Monac
Member
OK, i think the second "also' in the sentence Johnm1 quotes from the Chiccones book ("The .32 S.A. also sported a new rebounding hammer, an important engineering feature shared with the much larger .44 New Model 3 single action, also introduced in 1878") speaks volumes. Maybe the rebounding single-action hammer and the DA trigger mechanism were not sequential developments like I assumed, but nearly simultaneous ones. That would explain why the rebound was not included in the DA pistol. I would still wonder why they never put it into the Model 1878 DA revolvers, but that seems like more of a manufacturing decision than a design one. After all, S&W had no problem putting a rebounding hammer in the 38 Perfected Model or any of their solid frame revolvers.
I have never owned a S&W Model 1878 DA revolver in the 44 frame size. But I did have a copy of one, the 455 caliber version made in Spain for the British Army in the First World War. (Mine was an Orbea.) I was a bit amused to note it had no provision for holding the cylinder in place except when the hammer was cocked. They just left off something they found too difficult to make. But I am pretty darn certain it had a rebounding hammer! It is even funnier to me they gave the gun something that S&W didn't.
PS - Of course, the real person to ask about this is Driftwood Johnson. He might very well actually know, instead of all this implied meaning and speculation.
I have never owned a S&W Model 1878 DA revolver in the 44 frame size. But I did have a copy of one, the 455 caliber version made in Spain for the British Army in the First World War. (Mine was an Orbea.) I was a bit amused to note it had no provision for holding the cylinder in place except when the hammer was cocked. They just left off something they found too difficult to make. But I am pretty darn certain it had a rebounding hammer! It is even funnier to me they gave the gun something that S&W didn't.
PS - Of course, the real person to ask about this is Driftwood Johnson. He might very well actually know, instead of all this implied meaning and speculation.
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