Posted by Beau L'Amour on May 20, 2000 at 21:49:34:
In Reply to: Re: Cartridge loading guns posted by Mike Shaffer on May 14, 2000 at 12:32:02:
There were a few metallic cartridge rifles manufactured before the Civil War, the best of which have already been mentioned. However there were several guns (including Colt pistols) that used PAPER cartridges; the ball and powder wrapped up in nitrate soaked tissue like a cigarette. These could be loaded in either muzzle (usually torn open and poured, then the ball rammed down), cylender (the wrapping was conical and as the loading lever forced the ball into the chamber mouth you hoped it ruptured the paper fully enough for good ignition), and breech (the Sharps rifles of Civel War vintage had a blade in the breechblock that sliced open the back of the paper wrapping).
Metallic cartridge rifles used many actions but in pistols there were legal problems to be dealt with. Rollin and White patented any cylender that was drilled all the way through (i.e. every "breech-loading" cylender design where each chamber did not have to be loaded like a muzzle loader) they produced only .22 and/or .32 caliber weapons. After awhile they were purchased by Smith and Wesson and S&W made a .38 on the old Rollin and White design. Then Smith decided to produce a real serious large caliber weapon and the S&W Numbers 1,2,&3, Russian, American, and Schofield series was born. The important thing here was that NO OTHER COMPANY, INCLUDING COLT WAS ALLOWED TO PRODUCE A REVOLVER WITH A DRILLED THROUGH CYLENDER FOR CARTRIDGES UNTIL 1872 or '73. Smith had that market all tied up. Colt tried to compete by making cap and ball pistols and then sending them out to be converted to cartridge actions but this process was cumbersome. These conversions might date back into the war years.
I don't know how accurate the exact history is in The Daybreakers but do remember that though it starts in 1867 it does not end for another five to seven years.
More interesting gun stuff: The Henry/Winchester rifle was patterned after the Volcanic Rifle and Pistol which shot "caseless" ammunition. The powder charge and primer was in the bullet and so there was no case left to eject . . . sort of like a rocket gun. -- Huge calibers were common because guns shot balls most of the time and balls weigh much less than bullets. A heavy .45 caliber bullet today is 300grains; to get to the same weight (stopping power) with a BALL you must go up to .60 caliber. So a .50 caliber Sharps was only a medium big rifle. -- Sam Colt carved a wood prototype for his first "Patterson" revolver while returning from the Far East as a crewman on a sailing ship. He later spent time as a laughing gas salesman trying to raise the money to go into business. -- Cap and Ball revolvers were used for years after cartridge guns came out because they were cheaper and "good enough." Although the sights are lousey and the design is weak I think that the Colt 1860 army is almost as good a gun as the Peacemaker, especially if you have big hands. My Dad shot his first Cap and Ball revolver in 1926. It belonged to one of the miners he knew in AZ. They loaded it with balls made of the low grade gold/lead/something else I can't remember that they dug out of the mine. It was not a keepsake, this was a gun the miner carried when he went into the desert.
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Subject: Re: Re: Re: Cartridge loading guns
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