Probably the most unusual American cavalry carbine of the period of the North-South Civil War is the so-called "Kentucky Carbine", designed by Louis Triplett and William Scott of Columbia and appeared on the American arms market in 1864-1865. Caliber -.60-52. Spencer carbine cartridges. Outwardly, it seems to be nothing special. You can't even say that this carbine had a tubular seven-shot magazine in the butt. To load a carbine with a cartridge from this store, it was required to put the trigger on a half cocking. After that, it was necessary to turn the front of the carbine with the barrel clockwise. At the same time, the extractor pushed an empty sleeve out of the barrel, as the rotation continued up to 180 °, the spring-loaded magazine door opened and the next cartridge fell into the chamber. Then the barrel rotated counterclockwise and so the loading took place. When the hammer was fully cocked, the Triplet and Scott was ready to fire.
Carbine "Triplet and Scott".
The Triplet and Scott carbine in the process of reloading.
A very original carbine was invented by William Jenks, who signed a contract on September 22, 1845 for his supply of.54 caliber carbines for the US Navy. The first carbines were smooth-bore, but in the 1860s. they were converted into rifled ones. They were produced at the Springfield Arsenal in the amount of about 4500 pieces, and they also were noted in the battles of the Civil War. For its unusual appearance, it was nicknamed "Mule ears", and it should be noted that its design was indeed even more than strange. It was charged through a hole in the top of the barrel. But the rear of the bore was also open, but it was "puffed up" by a kind of "bolt" or piston controlled by a lever located on top. The trigger was located on the right. To load the carbine, it was necessary to flip the lever back and remove the piston from the barrel. Then, through the hole in the barrel, insert a round bullet into the barrel and either pour a charge of powder there using a special dispenser, or bite off an ordinary paper cartridge and again pour the powder into the hole. After that, the lever was pushed forward, the piston also went forward and pushed the bullet and gunpowder forward until it stops, that is, until it crashed into the rifling of the barrel. The hole itself was blocked by a piston. Now all that was left was to pull the trigger, put a capsule on the gun tube, aim and shoot.
William Jenks' Mule Ears carbine
William Jenks carbine - top view with lever fully extended. The pusher piston is clearly visible.
Diagram from a patent by William Jenks, explaining how his carbine worked.
B. F. Jocelyn designed his.54 breech-loading carbine back in 1855. In 1857, the American army tested 50 of his carbines, but at that time the military refused to take them into service due to a general prejudice against breech-loading weapons. But in 1858, the US Navy still ordered Joslin 500 carbines of his design (.58 caliber - 14.7 mm). For a number of reasons, Jocelyn managed to produce only 200 pieces in 1861. In 1861, he converted his carbine to a metal rimfire cartridge and received an order from the Federal Department of Artillery for 860 of these carbines, which was completed the following year, 1862. In the battles of the Civil War, the carbine showed itself well, which led to the fact that in the same year 20 thousand of such carbines were ordered to Joslin. Deliveries to the US Army began in 1863, although it had received only half of the Joslins it had ordered before it finished. By the way, it was the Springfield-Jocelyn rifles that became the first truly massive "advanced weapon" in America. The reason was that they had a very simple valve action and fired the common round-fired.56 caliber unitary cartridges.
Diagram of the Joslin carbine device from a patent of 1861.
Crane bolt of Jocelyn's breech-loading carbine Model 1861.
Open bolt of Jocelyn's breech-loading carbine. A very simple device, isn't it?
However, very soon this sample was replaced by the 1865 model rifle or the "First Allin's Rework" - so named after the gunsmith of the Springfield Arsenal, Erskine S. Allin. He reduced the caliber to.50 (12.7 mm), and in an original way: serial.58 caliber barrels were reamed to remove the rifling, after which they were heated and liners were inserted into them. The shutter on them was used for folding - forward and upward, with a spring latch that did not allow it to open. A cartridge with central ignition pricked a spring-loaded drummer, which was hit by the usual hammer of an impact lock, which was retained by the designer. The bolt was opened only if the trigger was put on a half cocking, that is, the sequence of loading techniques for the soldiers remained generally familiar.
The bolt of the Erskine Allin rifle.
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Diagram of the device of the lock of the rifle Erskine Allin 1868
Diagram from a patent of 1865.
The very next year, the Springfield Arsenal organized the production of a rifle of the 1866 model or the "Second Allin's Alteration", which it produced until the end of 1869. It improved the ejection of casings, which was the weak point of all rifles with bolts of such a device. However, the conversion rifles were by no means stale in the arsenals, but almost immediately fell into the troops that fought with the Indians in the West. In total, using the available stocks, about 100 thousand Allin system rifles were manufactured. In addition, the Springfield Arsenal has also begun rebuilding for new.50 caliber cartridges and Sharps breech-loading rifles. But Spencer's seven-shot rifles, which had a tubular magazine in the butt, were not subject to alteration due to the design features of its bolt.
Springfield Carbine Model 1868 The standard weapon of the American cavalry, with which it was defeated by the Indians at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.
Among all this abundance of carbines (which is not at all surprising, since there were a lot of cavalry in the American troops, and in the Wild West only she could fight!) Maynard's carbine not only became one of the first rifled turning samples; it was also quite widely used by both belligerents in the civil war between the North and the South. The cartridge for it had an unusual design: it had a metal sleeve with gunpowder and a bullet, but there was no primer. The capsule was put on the brand tube, and the gunpowder was ignited through a hole in the bottom of the case, usually covered with wax.
Cartridge for Maynard carbine.50-50 (1865). As you can see - only a "hole", no capsule.
Maynard's carbine.
It was believed that such sleeves could be reloaded many times, and this usually happened, especially when they (most often southerners were engaged in this) were turned on lathes. However, the design turned out to be ill-conceived. The situation with obturation was bad: the blow-through of gases from the barrel back through this hole was quite strong. There was also the release of the trigger with gases back, which also did not give pleasure to the shooters. However, the story with Maynard's carbine ended quite "decently" - it was simply adapted for the usual cartridge of the central battle.
Confederate cavalry with Maynard carbines. Rice. L. and F. Funkens.
In 1858, James H. Merrill of Baltimore also patented his.54 carbine. In the first version, paper cartridges were used, but in 1860 a second model appeared already for a metal sleeve. Initially, his carbine was considered a sporting weapon, since it was distinguished by accurate shooting, with careful care it was very reliable, but it had a rather complex mechanism, and its parts were not interchangeable. It was actively used by both sides, since at the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederates managed to capture a large number of Merrill carbines and they armed them with the cavalry regiments of the state of Northern Virginia. Southerners, not spoiled by modern weapons, liked it, but more scrupulous northerners believed that the mechanism of the carbine was too fragile. Therefore, by 1863, they were removed from the US Army. Merrill's rifles were also produced, but only 800 of them were made.
Merrill's carbine - bolt closed.
Merrill's carbine - bolt open.
The Gilbert Smith carbine was also widely used in the army of the northerners; it was first supplied to the navy, and then they began to equip cavalrymen and artillerymen with it. He received a patent for it on June 23, 1857, but, like many other samples, he went into mass production only during the war. His barrel broke like a hunting rifle. The weapon in general turned out to be good, but it depended very much on the quality of the manufacture. With bad, there was a breakthrough of gases through the slots of the chamber. The cartridge was unusual for Smith: both the bullet and the powder charge were inside a rubber cylinder! The troops of the northerners got about 30,000 pieces of Smith carbines chambered for.50 caliber cartridges.
Smith's breech-loading carbine arr. 1857.
However, the most unusual carbine in these years was created, perhaps, by James Durell Green. Outwardly, he did not differ much from his peers, but his device was truly unusual. Under its barrel there was a cylinder on which there was a double clutch, and if the first one covered this cylinder, then the second one - the barrel. A foot was also put on the barrel itself, and the barrel rotated freely in both couplings. The barrel was fastened with two L-shaped clamps, indicated in the figure from the patent with the letters "M". When the barrel was turned, they included two protrusions located in its rear part.
Diagram of the Green's carbine device from the patent description.
This carbine had two trigger hooks. After pressing the front barrel, all the couplings were disengaged, the barrel moved forward, after which it was folded back to the right. Now a regular paper cartridge was inserted into the barrel.
During its reverse stroke, the barrel was locked in its original position, and besides, moving back, it also shifted the cartridge to the pin in the breech of the bolt mechanism, which pierced the shell of the cartridge, and the gases from the primer fell to the powder charge. The carbine was only 837 mm long, with a barrel length of 457 mm, a weight of 3.4 kg and a.55 caliber (14 mm). The bullet speed was 305 m / s, which was very good at that time. The military was very bribed by paper cartridges, but they … easily deteriorated and damp. In total, in the period 1859-1860. the Waters Armory firm in Massachusetts produced about 4,000 to 4,500 of these carbines. 1,500 were sold in the United States, but only 900 got into the army. The rest of the carbines were sold to Russia. Interestingly, the carbine does not have a standard thread. Instead, an oval bore is the Lancaster slicing system. And it was the first such design to be adopted by the American army.
The development of James Paris Lee was similar to this system, but very few of his carbines were released.
During the war of the North and South, the so-called "Allied carbine".52 caliber was also known, developed by Edward Gwynne and Abner K. Campbell, Hamilton, Ohio, which also belonged to the primer systems. It was produced from 1863 to 1864 and became the successor of the Cosmopolitan carbine produced at the same enterprise. To reload the weapon, a serpentine trigger guard was used, which opened the breech of the barrel, but no store was provided, and the cartridge was used as a regular, paper one.
"Union carbine"
The New York company of Ebentzer Starr was famous for its revolvers, which successfully competed even with the famous Colts. Starr was very attentive to all new weapons technology and constantly improved his samples. In 1858 he developed a carbine that combined the best qualities of the Sharps, Smith and Burnside systems. And which was distinguished by good accuracy at a relatively low cost of its production. Although the Sharps still shot a little more accurately, the Starr came in handy in the civil war due to a lack of weapons, which was immediately adopted. From 1861 to 1864 alone, more than 20,000 copies were made. The 1858 sample was loaded with paper and linen-wrapped cartridges throughout the war. But in 1865, the government ordered the company 3,000 "Starrs" for metal cartridges, which then released another 2,000 carbines of this version. This was the case during the war years, but after it Starr's company could no longer compete with the famous Winchester and ceased to exist in 1867.
Starr breech-loading carbine model 1858.
Ever since the Seminole Wars, so vividly described in Mine Reed's Osceola, Leader of the Seminole, there has been an increased interest in rifles and carbines with drum magazines in the USA. The simplest way to turn a revolver into the same carbine was to attach a stock to it and lengthen the barrel.
Revolving carbine "Le-Ma"
But there were also some original developments that were not related to revolvers, for example, the Manassas carbine, model 1874, double-acting, caliber.44, designed by gunsmith Potiphar Howell. It is interesting that this carbine can be considered the direct predecessor of the famous … "revolver", since it used a system of pushing the drum onto the barrel in order to prevent gas breakthrough and long brass cartridges with a drowned bullet - a complete analogue of the later Nagan ones! Howell himself, who received a patent for his development, called it a "double gas seal" system. Several samples of this type of weapon were produced, but the army was not interested in them due to its high cost.
Revolving carbine "Manassas".
Some projects are striking in their originality. For example, the patent of Morris and Brown from 1869, looking at which, it is easy to see that the drum mechanism is stationary in it, and the trigger hidden in the stock (actuated by a lever bracket) strikes the capsules of a special rotating nozzle located behind the drum magazine. When fired, the round bullet moved first along an inclined channel (!) From the drum to the barrel, and only then fell into the barrel itself. That is, it changed the direction of movement twice during the shot. Of course, such a system is quite workable. But … not with the accuracy of processing of mating metal surfaces that existed at that time.
Diagram of a Morris and Brown drum carbine.
And as a conclusion, let's think about the headache that the supply of all this "arsenal" caused during the Civil War in the USA. That really was a drama, so a drama …
