Cascadian Pattern Revolver

The Cascadian Pattern is a type of revolver commonly used by Interlopers in Cascadia. The receiver for the revolver is near identical, whereas the barrel and cylinder are made to specification by the gunsmith to accommodate the client's specifications. The most common cartridge used is .357 Magnum, but some opt for .454 when bear hunting.

The cylinder has two modes, activated by pulling on the lever located beneath the barrel. Pulling on the lever pulls the cylinder away from the hammer and allows it to be spun freely in order to be reloaded. Pulling on the trigger while the lever is down will cause the cylinder to spring out of the receiver, allowing its user to load in a new cylinder for rapid reload, if they have one.

Its primary use is to finish off wounded animals and for self defence. During the Vancouver Island Incident, it was popular as a backup weapon when faced against AFUN troops who commonly wore NIJ IIIA-III level plates. Faced against squad leaders wearing NIJ-VMAG, improvisation was needed.

## History

During the early days of the Interloper period of Cascadia, many Interlopers began to face issues with their old city-made guns which were not suitable for the tasks at hand in Cascadia. Spare parts for their weapons were hard to come by and expensive to bring through the Ranger Trail. Most smithed revolvers were also rudimentary and bespoke, having little standardization which also resulted in failures. The Babine Three, a trio of gunsmiths who resided in the Babine Mountains, collaborated to create a standardized receiver that would ensure consistency and ease of maintenance, while allowing for customization of the barrel and cylinder to cater to individual needs. The revolver quickly gained popularity among the Interlopers for its durability, simplicity, and adaptability. The ejectable cylinder was a selling point, allowing for faster reloads in the heat of the moment. The pattern would proliferate through Cascadia, becoming a key part of a Cascadian Gunsmith's repertoire.

## Variants

Other than cartridge variants, some gunsmiths produce their own version of the Cascadian Pattern, whether to differentiate their work from another gunsmith's, to create a unique version for a client, or as an attempt to improve the design. Some of these variants/changes include:

* **Bottom Cylinder Barrel**: As opposed to the barrel being aligned to the top chamber of the cylinder, this variant fires from the bottom chamber. The barrel being aligned this way lowers the bore axis to be more in-line with the shooter's hand, reducing overall recoil. The lever in this case is located below the receiver.
* **Carbine Conversion**: The grip is converted into a rifle stock or shoulder brace, and the barrel elongated. Typically made for larger calibers which may benefit from a longer barrel length and/or a stable recoil control.
* **Top Break Conversion**: Instead of using a swing-out mechanism, the cylinder is accessed by pulling the lever and breaking the action open. The trigger-pull eject feature is still available, but some have made it so pulling the trigger will instead eject the cartridges in the cylinder rather than ejecting the whole cylinder.
* **"Attitude Adjuster"**: A rather benign design originating from the Oregon coast, which features a double-barrel design in both side-by-side and over/under fashions.

## Advantages and Disadvantages

While the Cascadian Pattern is versatile in terms of adaptability between cartridges and tactical freedom, various aspects of its design are not uncommon to come short. Namely, the hammer spring assembly is often the main failure point regardless of the cartridge or variation. This is because the hammer spring acts when used to eject the cylinder in the lever-down position, putting considerable stress on it. This amount of stress would be no issue with a spring of considerable quality, but in various examples constructed around Cascadia, material quality is inconsistent. The spring has been replicated between proper springsteel, or the spring from a pen. Nontheless, the hammer spring is commonly the first part to fail in a Cascadian pattern revolver, leading to misfires, light strikes, or the hammer spring snapping. There have been recorded variants which address this shortfall, by implementing a dedicated ejection spring for the cylinder rather than relying upon the hammer spring to do the work.