1873 Peacemaker

[Bucksnort1]

Ladies and Gents, (I had to include gents to be politically correct)

Someone help me with this.

With 70 to 80 percent of the people in the world being right handed, you could say righties rule but I guess lefties have their rights too.

Before I ask my question about the Peacemaker, I want to toss up an analogy. Some countries think we are goofy when it comes to eating with utensils because most righties hold a fork in the right hand then, when it comes time to cut meat, we switch the fork to the left hand and use the right hand to cut. I am a right handed but I stopped this many years ago.

So, I own the Uberti replica of the 1873. The loading port is on the right side of the gun. To load or reload, I must move the gun to my left hand, then load with the right hand. Wouldn't it make more sense (because most people are right handed) to have the loading port on the left to facilitate loading?

What am I missing? My wife will say I'm missing a lot but that's another story.



Quando omni flunkus moritati

 

[DPris]

I keep the gun in my right hand & load with my left. I'm right-handed.
More than one way to fill up a Peacemaker.
Denis

 

[Bob Wright]

I'm predominately left handed, but shoot handguns right handed. Before cataract surgery, my left eye was master eye, now my right eye dominates. Am I left handed or right handed? I claim Wright handed.

Having said that, I load my Single Actions by holding the revolver in my left hand and loading the chambers with my right hand. Why? My right hand is the more dexterous, and finding the cartridge and guiding it into the chamber is the more natural way for me. Also more positive grip to rotate the cylinder.

Doing it this way over sixty years, so by now..............


Bob Wright

Incidentally, when I used those double action revolvers, I opened the cylinder and pushed it out with the fingers of my left hand and punched out the empties with my left thumb (on the extractor head). Then loaded with my right hand. Also held top-break revolvers in my left hand to reload.

 

[Drm50]

Ditto- same as BW and do it without thinking or much looking. Never thought of it as a issue.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

the 1873 Single Action Army was a further development of the Colt Cap and Ball revolvers, which went all the way back to the 1847 Walker Colt. The Paterson Colt went back further, but to load it the cylinder had to come out of the gun.

Anyway, when William Mason designed the Single Action Army, he was in many ways simply improving on the earlier percussion designs. The cylinders all rotated clockwise when viewed from behind. And the relief for capping the nipples was on the right side of the frame.

This is not an original Colt, it is a Pietta replica of the 1860 Colt, but you get the idea. I can tell you that being right handed I always use my right, more dexterous hand, to cap the nipples.

When the Richards Conversion came out around 1872, a loading gate was placed where the capping relief had been. An example of the evolving design. The same idea was used with the later Richards Mason Conversion, and the Open Top conversions.

So when Mason designed the Single Action Army, it was only natural to place the loading gate on the right side, where the capping relief had been.

I have not been loading single action revolvers for quite as long as Bob Wright, only about 40 years, but I have always held the revolver in my left hand and inserted the cartridges with my more coordinated right hand.


And before it gets any further, let's forget about the myth that Sam Colt was left handed. He died in 1862, and nobody knows which hand he favored.

 

[Bucksnort1]

Bob Wright, I'll bet you've been waiting a long time to tell someone you are Wright handed.

Ok, I shoot all firearms with my right hand/shoulder and I too load the single action with the gun in my left hand but I think William Mason should have consulted me before placing the loading gate on the right.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

...but I think William Mason should have consulted me before placing the loading gate on the right.

You do realize that if he had listened to you he would have had to completely mirror image everything in the gun? The cylinder would have needed to rotate the other way, which would have meant the hand would have to be on the other side, which also affects the placement of everything else inside. The whole point of conversions was to 'convert' existing guns into cartridge guns. Which is exactly what he did. He took old C&B revolvers and converted them to fire cartridges. Same thing with the Trap Door rifles, converted Cap & Ball rifles to fire cartridges. At least the early ones.

Colt was not the only one with conversions from Cap & Ball revolvers either.

Remington had a contract with S&W to convert a lot of C&B 1858 revolvers to cartridges. Much simpler to change the design of the cylinder and add a loading gate than to start from scratch. Less expensive too.

Here are a couple of photos of Remington conversions. Notice they loaded from the right side, the same place where the nipples would have been capped.

 

[44 AMP]

To load or reload, I must move the gun to my left hand, then load with the right hand. Wouldn't it make more sense (because most people are right handed) to have the loading port on the left to facilitate loading?

Why?

Since more people are right handed, using the more dexterous right hand to handle the small objects makes more sense. Remember the SA developed from cap & ball, and the right hand is better for a right handed person to use handling caps.

SO, first cap & ball, then cartridge conversions, then finally cartridge guns, with the loading "port" on the right side, for ease of use by the majority of people. And it became traditional, as well.

I fully understand modern tactical doctrine to keep your pistol in a "firing grip" when reloading, but get real, it only matters when your pistol can be reloaded in 2-3 seconds or less. Not happening with any regular SA revolver.

I see no point in an obsession with keeping an EMPTY pistol on target or in a firing grip, but that's just me...

I believe Elmer Keith designed a single action with the loading gate on the left, (the No. 5?) and a company in Texas made a few. Never made mainstream... if you're in need of a left hand SA, look for one of those. And, bring your wallet!

 

[rclark]

I am a lefty. The issue with the reloading gate on the right, never has been a problem for me. Seemed perfectly natural to just hold in left and load with the right hand.... And I don't think it would be an issue if it was turned around ... For example the DA crane on my GP-100 and CA Bulldog opens to the left and I load with my left hand on those guns. No problem. Not awkward.

 

[shurshot]

I forget the title, but in an American literature class many years ago, I remember one author referencing the Colt revolver as "Colonel Colt's left handed wheeler". Made sense.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I believe Elmer Keith designed a single action with the loading gate on the left, (the No. 5?) and a company in Texas made a few. Never made mainstream... if you're in need of a left hand SA, look for one of those. And, bring your wallet!

Elmer Keith's Number 5 was simply a 44 Special, highly engraved, standard Single Action Army with a modified grip frame. As yoiu can see, the loading gate is in the normal place.

As I said before, if somebody wants the loading gate on the other side, everything, the frame, the lockwork, even the location of the ejector rod, will have to be reversed. This will be a completely custom revolver from the ground up, and will cost a lot of money.

 

[DPris]

You're thinking of Texas Longhorn Arms, with their left-side loading gates. Really nothing to do with Keith.
Denis

 

[mhblaw]

...and if you want a TLA by Bill Grover, be prepared to pay big bucks! They are finely made SA's.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...cylinder would have needed to rotate the other way..." Like a Smith & Wesson?
It doesn't matter which side the loading gate is on. You adapt to load 'em however they are loaded.
"...where the capping relief had been..." And in most cases, stuff is the way it is because that's how it has always been.
Mind you, one must remember that 19th Century revolvers were designed to be used on horse back. Horses, traditionally were driven with the left hand on the reins, leaving the right free for your sabre, ropes, loading your side arm, etc.

 

[Dufus]

Guess what?? My Ruger singles have loading gates on the right just like the SAA.

Since I am lefty almost everything, the left hand is in procession of the singles all the time, loading and firing.

The problems early on was learning to shoot a right side bolt gun. Handguns, not a problem.

I even learned to shoot 1911s with the safety and slide lock on the wrong side.

 

[gwpercle]

When it comes to loading a single action , I find it much easier to hold the gun in my left hand , rolling the cylinder with the fingers of my left hand and picking up rounds and sliding them into the chambers with my right hand . Just seems the right way to do it for me .

 

[Drm50]

I saw a Colt clone with loading gate and ejector tube both on the left. I though it some one of a kind custom job. I didn't know someone was producing them. I
have herd same argument made with fishing reels. Most guys cast with right
and pass rod to left hand to crank reel on casting outfits. Spinning reels cast with right and reel with left. You get so use to doing this kind of thing you do it
without thinking.

 

[jackmoser65]

Single action revolvers are not right or left handed, they are ambidextrous and can be quickly and easily manipulated by either hand.

 

[Siggy-06]

Here's a little fun fact(off topic) that always comes to my mind when I hear people talk about being right or left handed:

Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties of climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles, except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil.

Back to the topic, I hold my blackhawk in my right hand and load/unload with my left.

 

[the Black Spot]

I am with the left handed loaders. The flutes on the cylinder are turning with your right pointer finger. Hold gun in right hand, point barrel up, use left thumb to run extractor rod to push out empties, turn cylinder with right pointer finger.
To load: point barrel down, cylinder load gate is now pointed strait out away from you, pull out cartridge which is on the left side of your gunbelt, load round, turn cylinder with right pointer finger, skip one cylinder, repeat process 4 times. Bring hammer all the way back and let down on empty chamber.