Page 69 - FAT 105 4.17 MOODLE

• Once all of the cartridges have been fired, differs. Unlike the previous action types, where
the cylinder release can be depressed once all of the pressure from the discharging car-
more. The cylinder can be swung away from tridge is contained within the chamber and bore
the frame and expose the chambers. (5) of the firearm, some pressure escapes the re-
volver action prematurely. By design, the barrel
• The ejector rod is depressed, extracting and
and chamber are separate pieces. When the car-
ejecting all chambers simultaneously. (6)
tridge is discharged, the projectile has to jump a
small gap (.003” – .012”) from the cylinder into
The action is now open, the chamber is exposed,
the forcing cone of the barrel. This gap presents
and the firearm is ready to be loaded once again.
a dangerous scenario if a part of the shooter's
The revolver-style action is the oldest repeating
hand gets too close.
firearm action, with examples dating as far back
as 1600 A.D. The revolving feeding mecha- The revolver action has proven itself to be ex-
nism evolved over the years from muzzleloading tremely reliable and robust, making the revolver
matchlock and flintlock systems and breech- a preferred choice for self-defense. By design,
loading percussion cap systems to its present the revolver action is not prone to the types of
form of centerfire, metallic cartridge breech- malfunction of other action types. Even if the
loading systems. There have also been many cartridge fails to fire, simply cocking the ham-
variations of the revolver action, including sev- mer or pressing the trigger will load a fresh
eral break-action revolvers and a couple of semi- round. Revolvers do not typically jam from
automatic revolvers. feeding or extracting/ejecting issues either.
The revolver-style action is very easy to oper-
The revolver-style action is not only unique in
ate once loaded, especially with double-action
its design and operation, the firing process also

Figure 38: Several different revolvers.

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