the alignment tight extends the service life of the revolver and as a bonus preserves accuracy longer than other designs as well.

 

[BBroadside]

A spring powered rotation would fail to operate if the gun was dirty or fouled.

I hadn't thought of that. I bet I read some vivid science-fiction story where releasing the trigger advanced the cylinder ... probably the same where the author had made up a revolver with a disposable ceramic cylinder. I don't remember the rest of the story though.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Your revolver operation is normal. Any double-action will rotate the cylinder to the next cartridge as you pull the trigger.

Was there some revolver I heard about where squeezing the trigger raises the hammer, depresses a spring, and drops the hammer, and that releasing the trigger is what rotates the cylinder?

I know of no revolver that works like this, and it may even be mechanically impossible. A revolver does not fire the cartridge that is under the hammer, it fires the next one in the rotation (in whichever direction). The only reason some revolvers (e.g., pre-WWII S&Ws, "old model" Ruger single-actions) are not recommended to carry a cartridge under the hammer is in case the gun is dropped and lands on the hammer.

 

[RugRev]

Yup, Dan Wessons rotate clockwise like the old Colts. Only thing I can think of
is a semi-automatic revolver which the firing rotates the cylinder and recocks
the gun such as the old Webley-Fosbury or the Rhino.

 

[JohnBT]

"it is also true that Smiths cylinders rotate the wrong way "

The break-top Smiths I've had from pre-1900 turned the right way.

 

[dfariswheel]

Even Colt succumbed and made their cylinders turn backward with the Mk III line.

No they didn't. The Mark III and later Colt's rotated clockwise, just like every Colt revolver made since the late 1890's.

The old Colt New Army & Navy models rotated counter-clockwise but they went to clockwise in the 1890's and never changed.

 

[oldfool]

Colt really messed up at times...especially at the end

as Dan Wesson advertises

little known historical fact is that Sam Colt was watching that ships wheel whilst sailing the southern hemisphere
where water swirls the wrong way going down the toilet
and the rest, as they say, is history
but lucky for us, Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson were all die hard yankees
(Dan being a contrary child, as they sometimes are)

which, is, of course, utter nonsense, given water "swirls" the same way, be it north or south, but it's as good an excuse as any other myth

 

[Jim K]

Hmmm. Well, I am looking at a Model 1903 Colt with a cylinder that turns the same way as that of my 642 S&W, but the new S&W Bodyguard .38 cylinder revolves the opposite direction.

Seriously, there is no wrong or right way; the designer of a revolver decides where he has to put the hand, and that determines which way the cylinder turns.

I do seem to recall a revolver design (I don't know if any were actually made) where the cylinder was revolved by a clock type spring and was supposed to turn when the trigger was released. The idea was to keep the cylinder rotation out of the trigger pull picture. Probably another great (?) idea down the tubes.

Jim

 

[Guillermo]

but it's as good an excuse as any other myth

maybe he owned a watch

or he wanted to "rotate the cylinder into the frame reducing stress on the crane."