Working the Plant Front-Loading ‘Army’ Revolver

Back in 1857, Smith & Wesson acquired the rights to an unusual patent owned by an inventor whose name you may never have heard before. His name was Rollin White. Mr. White’s patent covered the design of a revolver cylinder with chambers that were bored clear through, into which metallic cartridges could be inserted from the rear. We think of this as a commonplace idea today, and you might even wonder why this concept would be patentable.

But in the era of percussion revolvers with chambers that were loaded through the front and open on only one end, White’s seemingly simple idea was really quite revolutionary. The protection granted by this patent gave White—and subsequently Smith & Wesson—the sole right to produce revolvers that would accept what we know today as "metallic cartridges," and to chamber them in the easiest, most practical manner available.

From the day they were introduced in 1857, Smith & Wesson’s metalliccartridge revolvers were extremely popular. Crude though the early S&W design was by today’s standards, it was nevertheless our first metalliccartridge revolver, and did away with several of the laboriously slow steps associated with loading a percussion revolver. With the advent of the Civil War, the infant S&W company simply could not produce enough of these new revolvers to keep up with demand from civilians.

And, just as happens today with new innovations, crafty inventors and firearms makers tried all sorts of ways to get around the S&W/White patent, including the outright infringement or copying of its basic principals. One of the more creative side-steps taken in order to get around the patent was used in the Plant revolver. Remember, the S&W patent also protected the idea of inserting a cartridge into the cylinder from the rear.

Revolver cartridges as we know them have rims on their rear ends that, among other things, act as a stop to prevent the cartridge from sliding forward in the chamber. But what if someone came up with a cartridge that could be loaded from the front? That’s just what was done with the Plant revolver. Smelling failure, the factory also provided a second percussion cylinder with these revolvers. First appearing in the mid-1860s, something over 8,000 Plant revolvers were eventually manufactured.

The basic revolver really didn’t exhibit anything new or innovative in and of itself, but its cartridge was quite unique. This unusual idea came from W. C. Ellis and J. H. White who manufactured the revolvers in New Haven, Connecticut, and marketed them through their close association with Merwin & Bray of New York, a large and well known distributor of the time. The cartridge more than made up for this rather mundane and conventional revolver design.

The Plant’s cylinders were bored clear through from front to rear, similar to the S&W, but the Plant chambers had a shoulder near the rear end that the cartridge butted-up against when it was shoved in from the front

It’s as simple as they come, with no springs and only one manually operated moving part. As you can see, the rod is designed to push the cartridge forward and out the front of the cylinder. The very simply procedure involves placing the hammer at half-cock, then depressing the base-pin lock and withdrawing the base pin out the front. of the cylinder. The firing pin or hammer nose penetrated the open space at the rear of the chamber to dent the "cup primer" at the rear of the cartridge.

These highly unorthodox .42caliber metallic cartridges were slightly tapered, as were the cylinder chambers. They were inserted from the front end of the cylinder in a manner similar to the Colt Thuer conversions which were used on some 1860 Army revolvers. The idea here was that the taper provided an interference fit that should hold the cartridge in place during firing.

In actual fact—and for what should be all too obvious reasons—the front-loaded cartridge did not stay in place reliably, and proved to be unreliable and impractical. However, these creatively planned revolvers were sold with not one but two fitted cylinders. The first was a front-loading cylinder, made to ac- To take the hammer out, the grips, mainspring, and sideplate must be removed first. Like that of the Colt Single Action, the cylinder stop is hammer actuated.

The Plant revolvers used a brass frame and the hammer pivot is actually a machined "boss" inside the frame. cept the Plant metallic cup-fire cartridges. The other was a "standard" muzzle-loading percussion cylinder. This would appear to indicate that the factory was aware of the problems with the front-loaded cartridge, and decided to equip each revolver with a redundant method of loading. I suspect that many Plant owners must have relied exclusively on that spare percussion cylinder provided by the factory.

At least with that, they had a working revolver, even if it was oldfashioned. Even though the Plant’s front-loading cartridge didn’t work out so well,

Plant ‘Army’ Single-Action Revolver 1 rame 2 Barrel 3 Base Pin 3a Base Pin oc Spring 3b Base Pin oc Plunger 4 Clin er 5 Si eplate 6 Si eplate Screw 7 ammer 7a ammer oll (not shown) 7b ammer oll Pin (not shown) 8 an 9 an spring the Plant is nevertheless a terrific piece of history. It’s perhaps the only other early metallic-cartridge handgun besides the White/Smith & Wesson type, and if nothing else, it’s a great example of the foolish lengths people will go to circumvent a patent.

Over the years, I’ve encountered a few original Plant revolvers, as well as a few with front-loading cylinders that had been rechambered by gunsmiths to allow them to accept a more conventional metallic cartridge.

I wouldn’t suggest altering one of these collectible revolvers, even though 9a an spring Pin (not shown) 10 Mainspring 11 Strain Screw 12 Grip, right 13 Grip, left 14 Grip Screw 15 Clin er Stop 16 Clin er Stop Spring 17 Clin er Stop Pin 18 rigger 19 rigger Spring 20 rigger Pin 21 Ejector o 22 Ejector ea that’s the only real practical solution to firing a metallic cartridge. For disassembly for cleaning or service, however, the instructions that follow should see you through. Disassembly Instructions 1.

As always, before beginning the disassembly of any firearm we always want to make certain that the weapon is not loaded. Holding the revolver by its grip in your left hand, and being cautious to keep your finger away from the trigger (#18), pull the hammer (#7) back slowly towards the rear until you hear one audible click. This should place the hammer in the halfcock or loading position, where the cylinder (#4) will spin freely when rotated in a clockwise direction.

Again, keeping your fingers away from the trigger, slowly rotate the cylinder by hand and examine the cylinder’s chambers by tilting the gun so the front of the chambers are visible but still angled away from you. Make absolutely certain that the cylinder chambers have no cartridges in them. 2. With the hammer still in the halfcock position, depress the base-pin lock plunger (#3b) and pull the base pin (#3) out toward the front until it stops. The cylinder can now be rolled out to the right side of the frame. 3.

Remove the grips and mainspring by unscrewing and removing the grip screw (#14) and lifting off the grips (#12 and 13). Unscrew the strain screw (#11) at the front of the grip frame to remove the tension from the mainspring (#10) and lift it out of the opening in the grip frame. 4. To open up the action, unscrew and remove the sideplate screw (#6) from the right side. Using a plastic or hardwood mallet, gently tap the head of the sideplate screw in until the sideplate (#5) jumps up and out of the frame.

Use a small screwdriver as a tool and hold the hand (#8) to the rear while rotating the hammer about halfway back. Pull and hold the trigger to the rear while you lift the hammer assembly out of the sideplate opening in the frame. The hand can be removed from the hammer by rotating it 180 degrees and pulling it out of its hole in the side of the hammer. The handspring (#9) can be removed by driving out the handspring pin (#9a) using a suitable pin punch and hammer.

Once the pin is out, the handspring is simply lifted out the front of the hammer. Notice its position for reassembly later. Be sure to support the hammer properly against a solid surface before attempting to drive any pins in or out.

To reinstall the hand, use a small punch to lift up the handspring slightly in its channel in the hammer while you slide the hand back into its hole in the hammer. Once the hand is in, release the tension on the handspring. 5. To remove the trigger, use a suitably sized cup-tipped pin punch and hammer to drive out the trigger pin (#20) from either direction. The trigger pin is the rear-most of the two pins passing through the frame. The trigger is now free to be pulled out the bottom of its opening in the frame.

Notice how the trigger spring (#19) fits into a small slot at the rear of the trigger. Use a suitably sized cup-tipped pin punch and hammer to drive out the cylinder-stop pin (#17) from either side of the frame. The cylinder stop (#15) is now free to be pulled out the bottom of the frame. Notice how the cylinder-stop spring (#16) fits into a thin slot in the cylinder stop and pushes on the frame. 6.

The base pin can be removed by inserting a small pick up under the The rod screws into the ejector head and can be unscrewed by using padded pliers to turn the rod in a counterclockwise direction. base-pin lock spring (#3a) and pushing the spring up toward the barrel. Then pull forward on the base pin and remove it from the frame. The base-pin lock is a captive part not meant to be easily removed from the base pin.

The ejector can be moved forward and its rod (#21) grasped with a pair of padded pliers, and then unscrewed in a counterclockwise direction. Once you have the ejector rod out, the head (#20) can be snaked out the opening in the frame side. Except as otherwise noted above, these steps can simply be reversed for reassembly of the Plant revolver. ■

Antique/Replica Firearms Winchester M1873/1876 and Modern Replicas, Working the Jan 09 Winchester M1885 Single-Shot Rifle, Working the Feb 09 Winchester M1886 Rifles, Working the Mar 09 Winchester M1892 Lever-Action Rifles, Working the Apr 09 Winchester M1894 Lever-Action Rifle, Working the May 09 Winchester M1897 Slide-Action Shotgun, Working the June 09 Great Western Single Action Army, Working the Nov 09 Henry Rifle and its Uberti Replica, Working the July 09 Little Sharps Rifle, Disassembly of the July 09 Plant Front-Loading ‘Army’ Revolver, Working the Dec 09 Building the Gunsmithing Library: Part 1, The Classics Oct 09 Firearm Finishing Methods: A to Z Aug 09 Slow-Rust Bluing: Science or Alchemy?

Mar 09 Take an Insider’s Look at the Savage Accu Stock Oct 09 Tech Topics Accu Grip Vise Pads July 09 Book: Building Double Rifles on Shotgun Actions July 09 Brownells Annual Gunsmiths Career Fair July 09 Caspian Pocketsmith Tool July 09 Magna-Tip Screwdriver Kits July 09 Tactical Solutions 1911/.22 Conversion Kit July 09 Vulcanite File July 09 Editorials Another One Bites the Dust Feb 09 FBI Background Checks Hit 100 Million June 09 Firearm Sales Defy Economic Downturn Apr 09 Firearms Industry Shows Sustained Growth in 2009 Nov 09 Fourth Annual Gunsmith Career Fair Dates Set Sept 09 Gunsmiths: A Chance to Get Involved Oct 09 Obama Administration Shows Anti-Gun Cards Early Jan 09 SHOT Show Signals Positive Start for 2009 Mar 09 Sales Boom Has Manufacturers at Full Capacity Aug 09 Semi-Auto Rifle Ban Would Reduce Jobs, Not Crime May 09 Statistics Can Prove Anything Dec 09 What Works in this Country?

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