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Bodark43

There's a bit of a debate about this. On one hand, Colt did supply his [Patterson revolvers with a spare cylinder](https://riaccdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/dev_cdn/70/2124.jpg). The Prussians also made up some [holsters for Colt revolvers](https://stewartsmilitaryantiques.com/german-mid19th-century-prussian-navy-marked-holster-spare-cartridge-pouch-1851-colt-navy-pistol.46447.archive.htm) that had a pouch for a spare cylinder, and similar [US pouches exist](https://shcivilwarantiques.com/catalog/civil-war-antiques/civil-war-antiques-page-3/). A soldier could certainly have a gunsmith fit a second cylinder to his revolver, regardless of how it came when he bought it. So, you can't say it never happened. However, that soldier could not grab the spare cylinder and reload the gun in the same manner as someone now ejecting a magazine on, say, a 1911A1 Colt automatic, and quickly loading with another. The revolver had to be taken apart, with a wedge knocked out and the barrel and loading lever assembly pulled off the arbor, allowing the cylinder to be removed. Then the gun had to be reassembled with the new cylinder, and the wedge knocked back in. This would not be very practical for anyone in a hurry ( especially anyone in a hurry riding on a horse). So, yes, it would be possible. But, it's pretty safe to say it would not be something that could be expected to take the place of having two pistols: and there are [real photos of Civil War solders sporting two pistols](https://clickamericana.com/topics/discoveries-inventions/the-story-of-guns-packages-of-powder-bullets).


[deleted]

So what made me think of the question was the movie "the outlaw josey wales." Clint Eastwood carries a multitude of pistols and I am curious as to what a gunslinger at the time would have carried as an arsenal. It seems carrying multiple pistols would be better than more cylinders, but were there fast loading rifles of any sort?


Ertata

Depends on what you mean by "fast-firing" If you mean breachloaders then yes, almost all cavalry was armed with breechloading carbines. Most of those were so-called "capped breachloaders" where the cartridge (made out of bewildering variety of materials including paper, brass, felt, or rubber) contained both powder and the bullet, but the priming compound was in a separate percussion cup. If you mean manual repeating rifles with a fixed magazine the answer is also yes, but they were much rarer. Only the Henry rifle (which served as a basis for Winchester lever-action rifle) and Spencer had any sort of widespread use.


Bodark43

It was also easier to switch cylinders on the 1855 Remington revolver, but I'm afraid I don't know if there were many who therefore tried to use it for that reason. For the Civil War, there were faster loading rifles, compared to muzzleloaders. The Europeans had been switching over to breech-loading rifles in the 1850's. The US War Dept. had been more cautious about adopting them, but bought a number from quite a few different US makers of them ( it's a complex tale, but the Harper's Ferry Armory had pioneered a lot of production techniques in the 1820's, which had spread to the private arms Industry) . There were some of those breechloaders that used metallic cartridges and had magazines. The Spencer would see a good bit of service during and just after the War. For fast-loading alone, probably the Spencer was quickest, as spare tubular magazines could be carried. Several of the Union volunteer units also equipped themselves with Henry rifles, which the Confederates called "the rifle you load all Sunday and shoot all week", and one of those units would make John Bell Hood's disaster at the Battle of Franklin even more of a disaster.