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View Full Version : Have there been any switch barrel revolvers?



44minimum
03-20-2010, 04:27 PM
Every now and then you see an article about switch barrel rifles or semi-auto pistols, why not revolvers? Have you ever seen one or heard of one? I have not, but surely someone out there has constructed one or at least tried to. Could it be that difficult to swap out cylinders and maybe a barrel with interrupted threads with a set screw to lock it into place or something like that? Having a 32 and 41 and 475 pistol all in one might be interesting.

Guesser
03-20-2010, 04:32 PM
Dan Wesson built revolvers in 357, 41, and 44 mag as well as some prorietary cartridges and packaged them in "Pistol Pacs" with as many as 4 different barrel lengths. I am not aware of any that changed cartridges, however the 1911 platform can be set up to change calibers, the "Colt Ace" comes immediately to mind and there are others.

ReloaderFred
03-20-2010, 04:38 PM
In the late 1970's, there was a company making multi-caliber revolvers from Ruger Blackhawks. One of the owners was Bill Freeman, and they were based in Monrovia, CA. I don't know what ever happened to them, but Bill moved to Northern Idaho around 1980.

Hope this helps..

Fred

montana_charlie
03-20-2010, 04:53 PM
Well, the 'pepperbox' could be called a switch barrel revolver, but all tubes were drilled for the same load...
CM

44minimum
03-20-2010, 07:17 PM
Well I already knew about the Dan Wesson guns, I guess I should have specified a multi caliber gun. I had not heard about the multi caliber Blackhawks.

mooman76
03-20-2010, 08:02 PM
I know it isn't exactly what you were talking about but someone was marketing a cylinder that you could put in some revolvers that would shoot many different calibers like 9mm, 380, 38 and so on.

MT Gianni
03-20-2010, 08:31 PM
I know it isn't exactly what you were talking about but someone was marketing a cylinder that you could put in some revolvers that would shoot many different calibers like 9mm, 380, 38 and so on.

AIRC they had clips like a 45 for the 9 & 380. Very expensive, marketed to military seal type teams finding themselves behind the supply lines and perhaps shooting any 35 cal load.

anachronism
03-20-2010, 08:53 PM
I know it isn't exactly what you were talking about but someone was marketing a cylinder that you could put in some revolvers that would shoot many different calibers like 9mm, 380, 38 and so on.

That sounds like the really limited production Medusa. Very rare nowdays. IIRC, the company later tried offering replacement cylinders for other manufacturers guns, but the ultimately foundered.

Blacksmith
03-20-2010, 09:37 PM
Kirst Cartridge Konverter has conversion cylinders for various BP Cap and Ball revolvers to convert them to cartridge firing. For example you can convert the Ruger Old Army to either .45 Colt/.45 Schofield or to .45 ACP. Here is a link:
http://kirstkonverter.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=4&cat=Ruger+Old+Army+Konverters

Blacksmith

jhrosier
03-20-2010, 10:39 PM
The Dan Wessons were designed with different barrel and cylinder dimensions so that the gun could never be accidentally assembled with a barrel of smaller caliber than the cylinder.

There was a caliber conversion for one of the .455 Webley revolvers that used a .22 caliber barrel inserted into the .45 caliber barrel and a separate cylinder for the .297/.230 Morris cartridge.

Jack

spqrzilla
03-20-2010, 11:12 PM
Well, between the Dan Wessons and the convertibles that Ruger makes, I guess the answer is "yes".

44minimum
03-21-2010, 06:15 PM
I suppose so. I should have been more specific and said multi caliber, multi barrel revolvers. I already knew about the Dan Wessons and the Ruger convertible cylinder and the medusa but this webley with a 22 insert is more along the lines of what I was thinking. Thanks for the input dudes

7br
03-21-2010, 07:34 PM
I suppose so. I should have been more specific and said multi caliber, multi barrel revolvers. I already knew about the Dan Wessons and the Ruger convertible cylinder and the medusa but this webley with a 22 insert is more along the lines of what I was thinking. Thanks for the input dudes

Seems like a person could switch the barrel like the Dan Wesson double action and switch cylinder like ala the ruger convertible.

44minimum
03-21-2010, 08:23 PM
That's what I was thinking and I figured that someone somewhere sometime had done it or attempted it and if anybody knew about it, then probably someone on here would know about it.

jhrosier
03-21-2010, 09:06 PM
The likelyhood of a KB and a lawsuit when someone assembles a larger cylinder with a smaller barrel would pretty much rule out anything being commercially available.
I seriously doubt that any reasonably alert gunsmith would do the work for the same reason.

Jack

scrapcan
03-22-2010, 10:12 AM
wasn't there an odd ball semi auto revolver that could shoot mulitple calibers? I thought it would use 380, 38 super, 9mm, 38, 357. I read about it in an old gun digest, but could not seem to find it.

sixshot
03-22-2010, 12:09 PM
I handled a very neat switch barrel revolver last year at the Shootists Holiday at Raton, New Mexico, it had been built by Milt Morrison, I think he handed me 4 different calibers. It was a snap to switch from one caliber to the other, you could make the switch in 2 minutes.

Dick

44minimum
03-22-2010, 12:12 PM
sixshot, how was it setup? Like a Dan Wesson or watt? And I don't suppose you snapped any pictures of this critter did you?

Hurricane
03-23-2010, 08:29 AM
There is a problem that may make switch caliber handgun unsatisfactory for most people. Changing cylinder or barrel is not the problem. Handguns are sensitive to the weight of the boolit being used. Heavy boolits hit higher than light boolits at common handgun ranges when shot from the same gun and sight setting. Even in one caliber, my 38 Special will change verticle point of impact 4 or 5 inches at 20 yards changing from 158 grain to 170 grain boolits. The change in point of impact changing from a 250 grain 45 to a 158 or 125 grain 38 might be 2 or 3 feet. Changing to something smaller like a 32 caliber would be even worse. That moving point of impact may be the reason multi caliber handguns are not common.

runfiverun
03-24-2010, 10:24 PM
that would be handeled by changing the front sight height when you swapped the bbl a shroud or the bbl itself would have a new front sight.
a slight change to the rear sight may be needed but doable certainly.
a single action type revolver timed for each cylinder and switch bbls like the dw's would be fairly simple with line boring.

Dave Bulla
03-25-2010, 12:31 AM
Did some googling... i.e. Milt Morrison, multi caliber etc.

Check out this,

http://www.shootists.com/SNLSummer06.pdf

I found a couple other references but some of them, once I clicked on the link, I couldn't find the story that generated the hit on the search.

Basically sounds like he was able to develop a prototype pistol that allowed you to safely change the cylinder and barrel to another caliber without the chance of screwing up and mixing the wrong cylinder and barrel. Doesn't really tell ya much though.

oldhickory
03-25-2010, 04:41 AM
I'm just going by poor memory here, but didn't the convertable Ruger single actions go by the name, "Centaur" or something similer? Somewhere I have a magazine article from the early 80s detailing these convertable revolvers, seems the barels were locked in place by an Allen set screw.

NickSS
03-25-2010, 05:44 AM
The question in my mind is WHY? I have owned TC contenders (in fact I bought one of the very first ones to come out of the factory) but I got bored with all of the different calibers on one action. I have the same problem with buying rifle barrels for my H&R handy rifles. I have bought a couple extra barrels but they were to replace ones that I was not happy with and the replaced barrels were sold off. I guess its just me but I would rather own 5 guns in 5 calibers than one gun and a lot of barrels and or cylinders.

oldhickory
03-26-2010, 05:00 AM
I found the article, (I never throw gun mags away) written by L.C. Venturo in the May 1980 edition of "Mganum Power" magazine, (no longer in print). It uses a Ruger Super Blackhawk frame and is called "Centaur's Multi-Magnum Package, or The Centaur Pistol Pack." The package tested included .357magnum, .44magnum, and .45Colt with seven different barrels, (though they made barrels from 2"-15" for the package). Also available were cylinders in 9mm Winchester Magnum, .41Magnum, .45Auto, and .45Winchester magnum.

Why?..Why not! I had a 1911-A1 in .38Super with a .22 conversion unit, 9mm unit, .400Corbon, and .45Auto unit. 1 frame, 3 slides, 5 calibers, (the .45 slide needed it's ejector slot deepened to match the original .38Super ejector, but it worked well...That's when G.I. .45 parts were cheap).

According to the article, the package worked well and was easy and quick to change-out using a slot head screw driver and "T" handle Allen wrench. It DID NOT address the possiblity of shooting a larger caliber cylinder with a smaller caliber barrel though, (maybe why the Centaur Package is no longer made).

Lee W
03-26-2010, 06:20 AM
http://www.kitsune.addr.com/Firearms/Revolvers/Medusa_Model_47.htm

Here is a revolver that can shoot anything in the 9mm range.