Unlike pistols, where a magazine is preloaded with a number of rounds, a revolver, such as my little Smith and Wesson 442, you need to insert a round in each chamber of the cylinder before firing. My gun holds five rounds and it takes several seconds to load before snapping the cylinder into the frame and commence firing.
We still load the guns the ‘old’ way at the range, but at home, we preload rounds into speed loaders and keep them handy so we don’t have to have loaded guns – until we need them – and likely won’t have the time to put five individual rounds in the cylinder. That way, with a simple twist of the release knob, the rounds simultaneously fall into the cylinder and with a snap, the revolver is ready to defend the Ponderosa.
