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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 ...
Henry M1860 repeating rifle: The Civil War precursor to the Winchester repeating rifle based on early lever-action repeating rifles made by New Haven Arms Company Co. These highly prized weapons were privately purchased by those who could afford them. Joslyn rifle: The Joslyn was made in both percussion and rimfire configuration. Lorenz rifle
After the American Civil War, converted army surplus rifles were made into custom firearms, and the Sharps factory produced Models 1869 and 1874 in large numbers for commercial buffalo hunters and frontiersmen. [18] These large-bore rifles were manufactured with some of the most powerful black powder cartridges ever made.
For an American Civil War soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride. [5] Just 1,731 of the standard rifles were purchased by the government during the war. [6] The Commonwealth of Kentucky purchased a further 50. However, 6,000 to 7,000 saw use by the Union on the field through private purchases by soldiers who could afford it.
The Model 1861 was a step forward in U.S. small arms design, being the first rifled shoulder weapon adopted and widely issued as the primary infantry weapon (earlier U.S. martial rifles such as the Harpers Ferry Model 1803 rifle were issued to riflemen rather than the infantry as a whole and production and issuance of the Model 1855 prior to ...
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.
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] This made it the third most popular carbine of the Civil War; only the Sharps carbine and the Spencer carbine were more widely used. [ 4 ]
The nomenclature of Spencer cartridges was unique. Unlike later cartridges such as the .44-40 Winchester and .45-70, where the first number indicated caliber and the second the charge weight, the .56-56 refers solely to the case. The first 56 is the diameter of the case at the base .56 inches (14.2 mm), measured just past the rim, and the ...