Posted by Mike Shaffer on May 15, 2000 at 21:29:07:

In Reply to: Cartridge loading guns posted by James Elliott on May 13, 2000 at 14:30:00:

Jim, here's what I managed to dig up from my notes. The first cartridges dated back the 16th century. The Burnside Carbine was introduced during the Civil War when the Union bought 55,000 of them. Breechloaders became popular during the war, but I'm not clear if the Burnside was a breechloader. The 1857 Smith & Wesson pistol was refitted for the copper jacketed cartridges for the Civil War. The first catridge was patented by a French gunsmith in 1847, but smokeless powder didn't replace the old black powder until late in the 19th century. The most well known of the cartridge firing rifles were introduced enmasse during the Civil War, and they were the .56 Spencer and the .44 Henry. The answre then is yes, the cartridge weapons would have been available and more than likely plentiful at that time.

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