American Military Long Gun Cartridges 1776 - 1876

MILITARY MUSKETS

1776-1841 Muzzle Loaded Smooth Bore Flintlock Muskets

April 1775 was the official start of warfare leading to America’s Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776.

Revolutionary War patriot defenders used a variety of imported single shot muskets. Most of these were .69- caliber smooth bore and fired a round ball with loose powder loaded from the muzzle and ignited by a flint attached to the musket’s hammer.

After firing, the gun could be reloaded by pouring powder down the muzzle followed by the round ball. Next the gun’s pan was filled with gunpowder and covered by its frizzen. When the gun’s flint struck the frizzen, sparks from the flint ignited the gunpowder in the pan, which in turn flashed through an ignition hole in the barrel and ignited the main powder charge, thus sending the ball on its way. A pre-measured powder charge and ball (bullet) could be wrapped together in paper to form the first type cartridge. This type of musket cartridge became government issued and remained the standard for decades.

1842-1854 MUSKET IMPROVEMENTS

Percussion Ignition and Rifled Barrels Adopted

U.S. Model 1842 muskets were the first U.S. regulation percussion cap-ignition guns. The flintlock system in military guns gave way to this cap-lock ignition, although flintlocks muskets were still made in government armories until 1844. The first of the Model 1842 muskets represent the last of the regulation .69-caliber smooth bore. In 1846 a shortened version of the Model 1842 smooth bore was adopted as the Cavalry Musketoon and was produced until 1859. Another model, the Model 1842 Percussion Rifle, had a rifled barrel of .54-caliber.

A reduced size of this gun is the Model 1842 Percussion Cadet smooth bore .54-caliber. It was manufactured from 1844 to 1853. In mid 1858 these .54-caliber Model 1842’s were officially called in and many were modified by boring and rifling it to a .58-caliber. They would then use the .58 Minie bullet that had been tested in the field from 1852-1855 and was officially adopted in 1855 by the military. Another modification on older flint-lock muskets was to retro-fit them with the Maynard percussion cap-lock system.

LAST OFFICIALLY ADOPTED MUZZLE LOADERS

1855-1865 The Last Officially Adopted Muzzle Loader. Minie Bullet Adopted

The military adopted a new Model 1855 musket and the new .58-caliber Minie bullet that was invented in 1846 and was field tested from 1852-1855. These would become the official government standard issue. These guns were still muzzle loaded. They had the cap-lock breech utilizing one of two types of percussion caps: the “Top-Hat” type patented in 1816 by Joshua Shaw, or the rolled Maynard Tape primer invented in 1845.

The government obtained the right to produce both caps. They ignited paper cartridges loaded with .58-caliber Minie bullets that were made in government arsenals and were standard issue to troops even after the Civil War.

The same .58-caliber cartridge that was used in the Model 1855 remained standard for the 1861 and 1863 model muskets as well. The .58-caliber paper cartridges prevailed until the old muzzle loading muskets were altered to breech loaders using metallic cartridges after 1865.

Captain Minie had developed the elongated bullet with a hollow base in 1846. That bullet, upon firing, expanded to fit the rifling and thus gave better accuracy than a round balls could. Unfired balls and bullets of that era were necessarily smaller than the gun-bore diameter to facilitate loading with ease. Such loose fitting bullets were not accurate when compared to rifled arms having bullets that fit the bore. Minie bullets largely replaced the round ball in service during their test time in the field from 1852-1855.

MILITARY BREECH LOADERS

U.S. Government Hall Breech Loaders, and Others

Between 1837 and 1843 Hall breech loaders were made at Harpers Ferry, WV. These Hall’s were originally flintlock .64-caliber. The U.S. government purchased a hundred Hall’s in 1817. These fired a paper cartridge having a round ball weighing 373 grains, pushed by 74 grains of powder. Other breech loaders were purchased by the government including Burnside, Gallegar, Joslyn, Maynard, Merrill, Palmer, Sharps, Smith, and Starr to name a few.

Many of these were used in the Civil War by both sides. Soldiers in the Civil War utilized virtually any gun at hand, including non-government-regulation arms. This accounts for many non-regulation bullets found on Civil War battlefields. The Union purchased millions of such non-regulation breech loaders during the Civil War. The advantage of breech loading is the ability to reload rapidly as compared with muzzle loading arms.

Development of breech loaders also brought a flurry of new self contained cartridges constructed of metal, and made with upgraded primer types. Eventually old muzzle loaders were converted to breech loaders that fired such metallic cartridges.

1861-1864 THE CIVIL WAR

Muzzle Loaders, Breech Loaders, Repeating Arms, Bullet and Metallic Cartridge Inventions

Government-regulation arms of this period were muzzle loaded. The breech loaders in the war were not government regulation, but were used by both sides. The Billinghurst-Metrailleuse 24 barrel gun and the Agar (Coffee-Mill) were multi-shot weapons. The latter used the regulation musket cartridge in an auxiliary chamber.

Significant experimentation in bullet types included: explosive, multi-piece, and bore-clean-out. Some Civil War bullets display hallmarks of the machinery on which they were made. Metallic cartridge cases begin to appear at this time. The most significant of these metallic cartridges was the self-contained rim fire cartridge, i.e. not separate primed. Smith & Wesson was granted patent # 27,933 for it in 1860.

1865-1872 POST CIVIL WAR ERA

Converting Muzzle To Breech Loaders And Self-Contained Metallic Cartidges

Conversions of muzzle loading muskets to breech loaders came following the Civil War. The first was the Allen conversion which used a .58 caliber rim fire round. Rim fires soon gave way to center fire cartridges. A later alteration of the muskets was to reline the barrels to reduce them to a .50 caliber bore. The first cartridge for these reduced-bore-diameter breech loaders was the 50-70 rim fire in 1866. Center fire cartridges in this same 50-70 caliber followed in 1868, continuing with a number of primer experiments at national armories from 1868 through 1872.

In this exhibit are examples beginning with the Martin Bar primer in 1866, followed by the Benet Cup primer in 1868, the Martin Fold primer in 1869 and the Farrington primer of 1872. Berdan’s 1869 pat. # 94,743 primers also were tested, as were the Boxer primer as is still used today.

1873 OFFICIAL ADOPTION OF BREECH LOADERS

Adoption of a Breech Loading .45-caliber Rifle

The most significant development in military long guns from 1776 to 1876 was the adoption of 1873 Springfield “trap door” rifle and carbines. These were the first U.S. military long guns designed for a metallic cartridge, not an alteration. However the Model 73 Springfield “Trap Door” design is based on the Allen conversion. This new firearm fired the new .45 Government cartridge which is now known as the 45-70.

In this display is the original cartridge having a Benet Cup primer and a 405 grain bullet. Another of the very early .45 Government rounds has the raised head-stamp “U.S. CARBINE” and was made only seven months at the Frankford arsenal in 1874. It is the last cartridge shown on section one of this exhibit.