One of the most unfortunate features of our peculiar civilization is that we are still discovering truths that have become hackneyed in other countries and even among peoples much more backward than we are.
P. Ya. Chaadaev
So, it is obvious that it was the Winchester carbine (we will call it that, without specifying), well, say, the same model of 1866 was a first-class and rapid-fire weapon. The latter figure for that time was especially impressive. With 12 rounds in the magazine and 13 in the barrel, it fired 25 rounds per minute. The 1873, 1886 and 1894 models were just as fast-firing. And although they were not intended for use as a military weapon, since they were designed for low-power cartridges of caliber 11, 8 and 11, 43-mm they were often used in this capacity. For example, the Turkish cavalry were armed with Winchesters during the Russian-Turkish war, where they showed themselves from the best side.
It should be noted here that the specifics of the equestrian service in the United States (the presence of prairies and Indians) led to the great popularity of the carbine. So, even before the outbreak of the Civil War of the North and South, the US cavalry used Smith system carbines of.52 caliber (13, 2-mm), Starr.54 caliber (13, 7-mm), Joslin of.52 caliber, “Maynard "," Hankins "and" Sharp "(namely" Sharp ", not Sharps!) Caliber.50 (12, 7-mm). And then there were Gallagher, Ballard, Wesson, Spencer and Barnside. Moreover, the same "Spencers" were purchased 94,000, and Barnside carbines (caliber.54) - 55,000!
Smith's carbine.
Gallager carbine.
Well, and their creators increased the rate of fire in a variety of ways. For example, in an infantry rifle and a Sharpe carbine, mod. 1848, the bolt was controlled by a lever bracket, when pulled forward, it lowered down, opening the breech of the barrel. A paper cartridge was inserted there, then the bolt rose and … with its sharp edge cut off the bottom of it. All that was left was to put the primer on the dummy rod, cock the trigger, and you could shoot! Conveniently, you will not say anything! And there is no need to put the butt on the ground for loading and “ram” the bullet with the charge with a ramrod. Moreover, he weighed only 3.5 kg, which was convenient for the rider.
Smith carbine before loading.
But General Ambrose Barnside came up with something even more interesting. In his carbine mod. 1856, with the help of a lever bracket, the entire charging chamber was disconnected from the barrel and lowered upward through the channel. A cartridge of its own design, conical shape, tapering towards the rear was inserted into it with a bullet forward in relation to the barrel (!)! When the bolt returned to its original place, the bullet entered the barrel with its head part, and part of the sleeve overlapped the place of their connection. The sleeve itself was made of brass. The bullet is lead, salted. The highlight of the design was the tapered recess in the bottom of the sleeve.
Barnside carbine.
Barnside carbine. The shutter is open.
Barnside carbine. The cartridge is in the chamber.
Banside carbine. Diagram of a chamber with a cartridge inside.
According to the diagram, there was a hole, and it should have been filled with wax. The hole is not visible in the photographs. But then it turns out that the metal was very thin there. When the trigger broke the primer, the gases from the primer either knocked out the wax plug, or made a hole in this recess, through which the charge in the sleeve was ignited. But then, under the pressure of gases, the edges of this hole converged, and … the gases could no longer break through! After firing, the sleeve was removed manually. The effective range of the Barnside carbine was 200 yards, and the bullet speed was 950 feet per second. The total length of the carabiners of all models was 56 inches and weighed 9 pounds.
Gallagger patron.50 (1860 - 1862).
Cartridge for the Barnside carbine.
Cartridge for Maynard carbine.50-50 (1865). As you can see - only a "hole", no capsule.
It is clear that these were transitional systems with cartridges not yet combined with the primer, however, they clearly show the course of design thought and the use of a trigger combined with a bracket to control the shutter. And the goal is again the same - to increase the rate of fire of the weapon!
Sometimes this led to rather original, and even frankly curious designs, such as Needham's English drum rifle, which had a tubular under-barrel magazine and, in addition, a drum that was rotated using the same lever bracket. That is, cartridges from the store first entered the drum, and on the trigger it had a special "knockout" of spent cartridges, which removed them one by one from the chambers simultaneously with the shot. The sleeve had a conical shape and was already in the breech. Therefore, it easily entered the drum and was also thrown out of it. This rifle was loaded with 12 rounds, that is, it was the most rechargeable drum rifle in the world (not counting Lefoshe carbines, of course, but they were loaded with hairpin cartridges).
Carbine W. Evans.
Another development on the way to rapid-fire and multiplying weapons was the dentist Warren Evans' rifle with a magazine in the butt of an Archimedean screw. The shutter in it was also controlled by a lever-brace, but, depending on the modification, it accommodated from 24 to 36 revolver-type cartridges. In 1868, he received a patent for the design of the rifle, and in 1871 for the bolt, which simultaneously reloaded it and rotated the magazine. Already in 1873, Warren, together with his brother George, set up the production of their "miracle weapon" (and at that time it was, because its rate of fire reached 30-36 rounds per minute!) At the agricultural equipment plant, and, despite the modest conditions, soon released more than 12 thousand of these rifles. Evans' rifles were purchased by the US Navy, and with a ship bought in America, they also ended up in Russia. Rifles began to be sold all over the world, and in Russia the sample entered service with the Imperial Navy in the form of a carbine with a bayonet mount on the barrel and chambered for.44R, but this success created completely unnecessary competition for Oliver Winchester. He bought their company from the brothers and … buried it, and put all their patents on his desk! Interestingly, the magazine was loaded through a hole in the butt, closed by a sliding lid. That is, it did not require any "serious operations", but time - to get each cartridge out of the cartridge belt and insert it into the store, most likely it was not so little!
Carbine W. Evans. The ejection port is still open. Later, it was closed with a special lid, similar to a trigger, and opened after each shot. Thanks to this, dirt practically did not get inside!
However, it soon became clear that the rate of fire in hand-loaded rifles was likely to have been reached. There was one more circumstance that mattered: it took a long time to charge all these exotic stores!
Indian with Evans carbine. And they understood a lot about weapons!
And then the next step towards modern weapons was made again by the American, but of Scottish descent, James Lee. In 1879, just as Winchester had done away with the Evans brothers' firm, he proposed a surprisingly simple store in the shape of a rectangular box with a spring, placed on the gun under the bolt. It is hardly worth describing his work here, since everyone knows it. More importantly, what he immediately made for his store (and it was detachable, that is, a lot of time was saved on reloading it!) A 6-mm rifle for the US Navy. True, for financial reasons he had to go to the Remington company, but at the same time he laid the foundation so solid that his name got into the name of such two famous English rifles as Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield: “shop Lee, Metford Cut, Lee's Store, Anfield Cut!
James Lee's "Navy" (naval) rifle is a very rare specimen today.
The bolt of the James Lee "Navy" rifle.
The invention of Lee's magazine was the beginning of the end of underbarrel magazines, since they could not compete with rifles with his middle magazine in reloading speed!
Meanwhile, less than six years later, the same Winchester firm developed its first carbine with a fixed barrel and automatic reloading of the 7-mm caliber. However, he was shooting at that time with cartridges with black powder and somehow no one paid much attention to him: well, another hunting carbine of a well-known company, so what? The situation began to change since 1886, when smokeless gunpowder appeared in France and began its victorious march across countries and continents. Now it was possible to shoot for a long time and a lot, without fear of smoke in the space around you, and most importantly, the powder soot was no longer clogging the moving parts of the weapon as before.
