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During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield.Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first ...
During the U.S. Civil War, the advantage of breech-loading rifles became obvious.The rifled muskets used during the war had a rate of fire of 2 or 3 rounds per minute. . Breech-loading rifles increased the rate of fire to 8 to 10 rounds per minute with the additional advantage that they can be easily loaded from a prone, rather than standing, position, reducing the rifleman's visible cross ...
Single-shot breech-loaders would be used throughout the latter half of the 19th Century, but were slowly replaced by various designs for repeating rifles, first used in the American Civil War. Manual breech-loaders gave way to manual magazine feed and then to self-loading rifles.
The Merrill rifle was produced from 1862 to 1865 with a total quantity estimated at over 800. The rifle was a .54 caliber, single -shot, percussion, breechloader with an action identical to the Merrill Carbine, but with a 33-inch barrel, two barrel bands, and a lug for attaching a bayonet. It also had a brass patch box similar to the First Type ...
In 1857, the Burnside carbine won a competition at West Point against 17 other carbine designs. In spite of this, few of the carbines were immediately ordered by the government, but this changed with the outbreak of the Civil War, when over 55,000 were ordered for use by Union cavalrymen. [3]
The Maynard carbine was a breech-loaded carbine used by cavalry in the American Civil War.The First Model was manufactured between 1858 and 1859. About 5,000 were made. In United States service it was distributed to the 9th Pennsylvania and 1st Wisconsin cavalry regiments, United States Marines aboard the USS Saratoga and the United States Revenue Cutter Service.
Hence, unlike with a metal rifle cartridge, the breech mechanism itself somehow needed to provide obturation. The early "screw" mechanisms for sealing the breech consisted of threaded blocks which were screwed tightly into the breech after loading, but the threads themselves were insufficient to provide a gas-tight seal.
However, the advantages were clear, and breech-loading designs would grow to dominate rifle procurement after the Civil War. Many of the lessons learned by Hall would benefit designers of the next generation of breech-loaders such as the Sharps rifle (1848), Spencer carbine (1860), Henry rifle (1860), and others.