Mature technology.

[Tamara]

2067

That top revolver is a Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector 1st Model, sometimes called the "Model of 1896". It was S&W's first solid-frame, swing-out cylinder revolver.

Since Colt's patented cylinder latch operated by moving to the rear, Smith simply set their cylinder release to move forward. In this first Hand Ejector, it was the little knob on the front of the ejector rod, but subsequent ones used the familiar thumbpiece.

Also unlike later guns, the cylinder stop bolt is in the sprung arm above the cylinder which also has the rear sight machined into it. A shoulder on the hammer nose raises it briefly as the hammer is cocked, allowing the cylinder to begin to turn until the dragging stop drops into the next notch. The trigger return spring is a second leaf in the grip below the mainspring, but in general operation, the 1st Model Hand Ejector uses the same mechanism as the latest Model 929 released at SHOT.

The gun in the picture dates to about 1899. Cosmetically a little rough around the edges, the action is still smooth, with everything whirring and clicking in time just as it's supposed to. It carries up fine on all six holes and locks up tight.

This thing is like the opposite of disposable; a sort of anti-iPod. No wonder manufacturers constantly have to release new calibers and sizes and finishes...

[1slow]

I think that a Webley MK VI updated with modern steel, sights and full moon clips would be neat.
On my weirder days I wish for one made with a shotgun barrel as the cylinder pivot (LeMat style) and full moon clips for buckshot and pistol cartridges.

[jetfire]

That bump on the top-strap about 2/3rds of the way forward over the cylinder - is that the rear sight?

[Tamara]

That bump on the top-strap about 2/3rds of the way forward over the cylinder - is that the rear sight?

Yup.

[jetfire]

Neat. Upon closer examination, it appears to be pinned in place.

[Tamara]

Neat. Upon closer examination, it appears to be pinned in place.

That's the pivot pin for the cylinder stop, which has the rear sight machined into its upper surface.

[jetfire]

That's the pivot pin for the cylinder stop, which has the rear sight machined into its upper surface.

Is the cylinder stop on the top of the top strap in this guns? I'm sitting here with a modern GP100 in my hand, and I'm kind of confused now.

[Tamara]

Yep. Like on the old tip-up rimfires.

[jetfire]

That is a fascinating little piece of engineering. It's kind of like the uncanny valley for a revolver - it looks like the "real" thing, but there's enough off to make my eye go "wait, what was that."

[David Armstrong]

I think that a Webley MK VI updated with modern steel, sights and full moon clips would be neat.
On my weirder days I wish for one made with a shotgun barrel as the cylinder pivot (LeMat style) and full moon clips for buckshot and pistol cartridges.
Agreed. One of my favorite "just for fun" guns is my Webley MkIV 38/200. If I could get a copy but capable of 38 Spl. +P I might even have a new CCW piece<G>!

[Tamara]

There are mechanical reasons for the decline and fall of the hinge-framed revolver.

Consider that the eventual failure mode of a revolver is the frame getting stretched to the point that stretching the yoke or shimming the cylinder just isn't practical anymore. I don't know what the upper threshold of power is for a long service life on a topbreak, but I imagine it's lower than most would realize.

Is there an "Outlaw SASS" that allows Schofield repros? It'd be interesting to see what a >10k/year diet of even mouse fart .45LC cowboy loads would do to the latch tightness...

Remember that top break revolvers date to an era when people on average didn't shoot a fraction of the round counts they do now.

[farscott]

The thing that amazes me is current production S&W revolvers are not that different from the first "Hand Ejector" design. A few parts have been relocated, the metallurgy is improved, some safeties added, and the sights are bigger, but the essential design is identical. The changes have been evolutionary. Either S&W got it really right or there has been no real revolutionary progress in revolvers in more than a century.

[Joe in PNG]

The thing that amazes me is current production S&W revolvers are not that different from the first "Hand Ejector" design. A few parts have been relocated, the metallurgy is improved, some safeties added, and the sights are bigger, but the essential design is identical. The changes have been evolutionary. Either S&W got it really right or there has been no real revolutionary progress in revolvers in more than a century.

I'd say "right the first time". By the time the Hand Ejector came out, there had been about 60 years worth of development, refinement, and patent dodging on the revolver's design. Every new design since has pretty much been a gimmick (Matebas and Korths) of some sort.

[Drang]

Except for materials, and very recent developments in projectile "technology", there have been very few fundamental changes in how bullets are launched since WII, and few, really, since WWI.

[farscott]

Except for materials, and very recent developments in projectile "technology", there have been very few fundamental changes in how bullets are launched since WII, and few, really, since WWI.

True. My guess is that environmental issues and commodity prices will finally make caseless ammo and true energy weapons financially viable, driving a new "golden age" of small arms development.

[Tamara]

Except for materials, and very recent developments in projectile "technology", there have been very few fundamental changes in how bullets are launched since WII, and few, really, since WWI.

I believe that roller-locking recoil and roller-delayed blowback are the newest operating mechanisms for self-loading firearms, and they're old. On the construction side, making firearms from stampings, and using injection-molded polymer for structural components are probably the newest developments, and the former dates back to WWI and the latter to, what, the late '50s? (Remington, not HK.)

And there have been jillions of systems that have been tried and fallen by the wayside, from top-break (and tip-up) revolvers to blow-forward self-loaders. There a lot of dead branches on the firearms family tree, not because of some innate conservatism in the world of firearms, but because they're just not as efficient in one way or another.

Mammals didn't drive marsupials out of most ecological niches because Gaia is some unimaginative conservative who doesn't see the brilliance of rearing your young in pouches.

[WDW]

On the construction side, making firearms from stampings, and using injection-molded polymer for structural components are probably the newest developments, and the former dates back to WWI and the latter to, what, the late '50s? (Remington, not HK.)
.

Nylon 66?

[Tamara]

Nylon 66?

Yup. Fun fact: The Nylon 66 had a blued sheet metal shell over the Zytel receiver because Remington was worried that shooters might be put off knowing that the actual body of the firearm was plastic.

[WDW]

Yep! I actually have 5 66's.....favorite .22 of all time.