conversion cylinder mechanics

[tickTalk]

I don't think anyone has explained this elsewhere..
I am a little confused as to how a drop-in 5 shot conversion cylinder, like a howell's, can index correctly in a frame built for a 6 shot front loader cylinder..
I mean, on pulling back the hammer, it drops the bolt and the hand rotates the cylinder 60 degrees... for a 5 shot cylinder wouldn't the hand have to rotate the cylinder an extra 12 degrees?
I must be missing something..

thanks..

 

[unspellable]

Cylinder rotation

The degree of cylinder rotation in many revolvers is related to the ratchet design more than the hand or pawl. If you look close you may find the hand completely bypasses the ratchet before lock up.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The hand only travels a set distance. It has no relation to how many degrees the cylinder turns.

The arrangement, and number or ratchet teeth on the cylinder determines how far the cylinder will rotated for each stroke of the hand.

The spacing of the teeth on these two cylinders is different.

This cylinder has five chambers and five ratchet teeth. So for every stroke the hand rotates the cylinder one fifth of the way around.






This cylinder has six chambers and six teeth, so the hand rotates it one sixth of the way around for every stroke.

 

[Crawdad1]

They work that's all I know. I have a 5 shot for my 1860 Army repro and its as smooth as the black powder cylinder.