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Mon-Fri: 10am-8pm
Sat-Sun: 9am*-7pm

*First hour of weekend range time (9am-10am) is reserved for members only. Retail store is open to everyone during these hours.

How do Revolvers Function?

The revolver, also known as a wheel-gun, revo or round-gun, is the successor to the many different types of handguns and until the effective semi-automatic pistol was developed it was the undisputed ruler of the handgun world. Before Sam Colt was issued U.S. Patent #138 on February 25, 1836 for the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company established, Paterson, New Jersey there were a number of different types of handguns available. All of the Colt's predecessors utilized the concept of one bullet per barrel. Since the advent of the muzzle loader the goal of firearms manufacturers was to increase the accuracy, rate of fire and power. With Sam Colt's invention the rate of fire was dramatically increased, and soon afterwards the invention of the modern self-contained cartridge did even more. The Pepperbox had multiple barrels that remained fixed.

Sam Colt's idea was to have a firearm with just one barrel but to have a revolving chamber that could contain a number of bullets which get rotated into alignment with the barrel in succession. As with so many other revolutionary ideas this was a simple one and it revolutionized shooting.

Initially revolvers were designed as single-action, meaning that by pulling the trigger only one action is performed, namely dropping the trigger onto the primer in the bullet to fire it. Single-action revolvers require the shooters to manually pull back the hammer, which would also rotate the cylinder with the bullets to the next chamber. With the advent of the double-action revolver, firing became simpler. The double-action trigger performs two actions when pulled - the cylinder is rotated and the hammer is released. Most modern revolvers are double / single action; meaning that the revolver is basically a double-action one but the hammer can be locked back and subsequently the revolver can be fired in single-action mode, usually with a very light trigger pull. Originally the hammer was designed to strike the primer in the bullet directly, this type of firing mechanism required, for safety's sake, to have an empty chamber underneath the hammer to avoid a negligent discharge. New revolvers use a transfer bar or other blocking mechanism to ensure that the hammer cannot inadvertently hit the bullet and thus all chambers can be kept loaded. The number of rounds in a revolver depends upon the caliber (bullet size), it's power and the overall size of the revolver; usually revolvers can hold up to 5, 6 or 7 rounds.

Because of the differences in operation between the pistol and the revolver the two usually require different ammunition, described on the Pistol and Revolver ammunition difference page.