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59-612: Since the production of the first Colt revolvers in 1836 up to 1851, the American Colt's Manufacturing company held a monopoly in revolver production in the United States and Europe. Between 1853 and 1857, Colt established a factory in London , supplying British customers with cheap, mass-produced revolvers with interchangeable, machine-produced parts. Colt even obtained some government contracts, selling 4,000 revolvers to

118-562: A barrel tip-down, remove the plug and reload actions. The later breech-loaders included the Ferguson rifle , which used a screw-in/screw out action to reload, and the Hall rifle , which tipped up at 30 degrees for loading. The better breech loaders, however, used percussion caps , including the Sharps rifle , using a falling block (or sliding block ) action to reload. And then later on came

177-545: A bullet fit in a percussion cap. Usually derived in the 6 mm and 9 mm calibres, it is since then called the Flobert cartridge but it does not contain any powder; the only propellant substance contained in the cartridge is the percussion cap itself. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the .22 BB and .22 CB ammunitions. In 1846, yet another Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier , patented

236-417: A copper base with integrated mercury fulminate primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing. The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly. Pauly made an improved version, which

295-563: A cylindrical breech plug secured by a horizontal wedge in 1837. In the 1850s and 1860s, Whitworth and Armstrong invented improved breech-loading artillery. The M1867 naval guns produced in Imperial Russia at the Obukhov State Plant used Krupp technology. A breech action is the loading sequence of a breech loading naval gun or small arm . The earliest breech actions were either three-shot break-open actions or

354-559: A few yards from me: so close that I was bayoneted through the thigh immediately after shooting the fourth man. I hope this may be of service to you, as I certainly owe my life to your invention of the Revolver Pistol. In April 1896, Lieutenant Colonel G. V. Fosbery commented about an incident with a Colt Navy revolver during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 : An officer, who especially prided himself on his pistol-shooting,

413-543: A few years later. The carbine was used extensively by the Forest Rangers, an irregular force led by Gustavus von Tempsky that specialized in bush warfare and reconnaissance. Von Tempsky liked the short carbine, which could be loaded while lying down. The waterproofed cartridge was easier to keep dry in the New Zealand bush. Museums in New Zealand hold a small number of these carbines in good condition. During

472-557: A high rate of fire, although it required a heavy pull on the trigger, which made it almost impossible to aim the weapon except at point-blank range. Also, it was not possible to cock the hammer manually, and the hammer had no thumb projection. However, the British military commission found the double-action trigger mechanism superior to the Colt's single-action. Adams revolvers had a solid, one-piece frame with an integral barrel, all made from

531-527: A hinged loading lever and capping window became standard for new revolvers and was retrofitted to the older designs. So modified, the revolvers could be loaded without disassembly. When the Paterson revolvers with loading levers finally reached Texas in 1842, Texas Ranger Captain John Coffee Hays was very pleased that his ranging companies could now reload from horseback. To fire the Paterson,

590-659: A near-identical 83 grains (5.4  g ) and the velocity is also essentially the same. The cylinder is somewhat shorter than that found on the later Colt Navy .36 revolvers but will hold 22 gr (1.4 g) of FFFg black powder while allowing full seating of the ball. Colt sold the Paterson revolver and carbine to the United States Army and they saw limited use in the Second Seminole War in Florida . The firepower advantage that they offered

649-543: A revolver using rimfire cartridges. The first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming . In 1842, the Norwegian Armed Forces adopted the breech-loading caplock, the Kammerlader , one of the first instances in which a modern army widely adopted a breech-loading rifle as its main infantry firearm. The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr ( Dreyse needle gun )

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708-543: A single piece of steel, which gave them inherent strength and durability, although they was somewhat more expensive to produce, as their production required skilled workers. The British military commission found this construction superior to the Colt's multi-part open-frame revolver design, which was seen as inherently weaker and prone to break under pressure. Although the Adams revolver was rejected as an official British military weapon, its characteristics were well appreciated by

767-452: A tool destined for field service and fouling from black powder residue. The first Paterson Models (1836–1838) required partial disassembly for loading and had no definitive provision for safely carrying the revolver with all chambers loaded. To load the revolver, the shooter would: Routine carry modes included leaving the hammer in the half-cock position, lowering the hammer to rest on a capped chamber, downloading by one cylinder, or lowering

826-409: Is much easier as well, as the ammunition can be unloaded from the breech end and is often doable by hand; unloading muzzle loaders requires drilling into the projectile to drag it out through the whole length of the barrel, and in some cases the guns are simply fired to facilitate unloading process. After breech-loading became common, it also became common practice to fit counter-recoil systems, such as

885-467: Is the Number 5 Holster or Texas Paterson (1,000 units), which was manufactured in .36 caliber. The early Colt revolvers were of single-action design, meaning that the trigger functioned when hammer was cocked back. It was necessary to manually cock the hammer prior to firing. The close clearances, folding trigger and multiplicity of small parts and springs seemed more appropriate to a fine timepiece than

944-473: The American Civil War , at least nineteen types of breech-loaders were fielded. The Sharps used a successful dropping block design. The Greene used rotating bolt-action, and was fed from the breech. The Spencer , which used lever-actuated bolt-action, was fed from a seven-round detachable tube magazine . The Henry and Volcanic used rimfire metallic cartridges fed from a tube magazine under

1003-574: The Anglo-Zulu War (1879). Practical use showed that these revolvers were not accurate at distances greater than 25 yards, and that the .450 Adams cartridge was often unable to stop the charge of heavily built opponents in hand-to-hand combat. For those reasons, the British government in 1880 adopted the new, stronger .476 Enfield ammunition, and a new service revolver for it – the Enfield . Colt Paterson The Colt Paterson revolver

1062-592: The British Army and Royal Navy , and were in use until the 1880s. Adams and Beaumont-Adams caplock revolvers, privately purchased by British officers, were used in the field during Crimean War (1853–1856) and the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . They were used as a self-defence weapon in battle and praised for their high rate of fire and stopping power. After 1868, Adams centerfire cartridge revolvers were issued to British officers, non-commissioned officers, and horsemen as official sidearms. They were used extensively in

1121-724: The Corvo he produced a wooden model (the model is exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut) and further developed the concept during the early 1830s. Samuel Colt's first factory, the Patent Arms Company (Plant ruins site at 40°55′01.04″N 74°10′44.48″W  /  40.9169556°N 74.1790222°W  / 40.9169556; -74.1790222 ) of Paterson, New Jersey, manufactured 1,450 revolving rifles and carbines , 462 revolving shotguns and 2,350 revolving pistols between 1836 and 1842, when

1180-451: The hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism on the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 , onto field guns and howitzers to prevent the recoil from rolling the carriage back and forth with every shot and ruining the aim. This provided faster rates of fire, but this is not directly related to whether the gun is breech-loading or not. Now that guns were able to fire without the entire carriage recoiling, the crew

1239-609: The British Navy in 1854 and 14,000 to the British Army in 1855. As Colt's English patents expired in 1851, British designer Robert Adams made his own version of the revolver and patented it the same year, making a successful presentation of his design at the Great Exhibition of London in 1851. The weapons were tested by the official British military commission for the adoption in the British Army, although none

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1298-586: The British public, soldiers and civilians alike, and many officers privately purchased the revolver at their own expense, along with the most popular contemporary revolver, the Colt 1851 Navy . As such, Adams revolvers saw heavy combat in Crimean war (1853–1856) and Indian Mutiny of 1857 . In these conflicts, Adams revolvers were deemed better than Colts, due to their higher rate of fire at close range and better stopping power (due to their larger caliber, 0.44 vs 0.36 in

1357-516: The Colt Navy). In 1860, one officer of the 88th Regiment wrote a letter to Robert Adams , praising his pistols: I had one of your largest-sized Revolver Pistols at the bloody battle of Inkermann, and by some chance got surrounded by Russians. I then found the advantages of your pistol over that of Colonel Colt's, for had I to cock before each shot I would have lost my life. I should not have had time to cock, as they were too close to me, being only

1416-511: The Colt revolvers and were successful in advocating military contracts for later models such as the Walker Colt . Zachary Taylor , as a general in command of the border with Mexico, sent Captain Walker to New York in 1846 to meet with Colt and discuss improvements to the Paterson to make it more appropriate for use in battle. Walker at the time was serving in the U.S. Mounted Rifles and not

1475-509: The Ferguson rifle. About the same time and later on into the mid-19th century, there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition. In Paris in 1808, in association with French gunsmith François Prélat , Jean Samuel Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges : the cartridges incorporated

1534-471: The Rangers. Breechloader A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader , in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ) end of the barrel . The vast majority of modern firearms are generally breech-loaders, while firearms made before

1593-453: The advantage of reduced reloading time because it is far quicker to load the projectile and propellant into the chamber of a gun or cannon than to reach all the way over to the front end to load ammunition and then push them back down a long tube – especially when the projectile fits tightly and the tube has spiral ridges from rifling . In field artillery , the advantages were similar – crews no longer had to get in front of

1652-521: The barrel. These held a significant advantage over muzzle-loaders. The improvements in breech-loaders had spelled the end of muzzle-loaders. To make use of the enormous number of war surplus muzzle-loaders, the Allin conversion Springfield was adopted in 1866. General Burnside invented a breech-loading rifle before the war, the Burnside carbine . The French adopted the new Chassepot rifle in 1866, which

1711-414: The business failed. A creditor and business associate, John Ehlers , continued manufacture and sale of (approximately 500 of the total 2,850) pistols through 1847. Revolving pistols held five shots and varied from "pocket" to "belt" and "holster" designations based upon size and intended mode of carry. Calibers ranged from .28 through .36 inches. The model most identified with the "Paterson Colt" designation

1770-435: The conversion of the existing percussion revolvers into breechloaders using .450 Boxer centerfire cartridges , and simultaneously, the production of new breechloading revolvers began. The adaptation of the old percussion revolvers included several operations: Along with adaptation of the so-called Mark I revolvers, the production of new breechloading revolvers, called Mark II, began in 1867. The main difference compared to

1829-531: The conversion revolvers was the six-shot cylinder and a somewhat improved cartridge ejector. In 1872, a new model was produced, called Mark III. It was similar to its predecessor, but had a shorter cylinder and a more durable cartridge ejector. A new ejector rod was mounted on a yoke under the barrel and mostly housed in the hollow cylinder arbor, so it could be pulled out and swung to the right when needed. From 1872 to 1880, all of these revolvers (conversions and new breechloaders) were adopted as official sidearms of

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1888-512: The early 14th century in Burgundy and various other parts of Europe, breech-loading became more successful with improvements in precision engineering and machining in the 19th century. The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech. This was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge in the mid-19th century. For firearms too large to use cartridges,

1947-467: The effect of his shooting, and was cloven to the teeth by his antagonist, who then dropped down and died beside him. My informant, who witnessed the affair, told me that five of the six bullets had struck the sepoy close together in the chest, and had all passed through him and out at his back. Early Adams revolvers had three widely reported deficiencies, which were resolved in later models: Beginning in 1867, Adams Patent Small Arms Company of London started

2006-519: The first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell. Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. But the subsequent Houllier and Lefaucheux cartridges, even if they were the first full-metal shells, were still pinfire cartridges, like those used in the LeMat (1856) and Lefaucheux (1858) revolvers, although the LeMat also evolved in

2065-399: The gun and pack ammunition in the barrel with a ramrod , and the shot could now tightly fit the bore, greatly increasing its power, range, and accuracy. It also made it easier to load a previously fired weapon with a fouled barrel. Gun turrets and emplacements for breechloaders can be smaller since crews don't need to retract the gun for loading into the muzzle end. Unloading a breechloader

2124-708: The gun had numerous deficiencies; specifically, serious problems with gas leaking. However, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866. This, and the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–71, eventually caused much interest in Europe for breech-loaders and the Prussian military system in general. In 1860, the New Zealand government petitioned the Colonial Office for more soldiers to defend Auckland . The bid

2183-428: The hammer between the chambers of the cylinder. The first two options were (and are) extremely dangerous. Later Colt revolvers had a notched hammer that would fit over an intermediate safety pin located between chambers of the cylinder on the back of the chamber when all cylinders were loaded, thereby obviating contact of the hammer with the percussion caps until the single-action hammer was intentionally cocked. In 1839,

2242-492: The hammer down on an empty chamber for routine handling and carry.) Compared to the later Colt Percussion Revolver designs, the Paterson is ergonomically flawed, but, even with the odd bell-shaped grip and jutting trigger, the revolver points reasonably well and delivers useful accuracy. That Samuel Colt intended the revolver to be accurate is evident because of the rifled barrel and the extra long accessory barrels present in some cased sets. Using modern-day Uberti replicas,

2301-481: The latter half of the 19th Century, but were slowly replaced by various designs for repeating rifles , first used in the American Civil War. Manual breech-loaders gave way to manual magazine feed and then to self-loading rifles . Breech-loading is still commonly used in shotguns and hunting rifles . The first modern breech-loading rifled gun is a breech-loader invented by Martin von Wahrendorff with

2360-600: The mid 1850s. Early Colt literature and later publications insist that Colt was inspired to design the revolver in 1830 by viewing the windlass mechanisms aboard the brig Corvo while bound from Boston to Calcutta . However, some believe he saw examples of the Collier Flintlock Revolver while touring the Tower after the Corvo docked on the River Thames . In any event, sometime while aboard

2419-667: The mid-19th century were mostly smoothbore muzzle-loaders. Only a few muzzleloading weapons, such as mortars , rifle grenades , some rocket launchers , such as the Panzerfaust 3 and RPG-7 , and the GP series grenade launchers, have remained in common usage in modern military conflicts. However, referring to a weapon specifically as breech-loading is mostly limited to non-repeating firearms, including single-shots , derringers , double-barreled shotguns , double-barreled rifles , combination guns , and volley guns . Breech-loading provides

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2478-532: The pistols. The repeating handguns became very popular with the Rangers, providing them with sustained firepower against their Comanche adversaries. The Paterson revolver was especially decisive in the Battle of Bandera Pass , where each Ranger had 10 shots at his disposal when armed with two pistols as opposed to one. Captains Jack Hays and Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers became major proponents of

2537-415: The problem was solved by the development of the interrupted screw . Breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century. They were a particular type of swivel gun , and consisted in a small breech-loading cannon equipped with a swivel for easy rotation, loaded by inserting a mug-shaped chamber already filled with powder and projectiles. The breech-loading swivel gun had a high rate of fire, and

2596-555: The rifles were manufactured and used in the Battle of Brandywine , during the American Revolutionary War , but shortly after they were retired and replaced with the standard Brown Bess musket . In turn the American army, after getting some experience with muzzle-loaded rifles in the late 18th century, adopted the second standard breech-loading firearm in the world, M1819 Hall rifle , and in larger numbers than

2655-432: The shooter thumbed the hammer back and the action rotated a chamber in line with the barrel and locked the cylinder in place. This also caused the folding trigger to drop down from the frame into firing position. The sight picture consists of a front blade and a notch in the tip of the hammer. This sequence is repeated for each of the five shots in the cylinder (although the safety-conscious shooter will load only four, leaving

2714-437: The usual expectation is that careful, one-handed shooting will produce groups of 2–3 in (5.1–7.6 cm) at 60 ft (18 m). The Number 5 Belt Revolver would be an effective weapon to 50 yd (46 m) with ideal shooting conditions; however, from a moving horse, the useful range would be measured in feet. The available power is comparable to a modern .380 pistol cartridge. The .375–.380-inch round ball weighs

2773-495: Was a limitation and danger present in the weapon's mechanism. More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century. One such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain , and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid . It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge. Patrick Ferguson , a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle , a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Roughly two hundred of

2832-419: Was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech. It was so called because of its .5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse and eventually an improved version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and

2891-408: Was able to remain grouped closely around the gun, ready to load and put final touches on the aim, prior to firing the next shot. That led to the development of an armored shield fitted to the carriage of the gun, to help shield the crew from long-range area or sniper fire from the new, high-velocity, long-range rifles, or even machine guns. Although breech-loading firearms were developed as far back as

2950-473: Was also incorporated after the fact into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a folding trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger became visible only upon cocking the hammer . A subsequent patent renewal in 1849, and aggressive litigation against infringements, gave Colt a domestic monopoly on revolver development until

3009-458: Was attacked by a stalwart mutineer armed with a heavy sword. The officer, unfortunately for himself, carried a Colt's Navy pistol, which, as you may remember, was of small caliber, and fired a sharp-pointed picket bullet of 60 to the pound and a heavy charge of powder, its range being at least 600 yards, as I have frequently proved. This he proceeded to empty into the sepoy as he advanced, but, having done so, he waited just one second too long to see

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3068-611: Was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century. Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. Meanwhile, in China, an early form of breech-loading musket, known as the Che Dian Chong , was known to have been created in the second half of the 16th century for the Ming dynasty's arsenals . Like all early breech-loading fireams, gas leakage

3127-654: Was initially praised by the troops, but the United States government considered the arms to be excessively fragile and prone to malfunction. The Republic of Texas purchased 180 of the revolving shotguns and rifles and a like number of handguns for the Texas Navy in 1839. When Samuel Houston disbanded the Texas Navy in 1843, Captain Jack Hays armed his company of Texas Rangers with surplus stocks of

3186-655: Was much improved over the Dreyse needle gun as it had dramatically fewer gas leaks due to its de Bange sealing system. The British initially took the existing Enfield and fitted it with a Snider breech action (solid block, hinged parallel to the barrel) firing the Boxer cartridge. Following a competitive examination of 104 guns in 1866, the British decided to adopt the Peabody -derived Martini-Henry with trap-door loading in 1871. Single-shot breech-loaders would be used throughout

3245-422: Was produced in .28 caliber , with a .36 caliber model following a year later. As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver; a user had to partially disassemble the revolver to re-load it. Starting in 1839, however, a reloading lever and a capping window were incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without disassembly. This loading lever and capping window design change

3304-483: Was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. The Pauly cartridge was further improved by the French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux in 1828, by adding a pinfire primer, but Lefaucheux did not register his patent until 1835: a pinfire cartridge containing powder in a cardboard shell. In 1845, another Frenchman Louis-Nicolas Flobert invented, for indoor shooting , the first rimfire metallic cartridge , constituted by

3363-523: Was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel . Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United States, England and France, and it derived its name from being produced in Paterson, New Jersey . The revolutionary design inspired the popular phrase of the time, "God created men, Col. Colt made them equal". Initially this 5 shot revolver

3422-450: Was ultimately selected, due to the revolver's high price, equivalent to several single-shot percussion pistols commonly used in the military at the time. Unlike contemporary Colt revolvers, whose hammer had to be cocked manually before every shot, the Adams revolver had a double-action trigger mechanism: pulling the trigger simultaneously cocked the hammer, rotated the cylinder, and fired the shot. This selfcocking revolver feature enabled

3481-559: Was unsuccessful and the government began instead making inquiries to Britain to obtain modern weapons. In 1861 they placed orders for the Calisher and Terry carbine , which used a breech-loading system using a bullet consisting of a standard Minié lead bullet in .54 calibre backed by a charge and tallowed wad, wrapped in nitrated paper to keep it waterproof. The carbine had been issued in small numbers to English cavalry ( Hussars ) from 1857. About 3–4,000 carbines were brought into New Zealand

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