Cylinder Swapping - 1860 Army

[Lunie]

With all the endless yammering about how the Remington NMA is so fantastic, what with its amazing ability to swap cylinders...

Here is a demo of swapping cylinders on an open-top "Colt". No claims to being *fast*, but it certainly isn't a week-long process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWneVLah_0k&feature=youtu.be

I'm sure that some of you pistoleros can do better, but that wasn't the point. Then again, if you CAN, why not record it and proceed with the one-upsmanship?

 

[the Black Spot]

I have an 1860 i can swap the cylinder in, in less than 10 seconds.

 

[Lunie]

I have an 1860 i can swap the cylinder in, in less than 10 seconds.

Then "Show Me", Arkie.

 

[the Black Spot]

Would if i could .....

It is an older well used 1860, easy to push out arbor pin, pull barrel and slide on other cylinder.

 

[StrawHat]

I am still not sure what the fascination is with swapping cylinders. Has anyone ever found a verifiable historical reference to it being done? I sure haven't. There is a reason folks with single action revolvers tended to carry two if they were serious about it.

 

[Tommygunn]

If you searched every last letter, historical book, diary, account, whatever, and could not find one instance of someone switching out cylinders, would that actually conclusively prove that it never happened?
From what I have read, I agree with you that the most common method of reloading was the second gun method. There are known accounts of irregular guerillas in the Civil War carrying "braces" of revolvers.
I tend to think that if it was possible to happen, it probably did at some point, to a degree atleast. I have to wonder how many cavalry soldiers might have started out switching cylinders, for example, and as they gained experience and acquired guns, simply refined their methods to carrying a few guns instead.
Could be .... huh?

 

[BigG]

I saw one of those Clint Eastwood characters who swapped cylinders in a pair of Remingtons for speed loading. Might've been High Plains Drifter?

 

[1KPerDay]

Pale Rider.

 

[StrawHat]

The interesting thing about the movie character is at the end, when he needed a final shot, he wasn't dumb enough to try to swap out the cylinder. He relied on a second revolver.

 

[buttrap]

Being around and having horses for over 50 years the idea of swapping a cylinder in a revolver while on one is as commen sence as commen sence gun laws. Basicly its a stupid idea. Plus with the hand fitting of guns at that time getting a cylinder from gun A to fit gun B would be more luck than anything else.

 

[jeepnik]

Not sure how fast I am, but I do it regularly on 1860's. Any way you look at it, assuming you have one broken in, swapping a cylinder on an 1860 is much quicker than reloading one.

But truth be told, during the 1860's hey day, it was quite common for folks needing a "reload" to simply have a second/third/fourth/etc. revolver. Which by the way was amply demonstrated in another Eastwood film "Outlaw Josey Wales".

I just like being able to shoot more between reloading cylinders.

 

[Crawdad1]

Come on guys, Captain Jack Hayes fight with the Comanches in 1844 when his Texas rangers swapped cylinders in their Patersons. The pony express riders would dump their rifles and arm themselves with a Colt and a spare cylinder. Plenty of references. But, like I said a thousand times before and I wil say until the day I pass, the REAL gun that won the West was the Colt Paterson!!! Put that in your pipe and smoke it SAA Peacemaker and '73 Winchester!!!


http://www.articlesbase.com/history...nd-the-winning-of-the-texas-west-3537590.html

 

[Jim K]

Hmmm. I guess the Paterson revolver was a pretty potent weapon in the Old West. Especially the ones with a loading gate and ejector rod.

Jim

 

[Crawdad1]

Yea, I know, bad picture of a real Paterson. But, just search for ‘Colt’s Paterson Revolver’ in the west, plenty of fights with that old percussion revolver. They say Kit Carson loved his rifle but he slept like a baby at night knowing he had his brace of Colt Paterson’s lying across his chest.

 

[shafter]

I tend to think that if it was possible to happen, it probably did at some point, to a degree atleast. I have to wonder how many cavalry soldiers might have started out switching cylinders, for example, and as they gained experience and acquired guns, simply refined their methods to carrying a few guns instead.

It may have happened but I tend to think it was very rare. Where would the spare cylinders come from? With a war going I'm sure Colt and Remington were putting each cylinder made into a firearm instead of shipping them out as extras. Unless a gun was damaged I'm sure most battlefield pickups were kept intact.

 

[Big Al Mass]

I am still not sure what the fascination is with swapping cylinders. Has anyone ever found a verifiable historical reference to it being done? I sure haven't. There is a reason folks with single action revolvers tended to carry two if they were serious about it.

Pony Express riders were issued a revolver with a spare cylinder or 2. I don't remember were I read it, but I know I read it somewhere.

 

[Crawdad1]

Here is a source for that claim, there are others that are better. Just do a search on Google or Yahoo.

http://www.xphomestation.com/weapons.html

 

[shafter]

Pony Express riders were issued a revolver with a spare cylinder or 2. I don't remember were I read it, but I know I read it somewhere.

I kinda thought they weren't issued firearms to cut down on weight. Could be wrong though.

 

[jeepnik]

Then again, another thought just popped up. Spare cylinders were a lot less expensive than an entire revolver. So, it could be some folks had multiple cylinders as a cost saving method.

 

[ontarget]

If you handle the job at hand with the first shot you still have 5 more for back-up and won't need a spare cylinder. ONE SHOT ONE KILL. (lol). Just saying......

 

[jeepnik]

If you handle the job at hand with the first shot you still have 5 more for back-up and won't need a spare cylinder. ONE SHOT ONE KILL. (lol). Just saying......

True, but sometimes people just don't lay down and die when we think they should. Some folks just seem to be harder to stop than others. Then again, what if it's more than one assailant. I imagine Civil War combatants didn't just shoot one enemy and then call it a day.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I am still not sure what the fascination is with swapping cylinders. Has anyone ever found a verifiable historical reference to it being done? I sure haven't. There is a reason folks with single action revolvers tended to carry two if they were serious about it.

Bingo!

Cylinder swapping is all Hollywood romance BS. Back in the day you carried extra revolvers, not extra cylinders. I know, I was their!

 

[Lunie]

TODAY the fascination seems to be primarily focused at "the range", for those who feel they would rather load using a stand. I don't entirely understand it, but I think it may have something to do with the backwards way most of us were exposed to firearms. Most were probably familiar with cartridge guns FIRST, and find the reloading of cap and ball revolvers to be too slow. So we are left with a desire to reload them faster for whatever reason we conjure in our heads.

Then as now, a New York Reload is probably preferable to swapping cylinders. Personally, I'd rather have an extra revolver over an extra cylinder.

I think the reason I made the video was to interject into the Colt vs. Remington debate. "Easily swappable cylinders" is supposed to be some kind of advantage the NMA has over the open-tops.

Not so, says I...

 

[Crawdad1]

Some did,

"Pony Bob Haslam rode regularly between Lake Tahoe and Buckland’s Station in Nevada. Once he recalled that when asked to make an extra long ride when his relief rider refused to continue, he was ready to ride “... after adjusting my Spencer rifle, which was a seven-shooter and my Colt revolver, with two cylinders ready for use in case of emergency.”

Arthur Chapman states that at first the riders were armed with carbines, as well as two revolvers per man. The carbines were soon discarded, as were the extra revolvers. The usual armament was one “navy” revolver. Occasionally a rider carried an extra, loaded cylinder for his revolver, in case of a fight with several opponents at close quarters. Even this extra weight was begrudged.



Here;
http://www.xphomestation.com/weapons.html


And Jack Hayes' men carried extra cylinders for their Colt Patersons (The real gun that won the west)
in their fights with Comanches.


But their use was not as frequent as Hollywood depicts in their movies.