In real life Civil War what was the most ways a revolver was loaded?

Captndan said:

Was it powder horn and loose ball and cap carried in a pouch? Or maybe paper cartridges? Was the powder premeasured? Was a capper used? Any lubricant? Reloading a pistol must have been a good time to get shot at.

Click to expand...

School kids, North and South, made millions of paper pistol cartridges and powder companies produced gazillions under contract. I would be surprised if many troops used loose powder and ball except under dire circumstances..

To shoot a military flintlock you prime then load a primed gun. Some central German states went one better. They drilled a large touchhole so when rammed home powder was pushed in to the pan
Umph
For safety sake we generally prime only loaded guns.
Safest loading practice took a back seat to when someone is running in your direction with a bayonet.
I suspect questions like lube to ease the ball on its journey, or prevent a chain fire, wouldn’t be the first thing in your mind when Billy Yank or Johnny Reb is trying to ruin your family’s next holiday

I am inclined against the swapping cylinders meme as a general thing. I think it's an example of a 'backronism', with us moderns trying to extrapolate our idea of tactical reloads into an era where that wasn't something that was done all that much. The 19th century equivalent of a hi speed low drag mag swap was drawing a second revolver, as it had been with the muzzleloading pistols before it. You'd almost never get the chance to properly reload your piece before the immediate scrimmage past, it just took too many precious seconds.

Precious seconds? Heck it takes me 15 minutes to load a revolver and probably 2 or 3 to load a single shot.

mushka said:

Precious seconds? Heck it takes me 15 minutes to load a revolver and probably 2 or 3 to load a single shot.

Click to expand...

After I got in to ml my dad bought a CVA pistol and I taught him how to load it.
I got my first colt pistol and we went out for a shoot together
He loaded and shot six times in the time it took me to load the colt something he chucked about a lot.

We take more effort to reduce fouling in revolvers now than was done back then

Because we want to make the most of our range time , and keep the revolvers working without having to take them apart every other cylinder

I think the idea was you had the 6 in the gun and in a pinch you could stuff the 6 you have in your pouch or pocket in during breaks in the action

The playing field was also more even, everyone had slow reloading weapons.

Even today, hearing about old cops carrying .38s with only two speed loaders feels like ancient technology, because bad guys generally had the same kinds of guns . Now, a police officer with a .38 and a shotgun would be under armed. Weapons technology progresses and we can't look at 1861 with 2023 vision. A lot of us carry weapons to run to the store that could suppress 30 men armed with 1860 Colts . But a man with a Colt in 1840 had 5x the firepower as a single shot pistol . It's all relative

Cavalry , by this time, had carbines and even CSA early war Cavalry had some kind of long gun . The revolvers were for close combat or back up type stuff

A pair of revolvers as a primary, offensive weapon seems like more of an 1830s-40s Rangers on the Frontier or Mexican War, Pair of Walkers or Dragoons and firing at Infantry to break up the lines type thing

By the 1860s I feel that revolvers had a smaller role in the grand scale of battle as breech loading carbines were coming out

Shoot, during the 70's and 60's I carried an official police and 6 extra rds on my belt, a baton and flat sap. A call box key and sometime in the early 80's we finally got a hand held radio. This was in the nations capitol. After 18-1/2 years I got a Glock that I hated, still don't like Glocks.

mushka said:

Shoot, during the 70's and 60's I carried an official police and 6 extra rds on my belt, a baton and flat sap. A call box key and sometime in the early 80's we finally got a hand held radio. This was in the nations capitol. After 18-1/2 years I got a Glock that I hated, still don't like Glocks.

Click to expand...

A man after my own heart...

Felonious said:

I was watching an old west movie that had muzzleloaders, percussion revolvers, and lever actions (all had to have been BP). There was a fight scene at the end, where a group of like 200 guys comes over a hill on horseback, and I just couldn't help but wonder what a modern military machinegun or even a few guys with semi-auto civilian stuff and a bunch of mags could have done from a few hundred yards out.

Click to expand...

Probaby the same thing the Germans did to British cavalry early in WW1...

I think alot(but not 100%) of this cylinder swapping is all Hollywood CRANBERRIES. Look at how many movies some assassin sneaks a rifle in a briefcase and proceeds to put it together. How many people think that's cool, and how things are done? Target shooters DO NOT bring their rifles to the match in a briefcase and assemble it there!
This is projecting a modern, flawed perception on history, pure and simple. The fastest reload is a second gun, not a second mag. Period.
Sorry, this transformer toy mentality drives me nuts. I'm ok now.

Pete453 said:

I think alot(but not 100%) of this cylinder swapping is all Hollywood CRANBERRIES Look at how many movies some assassin sneaks a rifle in a briefcase and proceeds to put it together. How many people think that's cool, and how things are done? Target shooters DO NOT bring their rifles to the match in a briefcase and assemble it there!
This is projecting a modern, flawed perception on history, pure and simple. The fastest reload is a second gun, not a second mag. Period.
Sorry, this transformer toy mentality drives me nuts. I'm ok now.

Click to expand...

I'd bet Pale Rider really started the "cylinder swapping" thing in gun lore . It looked cool for the movie, it was and still is cool, and how many 10's of thousands of people bought repro 1858's and extra cylinders because of Pale Rider.

I just dropped a new cylinder into a Pietta last night and it didn't fit, and guns are made with CNC now.

You can find examples in any war of things being done but it's usually not something that was done often, like Union soldiers laying on breastworks at whatever battle and other soldiers loading and passing rifles up to the "better shots" to maintain almost a semi-auto like rate of fire as each "Sharpshooter" had several loaded rifles laying at the ready. This probably happened exactly Once. I think it also happened in the Revolution .

It's highly likely that a few Civil War soldiers popped a cylinder that he found on a busted gun into a Colt or Remington, and it happened to work, and he kept a loaded cylinder in his pocket . There are likely isolated incidents of all kinds of things being done.

appalichian hunter said:

Perhaps off subject and not totally in line with the thread, 7yd. line drill, 8 seconds, semi auto pistol. draw from holster (the holster was a level three retention security holster) strong side single hand point shooting 5 rd. - drop mag transfer pistol to weak hand while re-loading with a two-round mag from the mag case ( the mag case had to be flap closed and secured with a snap fastener) fire those two rounds point shooting single weak hand hold center mass, all rounds must impact inside the 8 ring on a man size target. Most shooters cannot clear leather in say 4-5 seconds. Try it and let us know how it goes. I wouldn't make accusations on say the transformer toy s%%% mentality. This was the beginning of my first course of fire to become a state mandated firearm instructor. and had to be re-certified every year for the next 15 years.

Click to expand...

Unless you were swapping mags in The Civil War, it is off topic and completely out of line with the thread.

What no mags, what was I thinking --------- it was a reference to one's ability in comparison for quick re- loads and the ability to offer a reference at civil war period loading vs modern loading in a not so period loading scenario in a stressful situation. We play in a make-believe world with the old cappers un-like the soldiers whose lives depended on their ability to load an empty revolver. Also did the civil war guys use transformer s%%%% mentality. So was it really out of line with the thread, in your opinion it would seem so, but you know what they say about opinions.

Eutycus said:

I used to believe that "spare cylinder" thing but after hearing arguments against it I'm not so sure anymore Wouldn't it be easier just to carry a spare revolver?

Click to expand...

Charged and capped spare cylinders are a dangerous item to carry even in a pouch made for them. They can easily be dropped when removing or fumbled while inserting into the revolver and fire off a charge in any direction.
I've not heard of charged spare cylinders left uncapped but I suppose that would be the only safe way to carry them then cap after secured in the revolver.

appalichian hunter said:

What no mags, what was I thinking --------- it was a reference to one's ability in comparison for quick re- loads and the ability to offer a reference at civil war period loading vs modern loading in a not so period loading scenario in a stressful situation. We play in a make-believe world with the old cappers un-like the soldiers whose lives depended on their ability to load an empty revolver. Also did the civil war guys use transformer s%%%% mentality. So was it really out of line with the thread, in your opinion it would seem so, but you know what they say about opinions.

Click to expand...

The topic is,

“In real life Civil War what was the most ways a revolver was loaded”.​

We discuss flintlock and traditional percussion revolver.

We see studio pictures of soldiers armed to the teeth with revolvers. but study actual pictures of them in camp settings, I have never seen a line solider in a actual un-staged photo with a revolver on his hip, Officers yes but then only one so It leads me to believe that they were loaded with pre formed cartridges. Lest we forget that the main weapon for officers especially field grade was a saber, and the revolver was a secondary weapon, this is not said that there may have been a spare smaller piece tucked in a coat pocket, I believe the line solider then as now was weight conscious and carried only what was absolutely needed in a combat situation. Actual photos of officer's saber belts show the holster for a revolver also a cartridge box on the rear of the belt in the area of mid back. If a situation would exist where one needed to re-load it would appear that a pre-formed cartridge would lead to a more efficient re-charging of the piece.

This is too much interseine behavior.

appalichian hunter said:

We see studio pictures of soldiers armed to the teeth with revolvers. but study actual pictures of them in camp settings, I have never seen a line solider in a actual un-staged photo with a revolver on his hip, Officers yes but then only one so It leads me to believe that they were loaded with pre formed cartridges. Lest we forget that the main weapon for officers especially field grade was a saber, and the revolver was a secondary weapon, this is not said that there may have been a spare smaller piece tucked in a coat pocket, I believe the line solider then as now was weight conscious and carried only what was absolutely needed in a combat situation. Actual photos of officer's saber belts show the holster for a revolver also a cartridge box on the rear of the belt in the area of mid back. If a situation would exist where one needed to re-load it would appear that a pre-formed cartridge would lead to a more efficient re-charging of the piece.

Click to expand...

I'm not trying to nitpick you, but perhaps expand on your post.

An Officer's primary (offensive) weapon is the body of troops he/she commands. When an Officer has to rely on his/her defensive weapon/s (sword and pistol or revolver in this time period), then the shyte has not only hit the fan, but they were up to their ears in enemies at arms length. There was no time to reload a percussion revolver, even IF the cylinder was pre-fitted and could be rather simply exchanged as in a Remington Style Revolver. Trying to load a revolver in a hand to hand battle, would have meant he got a bayonet in his guts, because he could not use his sword while reloading to fend off that kind of enemy attack.

Gus

Loyalist Dave said:

View attachment 212598

LD

Click to expand...

I was a young Soldier and it was a long time ago, one never forgets them.

Coinneach said:

I was a young Soldier and it was a long time ago, one never forgets them.

Click to expand...

That is a reference from UNFORGIVEN, a Western where Gene Hackman explains, using that line, what is really involved in shooting a person with a single action revolver, since the original topic was "..., ways a [cap-n-ball] revolver was loaded"..., .

LD