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Parts of a Cap & Ball Revolver

Handguns first appeared in Europe in the 14th century, but these were not cap and ball pistols and they were not revolvers. They had to be filled with black powder, which had to be measured and then tapped down, after which the ball was then tapped down. Often the ball rolled out before it could be fired. When these old pistols were fired, a delay occurred--while the powder fuse burned--before the explosion sent the ball out of the barrel.

The Basic Idea
- The cap and ball revolver solved many of the problems with older powder and ball pistols. The percussion cap reduced the time between the trigger pull and the ball coming out of the barrel. This greatly increased the shooters chance of hitting a target. The revolver allowed for five or six paper cartridges of premeasured powder (and a cap in each cylinder) so the shooter had only to turn the cylinder and then tap down the ball--with a built-in lever--before shooting. The balls still occasionally rolled out of the barrel, and sometimes the paper cartridges also fell out. Shooters often covered the cylinders with grease or tar to keep the cartridges in, and they used wax to keep the ball in place.
The Basic Parts
- The cap and ball revolver has three major parts: the frame, the cylinder and the barrel. These parts were not made with the uniform tolerances that became standard in the 20th century. Most pistols were handmade and the barrel or cylinder of one pistol would not fit another--even if it was made by the same gunsmith on the same day. The frame includes the handle, the hammer (which fires the cap), the trigger (which trips the hammer) and the lever that taps the ball down on top of the cartridge. The cylinder had five or six cylinders and could be removed to facilitate loading caps and paper cartridges of premeasured powder. The barrels were not rifled (did not have spiral grooves to make the balls spin when they left the muzzle).
Loading and Firing
- Each cylinder of the revolver should be fired one or more times with a percussion cap only--no power--to clear the chamber of unignited powder. The cylinders could be loaded and covered with something to hold the caps and cartridges in place--if you were lucky enough to find more than one cylinder to fit the same frame and barrel. The balls, which could be either spheres or cones, were also not manufactured to uniform tolerances; thus, they were often inserted with a bit of paper or cloth so they fit snugly into the barrel--and stayed in place until fired.

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