Early Cartridge Technologies: Tinfoil Cartridges

In our last post, we studied linen cartridges. In today's post, we will study cartridges made of a more exotic material: tinfoil. Yes, there really were tinfoil cartridges made at one point.

Tinfoil cartridges were originally made by Samuel Colt for his revolvers. During this period, paper cartridges were common, but if the paper got wet, it would ruin the black powder. The idea behind using tinfoil was to make a cartridge that was not affected by water as much.

At the time that Colt first started working on tinfoil cartridges, his first company that he had set up to manufacture Colt Paterson revolvers was not doing so well (it soon went bankrupt in 1842, due to lack of sales.) He initially experimented using rubber as the material, before switching to tinfoil. Soon after, the US Government got interested in his developments. In April 1840, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy asked a mixed board of officers from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps to make experiments and evaluate Colt's tinfoil cartridges. The officers were: Colonel G. Croghan of the Army, Captain C.S. McCauley of the Navy and Lieutenant J.G. Reynolds of the Marines. They met at Washington Arsenal and performed several experiments and wrote a report of the results, an abridgement of which is below:

The board relying upon the correctness of the experiments as above recited, are unanimously of the opinion that in reference to the usual incidents of our service, naval as well as military, the cartridge now in use is greatly to be preferred to the tin-foil cartridge submitted by Mr. Colt. It appears evident from the facts set forth by the foregoing experiments that the tin-foil is entirely unsuited for cannon service; yet from its imperviousness to water, the tin-foil cartridges for small arms might be found useful in certain cases. The board would, therefore, recommend the partial adoption of the tin-foil cartridge for small arms.

The tests that they performed for these cartridges may be of interest to readers:

"Experiment 1, April 10, 1840: Twenty six cartridges of tin-foil and as many of paper, were fired from well cleaned muskets, no difference was perceptible."

"Experiment 3, April 20, 1840: Four 6-pounder and thirty musket cartridges, all of tin-foil, which had been immersed in water from the 10th instant, were taken therefrom; two of the 6-pounder cartridges appeared to have been injured by accident, the other two were fired and appeared not to have been injured by the water; a dry sponge was used in these firings, and it was burned each time by the contents left in the gun. The musket cartridges were then examined; sixteen of them were selected for firing, seven of which only could be discharged"

"April 21: In order to test the relative strength of the tin-foil and cartridge paper, strips of each were tested; the foil could not support a weight of forty pounds, whilst the paper did not break with the weight of eighty pounds"

Most of the remaining tests correspond to use in cannon and the tin-foil cartridges left more residue globules in cannon, which is why the board recommended to only use the cartridges for small arms and only partially.

The US Army purchased a few thousand more tinfoil cartridges for further evaluation and in 1843, they placed a large order for 250,000 tinfoil musket cartridges, for the purpose of trying them in field service. This large order was an unexpected gift for Colt, since his revolver manufacturing factory in Paterson had gone bankrupt shortly before in 1842. The funds from the US Army were used by Colt to fund research for his "New and improved revolver" and he attempted to start a new Colt's Patent Manufacturing Company with this money. He also used some of the money to produce a waterproof telegraph cable for his friend, Samuel Morse (the inventor of Morse code and inventor of the single-wire telegraph). Then came the order from Samuel Walker for the Walker Colt revolver and the profits were large enough for Colt to go back into the firearms manufacturing business in 1847. A few years later, Colt also established a factory in London in 1853.

While Samuel Colt was in London, he met a gentleman named William T. Eley, who was in the business of making cartridges in England. William T. Eley was the son of William Eley and nephew of Charles Eley, who had founded the Eley Brothers cartridge manufacturing company in London in 1828 (Eley Brothers later became the largest ammunition manufacturer in the world and the brand name is still used for cartridges today). Together, they developed a new tinfoil cartridge that was granted British patent #1324 in 1855.

The powder container was made of tinfoil and the lap joint sealed with waterproof cement. The case was then filled with powder and the bullet was inserted to the top and then the end of the tinfoil case was crimped into the base groove of the bullet and then greased, to produce a waterproof cartridge. The cartridge was then enclosed in a paper wrapper, from which it could be easily removed before loading. Due to the shape of the bore of the nipple in Colt's revolvers, the flame from a percussion cap would pierce the foil and ignite the powder, without the need to tear open the foil.

In the above image, the cartridge on the right is of .31 caliber. The one on the left is also a .31 caliber cartridge, but it is enclosed in an additional protective paper case. The one in the middle, is a .28 caliber cartridge in a sectioned case. The case has a tape to pull the cartridge out, which was later copied by other ammunition makers. The side of the case visible to us says "COLT'S" and has a picture of a colt in the bottom, the other side has the word "PATENT".

Another image of a Colt tinfoil cartridge is shown below:

To manufacture these cartridges in the US, Colt set up a separate building, situated about a half mile away from his other factory in Hartford. In this cartridge manufacturing factory, no fire was allowed anywhere near it and the factory was heated by piping in steam, which was generated in a different building outside.

Women doing the dangerous work of assembling Colt's gunpowder cartridges at the Cartridge Works. From United States Magazine, 1857

Click on the image to enlarge. Public domain image.

Most of the labor in this factory was performed by women, with the only men around being a foreman, an engineer and a charger.

In our next post, we will study more cartridges made of other materials.

Early Cartridge Technologies: Paper Cartridges - III

In our last post, we saw the advances in paper cartridge technology to handle expanding bullets. In today's post, we will study more advances in paper cartridge technology around the time that percussion caps and revolvers started becoming popular.

Early Colt Paterson revolvers. Click on the image to enlarge. Public domain image.

With the advent of percussion cap revolvers, such as the Colt Paterson models pictured above, most people loaded their revolvers from paper cartridges exclusively. The paper cartridges were therefore modified a bit to take advantage of these new developments in firearms.

In the picture above, note that the two Colt Paterson 1839 model revolvers have a loading lever under the barrel, whereas the 1836 model doesn't have this feature. We will see how that is used with the cartridges that we will study today.

Paper cartridges for a .36 caliber Colt revolver.; Click on the image to enlarge

As you can see in the images above, the bullet is now in the front of the cartridge (unlike the designs we studied in our last post). The bullet is attached to the cartridge with glue. Also, the shape of the cartridge has changed a bit, so that the paper part now forms a conical shape instead of a cylindrical shape. This was a deliberate design choice, so that it is easier for the user to insert the cartridge into the front of the cylinder. Unlike previous designs, there is no need to tear the paper and pour the powder into the chamber. Instead, the loading lever is used to ram the entire cartridge into the chamber. Because of the shape of the cartridge, the cartridge paper automatically tears open when it is compressed into the chamber. Some cartridges were equipped with a protective outer layer around the cartridge, to keep it safe from moisture, and these would have a tiny tear tab to remove the outer layer before loading the cartridge.

A glue made of sodium silicate was used by the Colt Manufacturing Company to hold the bullet to the cartridge, as well as seal the paper part. This was what was used by Colt between 1851 to 1873, until they started to produce brass cartridges in 1873. Sodium silicate has the advantages of resisting high temperatures, as well as being cheap and easily available. Sodium silicate was also used to cement the top wad of shotgun shells and was heavily used by American farmers who reloaded their own shells in the 1870s, as sodium silicate was the same material used to preserve eggs as well.

One more innovation made to these cartridges was to the paper material as well. In order to make the ignition of the powder more reliable, the paper was treated with chemicals to make it burn better. This paper is called nitrated paper, as it is manufactured by soaking it in a solution of potassium nitrate and then drying it. This treatment makes the paper much more flammable than ordinary paper. Such cartridges are called combustible cartridges, because the paper burns almost completely upon ignition. A properly nitrated paper leaves behind less ash and residue, thereby making it easier to clean and reload the weapon.

Another formula for making combustible paper used a solution of nitric and sulfuric acids and was used by both Colt Manufacturing and Dow Chemicals, as well as some other manufacturers in the 1800s. These are essentially the same chemicals used to produce guncotton, which we had studied a few years before. Paper that is treated this way is called flash paper. This paper also burns quickly and leaves very little ash behind, but it is much more unstable than nitrated paper, and in the early days, it was also prone to spontaneous combustion. This is why flash paper did not gain much popularity in the firearms industry. These days, the only people using flash paper are magicians, who use it to produce spectacular flames when performing magic tricks.

With the advent of metallic cartridge technologies, the use of paper cartridges started to reduce. However, there are still some applications for which paper is used. For instance, until about 1960 or so, many shotgun shells were made of paper bodies, with a brass base and rim. The reason for this was because it was cheaper and easier to make the body out of paper than to make the entire shotgun shell out of brass. Around 1960, shotgun shells started to use plastic bodies instead of paper, and a majority of modern shotshells today make use of plastic. Nevertheless, it is still possible to buy paper shotshells even today.

The bodies of these cartridges are made of a cardboard paper and are coated with wax to provide some resistance to moisture. They aren't as common as they were back before 1960, but there are still some manufacturers making them.

Handgun Shooting Analysis

In today's post, we will study the causes for inaccuracies when people shoot handguns. There is a handgun shooters chart, that helps shooters analyze what they are doing wrong. There are various variations of the same chart, but here's one public domain version, as designed by the US Army Marksmanship Unit.

Handgun Shooting Analysis chart, courtesy US Army Marksmanship Unit. Public domain image.

The above chart is designed for a right handed shooter. For a left handed shooter, the chart is mirrored vertically (e.g.) "Thumbing" is on the left, "Finger not on trigger correctly" is on the right etc.

The chart is pretty self-explanatory. For instance, if a right handed shooter is shooting too much to the left of the target, he or she is not placing the finger on the trigger correctly. However, some of these terms may need some explanation, so we will study those below.

Thumbing: When the shooter is squeezing the trigger, he or she pushes the right thumb and/or left thumb against the side of the frame, causing the front of the handgun to aim to the right (for a right-handed shooter. A left handed shooter will push the front of the handgun to the left). This causes the shots to end up to the right of the target.

Tightening grip when pulling the trigger: The shooter is tightening their hands along the grip, as the trigger is being squeezed. This causes the front of the gun to dip low and to the right.

Breaking wrist: This is caused because the shooter anticipates the recoil of the gun and does not lock the strong wrist properly. If the shooter tries to mimic the recoil, he or she breaks the wrists upward and shoots above the target. If the shooter tries to counteract the recoil, he or she breaks the wrists downward and the gun fires below the target.

Jerking: This happens when the shooter tries to fire the trigger as soon as the moving sights cross the target, adding excessive pressure to the trigger. This causes shots to end up low and to the left of the target.

Finger not on trigger correctly: This is caused when there is too little finger on the trigger. The trigger finger should cause the trigger to pull straight backwards. However, if there is too little finger area on the trigger, it will pull the trigger sideways and cause the shot to end up to the left of the target.

Pushing: This happens when the shooter jerks the trigger finger forward, just as the gun fires. The solution is to practice a proper follow-through and hold the gun steady during and after the trigger is pulled.

Heeling: This is caused by the shooter putting too much pressure with the heel of the hand, while the weapon is being fired.

Snubnose Revolvers a.k.a. Belly Guns

In today's post, we will look at a class of weapon called snubnose revolvers, also sometimes called "belly guns" or "snubbies".

A snubnose revolver is a handgun that is designed for self-defense at short distances. In general, the term is used to refer to any revolver with a barrel that is 3 inches long or shorter. They were designed to fulfill the requirement of a small repeating handgun that could be concealed easily and drawn out quickly. The term "belly gun" might have come about because many people carried these weapons concealed in the trouser waist band, close to the belly. Other think that they're called belly guns because of the method of use: placing the barrel into the belly of the opponent and pulling the trigger.

One of the early revolvers of the snubnose type was the Colt Shopkeeper Special model, which was based off the Colt M1877 Lightning model. This was a double action revolver designed for .38 Long Colt cartridge and the Shopkeeper Special model had a smaller barrel and no ejector rod, to keep the size compact.

A Colt Shopkeeper Special revolver. Click on the image to enlarge. Public domain image.

In those days, Colt revolvers were side-loaders. In 1894, Smith & Wesson invented a revolver where the cylinder is mounted on a crane which can swing outward for unloading or loading the revolver, with an attached push rod and star ejector to easily extract the cases. This design, along with the double action mechanism is what we see today in many modern revolvers.

In 1927, Colt introduced their Colt Detective Special revolver model. It was based on their Colt Police Positive Special model, which was a six-shot revolver designed to fire the .38 Special cartridge. The Colt Detective Special used the same frame and six-round cylinder as the Positive Special model, but had a small 2 inch barrel (or in some models, the barrel was 3 inches long).

A Colt Detective Special, courtesy of http://www.adamsguns.com/. Click on the image to enlarge.

The new weapon immediately found popularity among police detectives who were tasked with missions that required them to dress like civilians. Soon after this, Colt discovered that there were a number of people that wanted a small concealed weapon. Therefore, they started making other models as well. For instance, the Colt Banker's model was based on the earlier Colt Police Positive revolver. The Colt Police Positive was designed for smaller cartridges (.32 Colt and .38 S&W) than the Colt Police Positive Special (which took .38 Special) and the Colt Banker's model was designed for the smaller cartridge, with the reasoning that weaker bankers wouldn't be able to handle the recoil of a .38 special cartridge.

The nice thing about such small revolvers is that they are easy to carry around in a pocket or a purse and have repeating capability. Another reason that many people preferred these to the larger models was because of the speed that these could be pulled out. Anyone who has used a full sized revolver from a holster knows that the gun is relatively heavy and the long barrel has to be pulled clear of the holster before shooting. The snubnose equivalent is much easier to pull out from the same holster.

After cheap semi-automatic pistols started becoming widely available in the early 1980s, the popularity of these revolvers declined in the US, mainly because pistols hold much more ammunition that revolvers do. Then, in 1994, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban passed for 10 years, which limited the availability of pistol magazines holding more than 10 rounds and suddenly, the popularity of these snubnose revolvers increased again, until the ban expired in 2004.

There are some advantages to snubnose revolvers:

1. Ability to conceal: These revolvers can easily be stored in a pocket or a purse. The curved grip is much easier to conceal than the straight grip of a semi-auto pistol and it doesn't look like a gun when placed inside a pocket.
2. Easy to pull out: Due to its smaller weight and size, it is easier to pull one of these out of a holster than the equivalent full sized revolver model.
3. Simplicity of use: It is much easier to teach someone to use a revolver than to use a semi-automatic pistol. Limp wristing is not a problem with revolvers, so even someone with a weak grip can use one. Revolvers are also less likely to malfunction than semi-automatics. If a revolver doesn't fire due to a bad cartridge, the procedure to clear it is to simply pull the trigger again. 
4. Heavy Double Action trigger: We saw a few posts ago that double-action triggers are harder to pull when placed in double-action mode. Therefore, it is not likely to go off, if it gets snagged in clothing, which provides extra safety.
5. Better at close quarters: Not only is it faster to pull a snubnose revolver out, the shorter barrel means that an attacker can't grab on to it and try to wrestle it away. Also, unlike a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver can't be easily knocked out of battery.
6. Can fire different types of ammunition.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages as well:

1. Capacity: Most modern snubnose revolvers have a 5-round capacity, whereas even a pocket sized semi-automatic pistol carries 6+1 rounds. Of course, there are those that argue that 5 rounds is more than enough in most cases.
2. Higher recoil: Because of the smaller size and weight, the felt recoil force is much more on a snubnose revolver.
3. Sights: Due to shorter barrels, the distance between the front and rear sights is smaller and therefore the sight radius is short. The longer the sight radius, the more accurately a weapon can be aimed. 
4. More time taken to reload a revolver.

Due to their shorter barrel lengths, snubnose revolvers are perceived to have less accuracy than weapons with longer barrels. This is not entirely true, as they can be used pretty effectively to about 20 meters (22 yards) by most people and some people can even hit torso-sized targets up to 50 meters (55 yards) away.

These days, Colt no longer manufactures snubnose models (such as Detective, Cobra or Python), but Smith & Wesson still makes snubnose models (e.g. Bodyguard, Model 19 etc.), as does Ruger (SP101 and LCR).

The Enouy Revolver

In our last post, we studied a very unusual firearm, the Girandoni Repeating Rifle, which did not use any gunpowder, but was entirely powered by air pressure. In today's post, we will study a very unusual revolver design, the Enouy Revolver. One look at it is sufficient for the reader to judge how unusual this is:

The Enouy Revolver. Click on image to enlarge.

The Enouy revolver was a design patented by Joseph Enouy of Middlesex, England, who received British patent #1359 in 1855. The basic revolver was based on a transitional revolver design made by Charles Osborne in 1845. The innovative part of Enouy's design was the compound magazine design. According to the notes for his patent application:

Patent 1359. Joseph Enouy, of 31, Denbigh-place, Pimlico, St. George's, Hanover Square, Middlesex, for The means of removal of every rotary or revolving barrel or cylinder containing chambers from all revolver pistols, guns, and fire-arms, and the substitution in their place by another and other barrels or cylinders in succession.

Two or more revolving breech-pieces are connected in a frame attached to the stock in such a manner that when the charges in the chambers of one breech-piece have all been fired, the breech-piece may then be removed and others ready charged by successively substituted in its place.
 - Dated June 14, 1855. Sealed December 11, 1855.

In this particular example, each revolver cylinder is capable of holding 6 shots and there are 8 different revolver cylinders attached to the compound magazine wheel, thereby giving this weapon a capacity of 48 shots. Here's another view of the same firearm:

Enouy Revolver. Click on image to enlarge.

The magazine wheel rotates around a rod, which is fastened to the revolver butt on one end and to a bracket that is attached to the underside of the revolver on the other end.

As you may have guessed, this weapon is very heavy, unbalanced and unwieldy at the same time. Due to the magazine wheel in front, the user can't carry this revolver is his pocket or in a holster either. This firearm design was not a success and Joseph Enouy didn't seem to manufacture many of them either. In fact, most of the pictures of this firearm available on the web are from one particular revolver made by Enouy, which was once owned by a Mr. Vokes. As there are no records of this revolver being manufactured and sold commercially, it is possible that the above example is literally the only one that was ever made. It is fortunate that we have a record of Mr. Enouy's patent application available.

The M1895 Nagant Revolver

In our last post, we talked about the concept of "cylinder gap". Briefly, revolvers have a gap between the cylinder and the rear of the barrel, in order to allow the cylinder to rotate freely. However, when a revolver is fired, some of the hot gases will escape through this gap, possibly flushing some metal particles as well, which is why it is dangerous to have body parts close to the front of the cylinder. We discussed all of this in our last post (please read it, if you haven't already done so). We also pointed out that due to some of the gases leaking out of the cylinder gap, this decreases the velocity of the bullet coming out of the revolver. In today's post, we will look at a revolver that attempted to solve this problem. We are talking about the Nagant M1895 revolver, which will be the subject of today's post.

The Nagant M1895 was a revolver designed in 1895 by Leon Nagant, for the Russian empire. The Nagant Brothers company was Belgian, but they were well known to the Russian military, because they were involved in an earlier competition to design a new rifle for the Russian military previously (the result of the earlier competition was the Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifle, although Nagant's contributions to the final design was very minimal).

The Nagant revolver design attempted to minimize the velocity loss, by making the revolver gas-tight as possible. We will discuss how this was achieved here.

Mosin-Nagant M1895 Pistol. Click on image to enlarge.

Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Luxembourg license by user Mascemon @ wikipedia

At first glance, the revolver appears to have a pretty large cylinder gap, as can be seen by the image above. However, the revolver is built with a special mechanism, so that when the hammer is cocked, the cylinder not only rotates to the next chamber (just as any other revolver), but it is also pushed forwards toward the barrel, thereby closing the cylinder gap and creating a seal with the forcing cone at the back of the barrel.

Now, the cylinder is just one part of the gas-tight seal. Let's take a look at the unusual cartridge for this revolver. Here's a closer look at it:

From left to right, Nagant 7.62 mm., .32 S&W Long and .22 Long Rifle (.22 LR) cartridges.

Picture courtesy of Commander Zulu at Wikipedia.

The cartridge on the left is the one for the Nagant revolver. Compared to the other two cartridges, a few differences are clearly visible. Unlike the other cartridges, the Nagant cartridge fully encloses the bullet inside the cartridge case. Note that the neck case of the cartridge is crimped to a smaller diameter and the bullet does not protrude out of the end. This is part of the design. When the cylinder is moved forward into the forcing cone, the cartridge's unusual neck is forced between any gap left between the cylinder and the forcing cone. When fired, the neck expands into the forcing cone and fills any remaining gaps, making it even more gas tight. As a result of this, the Nagant M1895 does not leak much gas through the cylinder gap when it is fired, and the bullet comes out about 50-150 feet/sec (15-45 meters/sec) faster when it is fired.

As we saw in an earlier post, temperature has an effect on ammunition performance. By making the gas seal tight as possible, this revolver could perform better than other models, even in the middle of very cold Russian winters and with the types of propellants that were available in 1895. A couple of other side-effects are a result of this gas seal design as well. For one, it reduces the chances of injury to body parts in front of the cylinder, because the hot gases and particles don't come out of the side as much. Also because of the gas seal, the noise generated comes out of the barrel, which means that unlike other revolver models, this one can be fitted with a suppressor to reduce the noise.

The video above shows the unusual mechanism and cartridges in very good detail.

This revolver was used a lot by the Russian Empire and then, the Soviet Union, and is used even today by present-day Russian police, despite being out of production for about 60 years. It is regarded very highly in Russia for its toughness.

However, there are a few disadvantages of this revolver as well. The first is that it is much slower to load this revolver than other models. Because of its design, the cylinder cannot flip out of the side to load the cartridges simultaneously. Instead, the user must load and unload each chamber one at a time, via a loading gate on the side. Also, this ammunition does not have great stopping power compared to more modern cartridges. At one time, it was difficult for American users to purchase ammunition for this revolver, even though the revolver is pretty cheap to purchase (typically costs about $100). The trigger is also pretty heavy to use and accuracy suffers as a result.

Before we end this discussion, here's another video done by the same user above (hickok45), demonstrating the effectiveness of the unique gas seal of this weapon.

Enjoy.

What is a "Cylinder Gap"?

In today's post, we will look into the topic of revolvers and firearms safety and also study the concept of cylinder gaps.

If the reader looks at a revolver, chances are that the reader may observed that, at the area where one of cylinder's chambers aligns with the barrel, there is a small gap between the front of the chamber and the barrel, about the thickness of a business card. This space is called the cylinder gap.

This gap exists in all revolvers, because there needs to be a bit of space between the cylinder and the barrel, in order to allow the cylinder to rotate. In some revolver designs (e.g. the Belgian Nagant 1895 model), this gap is sealed when the weapon is cocked (we will look at this design in a future discussion), but in most revolver designs, this gap is left open at all times.

When a revolver is fired, high pressure gases are generated in the chamber and expand into the barrel, pushing the bullet out. While most of these gases expand into the barrel, a small amount of hot gas comes out of the sides of the cylinder, due to the cylinder gap. If the chamber does not precisely align with the barrel, some metal particles may come out of the side as well. These hot gases and particles come out with a surprising amount of energy, even on a small revolver, and may cause some serious injury. Therefore, it is unwise to place a hand ahead of the cylinder, or even stand close to the side of the person firing the revolver.

Correct ways to hold a revolver

In the above images, we see the correct ways to hold a revolver. Notice that in both cases, the person ensures that the hands are placed well behind the cylinder gap. Now we will look at the incorrect way to hold a revolver.

Incorrect way to hold a revolver. Never do this!

In the above image, we see an incorrect way to hold the revolver. Notice that the user has some fingers placed in front of the cylinder. This is a very bad idea and could result in serious injury, if the revolver is fired. People who are new to revolvers may accidentally do this, because they find it easier to support a heavy revolver, or because they see people doing it with pistols, and they cause injury to themselves.

The above video demonstrates pretty well, how much gas can come out of the sides of the cylinder and why it is a bad idea to put any body parts close to the cylinder gap. In fact, people standing close to the sides of the revolver may feel the hot gases as well, which is why it is best to stand behind the shooter, or some distance away to the side.

The reader may wonder, why is it that gases don't come out of the back of the cylinder? Well, that is because when the revolver is fired, the heat of the explosion causes the sides and back of the cartridge to expand slightly and the rim seals off the back of the cylinder and prevents most of the gas from leaking out of the back.

Due to the leakage of gases through the cylinder gap, the velocity of the bullet coming out of the revolver is slightly reduced. There are designs that attempt to close this gap when firing, so that the entire energy of the expanding gases acts upon the bullet. We will study these designs in a future post.

Fanning a Revolver

Fanning a revolver is a technique often used by trick shooters to increase the rate of fire of single action revolvers. In a single action revolver model (such as the legendary Colt Single Action Army revolver), pulling the hammer back by hand cocks the revolver and also turns the cylinder to the next chamber. Pulling the trigger releases the hammer. Therefore, to fire the revolver multiple times, the user must pull the hammer back first, then pull the trigger to fire it, then pull the hammer back again, pull the trigger again and so on, until the revolver is empty. However, it is also possible to hold the trigger down with one hand and then pull back on the hammer with the other hand and release it and keep doing this rapidly. Each time the hammer is released, it falls and detonates the cartridge in the chamber and each time it is pulled back, the hammer cocks and the cylinder rotates to the next chamber. Since the trigger is held down, the hammer cocks but does not lock back and falls back immediately after it is released. Therefore, the rate of fire is down to as fast as the user can pull the hammer back. In order to do this rapidly, the user usually uses a fanning motion with the cocking hand.

The video above demonstrates this technique. Due to the rates of fire that can be achieved by this technique, it is used by trick shooters and fast-draw competitors.

However, it must be noted that this technique may also damage a revolver's stop mechanism, especially when done very rapidly. One more point to be noted is that it isn't very good for shooting accuracy. There are only a few people that can shoot reasonably accurately with this method. That is one more reason why it is seen in trick shooting shows and not used very much by ordinary people.

Thanks to Hollywood movies, some people are under the impression that this was a standard technique used by cowboys in the 1850s. For an example, here's a scene from the classic western movie "Shane".

The technique of fanning a revolver was definitely known during that era, but the reality is that most real gunfighters did not use this technique in real fights, because of concerns of accuracy. What did real gunfighters think of this technique then? The following quotes are by one of the most famous gunfighters, Mr. Wyatt Earp, taken from an interview he gave later in life:

"In all my life as a frontier peace officer, I did not know of a really proficient gunfighter who had anything but contempt for the gun-fanner, or the man who literally shot from the hip"

"From personal experience and from numerous six-gun battles which I witnessed, I can only support the opinion advanced by the men who gave me my most valuable instruction in fast and accurate shooting, which was that the gun-fanner and the hip-shooter stood small chance to live against a a man who, as old Jack Gallagher always put it, took his time and pulled the trigger once."

"A skilled gun-fanner could fire five shots from a forty-five so rapidly that the individual reports were indistinguishable, but what could happen to him in a gunfight was pretty close to murder."

"Hickok (“Wild Bill” Hickok) knew all the fancy tricks and was as good as the best at that sort of gunplay, but when he had serious business in hand, a man to get, the acid test of marksmanship, I doubt if he employed them. At least, he told me that he did not. I have seen him in action and I never saw him fan a gun, shoot from the hip, or try to fire two pistols simultaneously. Neither have I ever heard a reliable old-timer tell of any trick-shooting employed by Hickok when fast, straight-shooting meant life or death."

These quotes and others are found in an authorized biography, "Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshall" by Stuart N. Lake, where he gave a personal interview to the author about his life experiences.

Concealed Weapons

In our last post about combined firearms, two of the examples (the whip pistol and King Henry VIII's mace) are also examples of a concealed firearm. Well, technically, Henry VIII's mace is a weapon anyway, even though it conceals pistols within it. We also looked at derringer pistols earlier, which were designed to be concealed. In this post, we will look at some firearm designs that were designed to be hidden and give the illusion that the user had no means of self defense.

The first class of weapons we will look at is the firearm-cane class. Canes or walking sticks are often used by elderly people as a walking aid for hundreds of years. In the 19th and early 20th century, they were also seen as a fashion accessory that was popular with the gentlemanly class, whether young or old. For many centuries, people have concealed objects in canes. For example, there are stories of spies hiding messages in hollow walking sticks and an enterprising missionary to China smuggled silkworms to the west inside his hollow walking stick. Prince Edward, son of Queen Victoria, even commissioned a cane which had a hidden flask of whiskey within it, as well as a built-in hidden compass on the top of the cane knob, so that he could find his way home after a night of drinking!

The Japanese had the Shikomizue and the Romans had the Dolon, both of which concealed swords within a hollow walking stick. In the 18th and 19th centuries, sword canes also became popular with the wealthy classes of Europe. In the 19th century, people soon began to conceal firearms within canes as well. Such weapons were made by many English and European manufacturers:

The above example fires .410 caliber shotgun shells. The trigger is a foldable one and may be kept hidden, when not in use.

The above image is a cane made by Briggs of London in the 19th century. It conceals not only a sharp dagger, but also a 4-cylinder pepperbox revolver that fires .22 caliber ammunition.

These days, canes that contain concealed weapons are illegal in many countries, but some countries have a clause that they can be legally sold if they are over 100 years old. Therefore, older weapons are often seen in auctions.

The next weapon we will look at was invented by a Frenchman named Jacques Turbiaux in 1882. It was called a Palm Pistol:

This is a weapon designed to be concealed within one's fist and can be fired by squeezing the spring loaded lever in the back of the gun. The cartridges are loaded in a rotating turret with the bullets facing outwards. There were two version, a 7 shot version using 8 mm. cartridges, like the image shown above, and a 10 shot version using 6 mm. cartridges. The lever has a double action operation, in that it rotates the turret to the next shot, before firing it. Turbiaux obtained an US patent in 1883 and the Minneapolis Firearms Company produced a licensed version that fired 7 shots in .32 caliber. These weapons are typically rare today and sell for about $1500-2000 dollars in auctions.

In modern days, people have sought to conceal firearms in various guises. The following three pictures are some examples that were developed by spy agencies of various countries:

The first weapon is designed to look like a tire-gauge, but also fires a .22 caliber cartridge. It was supposedly used by CIA agents in the 1950s and 1960s. The next is a weapon designed to look like a camera, but carries a pistol within the lens. The third looks like a typical briefcase carried by a businessman, but hides a Hecker & Koch MP-5 submachine gun within it. It is fired by a hidden trigger concealed in the carrying handle of the briefcase.

Concealed weapons like these are illegal in most countries around the world, so the only concealed weapons these days are manufactured by intelligence agencies or custom built for criminals and are not available to the public. In fact, most of these designs are kept secret. Some countries allow certain concealed weapon items to be legally bought or sold if they can be classified as "antiques", so some historical items, such as pistol canes and palm pistols, are seen in auctions.

Combined Firearms: Swords

In our last discussion, we explored how axes and pistols could be combined together into a single weapon. In this post, we will explore pistols combined with swords.

Early pistol swords and knives were mostly used in Germany and France by hunters, as a secondary backup weapon to their hunting rifles. The image below shows a combination of a hunting knife with a wheel lock pistol dated to 1546.

Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License from user Unforth at wikipedia.org.

Click on image to enlarge.

This weapon was made in Germany and is now to be seen in the NY Metropolitan Museum collection. Note that the pistol barrel is located entirely on the back of the blade.

Combination of a wheel-lock mechanism with a sword has been in use since at least the 16th century. Since swords were traditionally much more expensive to manufacture than axes, knives, spears etc. and wheel-lock mechanism was also more expensive than other firing mechanisms, such weapons were usually used by aristocrats. Since they could afford it, these weapons were usually heavily engraved and decorated as well.

German-made Riding Sword from circa 1575. This combines a rapier with wheel-lock pistol. Click image to enlarge.

Hungarian/Polish Saber with wheel-lock pistol from circa 1565. Click image to enlarge.

In the golden age of piracy, a weapon that combined a flintlock pistol with a cutlass was used by pirates as well as navy officers, for boarding purposes.

Click on images to enlarge

The illustrations above show two such designs. The first is actually a replica of a French made cutlass-pistol. Both these examples feature a single-shot flintlock pistol attached to the side of the cutlass. Pirates would swing over to the victim ship and discharge their pistol first and then close in for hand-to-hand sword fighting. Since the same hand could discharge the pistol and hold the sword at the same time, this left the pirate's other hand free.

All the above weapons depicted here are single shot weapons. Somewhere during the 19th century, when revolvers started to become popular, several French, Belgian and German manufacturers such as Lefaucheux, Lepage, Dumonthier, T.A. Rauh & Co. etc. began to combine pinfire revolvers with swords. This allowed the user the option of firing multiple shots without reloading. Such weapons were never officially adopted by any military, but were very popular among officers in many European countries. In fact, in the Paris Exhibition of 1867, there were over 30 models of swords-revolvers on display.

The above is a Belgian made weapon from 1877. The revolver uses pinfire cartridges and the trigger is behind the hilt, as is the loading gate for this weapon. Unusually, the scabbard has a depression on the outside so that the revolver barrel stays outside the weapon even with the scabbard on. This allows the user to fire the pistol even if the scabbard is still on the sword.

The picture above is a weapon made by T.A. Rauh and Co. of Solingen, Germany. The revolver barrel is located parallel to the right side of the blade. As before, the revolver uses pinfire cartridges. This weapon was granted US Patent #52504 in 1866.

The picture above is a 30 inch long short sword made by E. Lefaucheux Co. of France, to the order of a Peruvian importer. As before, this uses a pinfire cartridge revolver. Incidentally, it was Eugene Lefaucheux's father, Casimir Lefaucheux, who invented the pinfire cartridge. Eugene Lefaucheux inherited his father's business as well as his mechanical talents. With a view to improving the business, he went to study in Liege, Belgium for a period of time. There, he learned the latest practical manufacturing techniques, as well as negotiation tactics with local suppliers. It was also in Liege (which was a hotbed for making cheap, unlicensed firearm copies at that time) where he saw clones of the Colt Pocket 1849 and Navy 1851 revolvers and was impressed enough to make his own revolver versions. His first patent drawing of 1854 looked very similar to a Colt Navy 1851 model externally, but his 1854 model used pinfire cartridges inspired by his father, instead of the old fashioned cap-and-ball muzzle loading mechanism of the Colt model. This meant that his revolvers were much more reliable, easier and faster to load and more immune to weather conditions than the Colt model. In fact, the Lefaucheux 1854 revolver was considered the most advanced handgun of that era. It was only a matter of time before he adapted his revolver mechanisms to be attached to swords.

Pistol swords were not as widely used mainly because of the expense. One more major issue was that the pistol mechanism would cause the sword to unbalance towards the hilt, making it harder to wield the sword. Furthermore, since the pistol was permanently attached to the sword, it became much heavier and therefore harder to point and aim as a pistol. So instead of gaining a 2 for 1 weapon, the user ended up with an off-balanced sword and a heavy pistol! This is why pistol-swords never really gained much popularity throughout the ages.

Revolver: Modern Revolvers

When we last left off on revolver developments, we'd studied single and double action revolvers and the beginning of metallic cartridges replacing percussion caps.

Because of the rapid fire capability of the double-action mechanism, it became the mechanism of choice for new revolvers. Today, most modern revolvers are still double-action. Even Colt, the proponents of single-action pistols, switched to double-action models by the end of the 1800s with their Colt New Service Revolver. Models by Smith & Wesson, Remington, Webley etc. were very popular as well.

By the 1850s or so, metallic cartridges began to replace percussion cap technology. Some revolvers, such as the French-made Lefaucheux, were built to use pinfire cartridges. In 1857, Smith & Wesson introduced their first revolver which used a .22 short rimfire cartridge, also developed by Smith & Wesson. This model was a huge success in the market-place and was responsible for establishing the fame of Smith & Wesson. By the mid 1860s, centerfire cartridges became popular and revolvers began to use them as well (such as the Colt Peacemaker). Most of the early metallic cartridges still used black powder as their propellant, but more powerful smokeless powders started to become popular after 1886 or so and revolver manufacturers began to certify their weapons as safe to be used by smokeless powders as well. This meant using new metallurgical techniques of manufacturing weapons to withstand the higher pressures generated by smokeless powders.

As more powerful cartridges were developed, revolvers were built to fire them as well. In the 1950s, the .44 magnum cartridge, introduced by Elmer Keith and built by Remington, was used by the Sturm-Ruger Blackhawk and the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolvers. Unusually, the Sturm-Ruger Blackhawk was a single-action revolver, rather than a double-action model. Ruger discovered that after Colt had pulled out its popular Colt Peacemaker (another single-action model) out of the market, there was still some demand for single-action weapons and went on to fill that demand. Company legend at Sturm-Ruger has it that Smith & Wesson were experimenting with the new .44 magnum cartridge in secret, but a Sturm-Ruger employee found the empty cartridge cases in a garbage pile and took one to Bill Ruger and the Blackhawk revolver beat Smith & Wesson's model 29 revolver to the market by several months. The S&W Model 29 didn't sell well initially, but in 1971, the movie "Dirty Harry" came out, with Clint Eastwood's character, "Dirty" Harry Callahan, describing the S&W Model 29 as the "most powerful handgun in the world". While this was not strictly true at this point (the .454 magnum was already developed), this line of movie dialog made the demand for the Model 29 to skyrocket, to the point that dealers were having trouble keeping the Model 29 in stock, even after selling them at triple-price! These days, there are revolvers built to fire even more powerful cartridges, such as the .454 and the .5oo magnum, but the Model 29 sales still remain high, 35 years after the movie came out.

Revolvers used to be the weapon of choice in military and police departments around the world, until modern semi-automatic pistols such as the Colt M1911 became more popular due to shorter reload time and higher capacity of cartridges. Police departments in the United States continued to use revolvers well into the early 1990s, when they began to be replaced by semi-automatic pistols. They are still popular in the civilian market as sporting or hunting weapons. In fact, many trainers recommend new shooters to start off with a revolver.

Revolver: Design Issues

With all these discussions about revolvers we've had in the last few posts, one significant factor has been common to all of them. The weapons and designs we've looked into have all been handguns! So why have there not been any revolving rifles, the astute reader asks.

Well, there have been some revolving rifles, but they were not very successful. The main issue (and this was also an issue for early revolvers) was a situation called a "chain fire".

Remember that the early revolvers, such as the Colt Paterson and the Walker Colt were using percussion cap technology. Upon firing the weapon, the gunpowder would burn in the chamber and propel the bullet out of the chamber and through the barrel. The flame would then spread out from the front face of the chamber and sometimes go into the next chamber. If the bullet in the next chamber was tight fitting, this wouldn't be a problem, but sometimes users would use a less tightly fitting bullet and there would be gaps between the bullet and the chamber wall. This would sometimes cause gunpowder to leak out of the chamber. As a result, the gunpowder in the next chamber would ignite as well and shoot out its bullet from the side of the revolver, not the barrel. If the user was unlucky enough and used loosely fitting bullets in all chambers, the flame would travel from chamber to chamber and ignite each one, thereby causing extra accidental discharges.

The same situation would sometimes occur if the user used larger (looser) percussion caps on the nipple. When the percussion cap was struck, the flame would travel through the nipple into the chamber and ignite the gunpowder. With a looser percussion cap, some of the flame would travel outside the nipple and through an uncapped nipple or through the loose percussion cap of the next nipple and ignite the gunpowder there.

The result of a chain fire is multiple discharges of the other chambers of a revolving weapon. With a revolver handgun, this is not as much of an issue, besides giving the firer a surprise, because the handgun is usually held at arms length and with one hand only, which is behind the cylinder of the weapon. As the extra chambers fire, the bullets leaving them don't travel as fast because they don't pass through the barrel. They also can't injure the firer, as his hand is behind the cylinder.

Click to enlarge.

On the other hand, with a revolving rifle (such as the 1855 Colt Root model above), the user holds the rifle with two hands and one of these hands is placed in front of the cylinder. So when a chain fire happens, there's a good chance that the user could get his forearm and hand injured by the other accidentally fired bullets. As a matter of fact, the Colt Root model was used for a while during the US civil war by a unit called Berdan's Sharp Shooters. Reports from that era indicate that a number of people set their sleeves on fire from chain fires and that you could tell how long a sharpshooter was in that unit by counting his remaining fingers. The Colt Root was even nicknamed "Colonel Colt's Revolving Wheel of Misfortune". Commanders attempted to counter this by telling their soldiers to hold the rifle in such a way that both hands were behind the cylinder, or by telling them to only load one chamber at a time to prevent chain fires. The 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry used this rifle with some success in the Battle of Chickamauga, but the problems of chain fire caused the Army board to recommend dropping this weapon altogether.

Later revolving rifles used cartridge technology, where the problem of chain fire did not occur. As a result, revolving rifles made by D.B. Wesson (of Smith & Wesson fame), Remington, Colt Buntline etc. found some use. However, the problem of escaping hot gas from the front of the cylinder burning the user's forearm still remained and this is why they didn't become popular. Another big issue was keeping the weapon clean in combat conditions. Remember that a revolver design has some gaps between the cylinder and the barrel. With a handgun, the weapon can be kept relatively clean by storing it in a holster, when not in use. On the other hand, rifles are carried without a carrying case. In muddy and dusty conditions, keeping the internal mechanisms clean is a lot of work.

However, the idea hasn't entirely vanished. Some auto-cannons, such as the Mauser MK213 and the Aden auto-cannon use the same idea, but they are aircraft guns, not firearms. Some grenade launchers use the same concept as well.

Revolver: Loading Mechanisms

We have devoted the last few posts to studying revolver firing mechanisms. Now we will spend some time in studying revolver loading mechanisms.

The early revolvers such as the first Colt Paterson models of 1836 had a very primitive reloading mechanism. As these revolvers were muzzle-loaders using percussion-cap technology, the user was required to disassemble the gun to reload it. The user would first put the hammer at half-cock, then open a latch in front and pull out the barrel and cylinder from the revolver frame. The user would then fill the cylinder's chambers with gunpowder and a ball in each chamber. Then the user would tamp each ball down with a ramrod. Then the user would assemble the gun back and then attach percussion caps to the back of each chamber. The small revolver on the picture above is a Colt 1836 model.

Obviously, such an operation took a long time. Hence, some people would walk around with already loaded spare cylinders in their pockets. That way, all they had to do was to pull out the barrel and cylinder from the revolver frame, substitute the new pre-loaded cylinder and reassemble the gun.

The Colt Paterson model of 1839 improved on this by putting a loading window on the side of the weapon, near the front of the cylinder. Colt also attached a ramrod on a hinge, on the underside of the barrel. Using this system, the user did not need to disassemble the revolver to reload any longer. Instead the user would put the gunpowder and ball into the chamber that is next to the loading window. Then the user would unhinge the ramrod and use the lever to ram the ball into the chamber. The user would repeat this operation until all the chambers were reloaded. The two crossed revolvers in the picture above are Colt 1839 revolvers.

With the advent of metallic cartridges, the next mechanism that was used was the fixed cylinder/loading gate concept.

In here, there is a hinged loading gate near the back of the cylinder. The gate cover can be slid open and then, metallic cartridges can be removed or loaded one at a time into the loading gate. The cylinder can be rotated after each chamber is loaded, to bring the next chamber in line for reloading. The gate cover is closed after the desired chambers are reloaded. The Colt Peacemaker was one of the weapons that used this reloading mechanism. Since the cylinder is attached to the solid frame of the weapon in both the front and the back, revolvers using this loading mechanism are generally very strong weapons. This is why large caliber revolvers that fire powerful cartridges tend to use this reloading mechanism. The disadvantage of this mechanism is that each chamber needs to be loaded/unloaded one at a time.

The next reloading mechanism we will study is the top-break mechanism. In this mechanism, the revolver is hinged near the front-bottom of the cylinder.

The user can open the revolver as shown in the picture above and load new cartridges in quickly and easily. In fact, many users use a speedloader, which is a simple device that holds the cartridges in a circle corresponding to the chambers of the revolver. A picture of a typical revolver speedloader is shown below.

The user simply puts the speedloader on top of the cylinder and unlocks the speedloader, which drops all the cartridges simultaneously into all the chambers of the cylinder.

In many top-break revolvers, the action of breaking open also pushes an extractor lever upwards, which ejects out all the old cartridges, or moves them far enough out of the cylinder that they can be pulled out easily.

In the picture above, you can see the old cartridges being expelled by the extractor of a Smith and Wesson revolver as it is being opened. In many models, the auto-extractor is powerful enough to eject the fired cartridges, but is not strong enough to completely eject the longer, unfired cartridges. These are merely lifted away from the chambers by the extractor and not ejected out of the weapon completely.

The advantage of the top-break design is that it allows faster reloading as all the chambers can be loaded simultaneously. If the weapon has an auto-extractor, then the reloading becomes even more faster, as the user doesn't need to manually extract the old cartridges. The disadvantage is that the design isn't as strong as the fixed cylinder design and cannot be used for high-powered cartridges.

The next mechanism is the swing-out cylinder mechanism. In this, the cylinder is mounted on a pivot that swings out and down.

Public domain image from wikipedia.com. Click to enlarge.

As can be seen in the picture above, the rod in front of the cylinder unlocks the mechanism and allows it to swing out. The rod can then be pushed in to operate the extractor and eject out the fired cartridges. As with the top-break design, the extractor is designed so that unfired cartridges are not completely ejected from the chambers. Loading can then be done one at a time, or simultaneously using a speedloader. After loading, the cylinder is pushed back to the body of the revolver and then locked in place.

In the above diagram, you can see the close-up of the star-shaped extractor plate. When the revolver is closed, it sits flush with the cylinder. When the extractor plate is pushed away from the cylinder, it catches the rim of all the cartridges loaded in the cylinder and pushes them out of their chambers.

This is a modern design and is much more sturdy than the top-break mechanism. However, it is not as strong as the fixed-cylinder design. On the other hand, it is much faster to reload than a fixed-cylinder model.

Revolver: Other Firing Mechanisms

In the last few posts, we've studied various types of single-action and double action revolvers. These were not the only types of revolver mechanisms though.

Click image to enlarge

The above image is a Tranter revolver invented by William Tranter. William Tranter used to manufacture the Adams double-action revolver under license and in 1853, he came up with his own invention, a double-trigger, double action revolver. Notice that the distinguishing feature of his revolver is the double trigger. The lower trigger sticks out below the trigger guard and is pulled with the middle finger. When the lower trigger is pulled, it cocks the hammer and rotates the cylinder. Then the user pulls the upper trigger with the forefinger to release the hammer and fire the weapon. If the user decides to fire rapidly, then he/she can pull both triggers simultaneously.

During the US civil war, the Confederates did not have any firearms factories in their territory and hence were forced to import their firearms from other countries. Many Tranter revolvers were imported by them, along with other revolvers such as the Adams and Beaufort-Adams. The Tranter revolvers gained popularity among the Confederates because of their reliability. Tranters were also carried by detectives of the famous Pinkerton detective agency. Pinkerton's men were responsible for the safety of US government officials before the creation of the Secret Service.

William Tranter made a sizable fortune from the sale of various firearms (including his revolvers) and later went on to co-found the Birmingham Small Arms company. This company later moved into manufacturing bicycles, motorcycles and cars. It was once the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world and its bicycle brand was sold to India's Tube Investments Limited in 1957. Tube Investments still manufactures bicycles in India under the BSA brand.

Another unusual revolver mechanism was invented by the Iver Johnson company of the US. Between 1940 and 1947, they manufactured a revolver with a very special action. If the hammer was down, pulling the trigger would cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder. If the hammer was already cocked, then it would release the hammer and fire the weapon. Therefore, to fire the weapon when the hammer is down, the user would pull the trigger twice.

Another development that has been used since around 1901 or so is the automatic revolver. Basically, the disadvantage of a double action revolver is that it has a longer trigger pull than a single action revolver, because the trigger pull on a double action serves to cock the hammer, rotate the cylinder and release the hammer on a single pull, whereas a single action trigger merely releases the hammer when the trigger is pulled. This leads to a heavier trigger pull and therefore, less accuracy from double-action revolvers.

With an automatic revolver, some of the recoil force from the just fired cartridge is utilized to re-cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder. This results in a revolver that can fire with the speed of a double-action, but with the softer trigger pull of a single-action revolver. The Webley-Fosbury pistol of 1901 had this feature, but it was soon replaced by semi-automatic pistols, which were less expensive. In 1997, a company called Mateba invented the Mateba Unica Auto-revolver that uses the same concept.