Powell's revolver

[MaddieM]

(06-20-2013 11:31 AM)BettyO Wrote:  I have that report as well as a silly one which states that Powell was also "armed with a slingshot!" The slingshot was reported found on him when arrested.....NOT!!

Sifting through the hyperbole and histrionics to find the truth must be a historian's nightmare.

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(06-19-2013 06:37 PM)Wesley Harris Wrote:  

(06-19-2013 09:30 AM)wsanto Wrote:  Can you pull the trigger to fire this particular gun without cocking the device? We see it all the time in westerns-Clint Eastwood, opens his pancho, pulls his pistol and pulls the trigger multiple times: killiing five guys on a fence without cocking the gun for the first or subsequent shots. The action of pulling the trigger cocks the gun. Of course you could c.o.c.k. the gun then pull the trigger a little easier if you've got the time (say you only need to kill four guys sitting on a fence).

Powell's pistol is what is referred to as a "single-action" revolver. You must first coc.k it and then pull the trigger. With a "double-action" revolver, you can pull the trigger which both draws back (coc.ks) the hammer and then drops it on the cartridge.

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(06-19-2013 04:42 PM)MaddieM Wrote:  

(06-19-2013 09:30 AM)wsanto Wrote:  Can you pull the trigger to fire this particular gun without cocking the device? We see it all the time in westerns-Clint Eastwood, opens his pancho, pulls his pistol and pulls the trigger multiple times: killiing five guys on a fence without cocking the gun for the first or subsequent shots. The action of pulling the trigger cocks the gun. Of course you could c.o.c.k. the gun then pull the trigger a little easier if you've got the time (say you only need to kill four guys sitting on a fence).

Don't they do that thingie with their hand like in the old westerns....for super duper fast gunslinger type firing? (yes, I'm hopeless about guns)

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Didn't Powell have the wrong calibre bullets in his gun?

There was one newspaper report that said the lead balls in Powell's revolver were too small for the six chambers in the cylinder. Supposedly paper was stuffed in to hold the balls in. I'm skeptical of that because Powell had a .36 caliber revolver rather than the more common and larger .44 caliber pistols.

What difference would the larger .44 make? Regarding bullets that is?