Top-breaks; which one?

[jimmybaby]

As a teen-ager in the early '50's, living at the folks place in south-central New Mexico, I came home one day having traded for an H&R revolver.  When my grandpa saw it he began telling me how flawed the (tb) design was and that it could cause problems.  When asked, he hesitated to explain but, being a good old fashioned teenager, I kept asking.  Finally he told something from his personal memory.  A law-man in Silver City, who carried a S&W, had warned a bad-guy out of town by the next day.  Next day, noonish(my phrase), there was the bad-guy.  The law-man started to throw down on the bad guy but his weapon came open as it cleared leather and emptied the cylinder into the street.  The lawman lost his life.  And that is why Grandpa didn't like top-breaks.
For years I wondered about this; the tb's that I knew of weren't prone to this sort of thing.  The answer was the Schofield design,which facilitated one handed operation for a cavalry-man, but, in at least one case, was not appropriate for a man in a hurry.
Just some thoughts from the Old West.    jimmybaby

[Silver_Rings]

The Scofield can not be opened unless the hammer i at half cock.  Now its possible the lawman was caring his pistol that way but I wouldn't think so.

SR

[Deadeye Don]

Urban Legend?

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[St. George]

Hard to say after all these years - but maybe part myth - part poor maintenance.

I've handled top-breaks for a few decades and none of them ever opened that easily - no matter who made them.

If they did - folks would never have bought them in the quantities that they did, because no matter 'what' the price - people wanted things to work as advertised, and to be able to trust them to do so when needed.

As to it being a Schofield - that latch was put there to help a Trooper reload quickly - and if anyone was ever going to be in a hurry to do so - it'd be him.

The truth of the matter is probably that some folks could 'see' that happening some time, and so they figured it had, and it became a part of a myth after some embellishment and the passage of time.

There were relatively few face-to-face encounters - despite what's seen in the 'John Ford Reference Library' - so an account of this should be in newspaper archives somewhere - or at the New Mexico State Historical Society.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[geo]

just bought an h&r sportsman. am having lead fouling problems that render the gun unusable after firing off several cylinder loads. has to be cleaned with a brass brush/ reamed out with a rod. checked with a gunsmith who said it was a problem not of any manufacturer but of individual barrels. some fouled; most didn't. any thoughts or suggestions? am using thunderbolt .22 lr. thanks in advance, geo.

[St. George]

You might want to re-post this in 'Gunsmithing', since those H&R 'Sportsman' revolvers were built around WWII, and not during the Old West era.

If you're having problems - try shooting several different varieties of .22 ammunition through it.

Some .22's are very ammunition sensitive and the will shoot one brand better than any other - so if you can isolate 'that' brand - buy a couple of bricks with the same Lot Number.

First - clean the bore and forcing cone 'very' thoroughly - then see what it likes to shoot.

Though labelled 'non-corrosive' - .22 ammunition's 'dirty' - and you'll see this when you look down the bore and see the unburned powder, so re-clean after each brand.

Also - try both 'High-Speed' and 'Standard Velocity' when you're testing.

Good Luck.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!