FRONTIER LONG GUN CARTRIDGES
FRONTIER LONG GUN CARTRIDGES BEFORE 1902 is an exhibit of cartridges for guns made before 1902. A cartridge is a unit made up of a case to hold the powder, primer, and bullet, as a single unit. The earliest successful cartridge was the Pin Fire type, patented by Lefaucheux, in France, in 1835. It was not very water proof, nor particularly safe when dropped. The French Flobert "cartridge" followed in 1845. It is safe and more water proof. It is a rim fire round that contains no powder. Only the primer explosion propels the bullet.
In America, in 1857, Smith and Wesson patented their S&W Number One cartridge, based upon the Flobert type, but with the addition of gunpowder. This created a true cartridge as defined in the preceding paragraph. This rim fire round is the same size as a modern 22 Short. B. Tyler Henry, a plant supervisor at Winchester Repeating Arms Co., copied and enlarged this rim fire to 44 caliber. It was used in his 44 Henry rifle, and the Winchester Model 1866. Discovery of metallic cartridges and advent of the American Civil War gave impetus to inventions of dozens of breech loading rifles that employed rim fire cartridges. Breech loading cartridge rifles of many designs were made and offered to the U.S. Government as an alternative to the slow loading muzzle loading muskets which were the standard military issue. The new cartridge guns saw service in the Civil War, but none were adopted as standard issue because Rim fire guns were very under-powered when compared with the military standard issue muzzle loading Muskets which were 58 to 69 caliber and powered by eighty grains or more of gunpowder. Rim fire guns were limited in power because the cartridges would burst if made large enough to challenge the power of the Military musket. To circumvent this problem, Center Fire Cartridges were invented.
Development of the center fire cartridge was carried on in Government arsenals at Frankford, PA and Springfield MA. beginning in the mid 1860s. However, outside of the Government, private inventors, such as Dr. Edward Maynard, were developing their own ideas. Maynard's 50 caliber-separate primed percussion "cartridge" saw service in the Civil war. Such percussion cartridges are known by cartridge collectors as separate primed type, because after the "cartridge" is put in the gun chamber a separate primer is attached to the gun to ignite the "cartridge". In 1873 Maynard patented his integral primed cartridge which held the bullet, powder, and primer as a unit. Maynard's Model 1882 cartridge are not unlike today's cartridges.
Other inventors made cartridges and guns for them. Many of these are represented in this exhibit. This exhibit emphasizes sporting cartridges. Most cartridges exhibited are for single shot sporting rifles. Exception include the Bullard, Evans, and Spencer all of which are repeating rifles. Winchester's have been excluded because they alone are an exhibit in their own right. After cartridges became fairly successful, the inventors attention turned to developing repeating arms, i.e. guns that were loaded with several cartridges which could be chambered with a stroke of the hand, after each firing.