Single Shot Rifles - Forgotten Weapons

British Money-Walker 1868 Trials Rifle

May 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

Patented in 1868 by Colonel G.H. Money and Mr. M. Walker, this rifle was one of the 10 finalists in the British breechloading rifle trials of 1868. It is a simple falling block system with […]

System Kuhn: A Novel Single Shot Breechloader

April 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

This is an interesting single-shot breechloading system built by Kuhn of Besançon – a city near Switzerland in eastern France. It is clearly a sporting rifle, firing an 11mm black powder cartridge and probably dates […]

Howard’s Thunderbolt: A Remarkably Compact Carbine

April 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 1

Designed by brothers Charles and Sebre Howard and first patented in 1862, this is a single shot lever action produced by the Whitneyville Armory between 1866 and 1870. It is a really neat compact design […]

Springfield Model 1795 Musket: America’s First Military Production

April 8, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

The first US-production military arm was the “US musket, Charleville pattern” – known today as the Model 1795 Springfield Musket. Copied from the French 1766 model Charleville which made up the bulk of existing US […]

The First Trapdoor Springfield Carbine, Model 1870

March 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 13

The first production of a carbine model of the Trapdoor Springfield was the Model 1870 (excluding 4 prototypes produced in 1868). There was a focus infantry rifles in theTrapdoor program, and just 362 of these […]

1854 Treuille de Beaulieu: Open-Bolt Pinfire for the Imperial Guard

December 30, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

The Mousqueton Modele 1854, named for General Antoine Hector Thésée Treuille de Beaulieu, was the first breechloader adopted by the French military. It was issued to the Cent Gardes (personal bodyguard) of Emperor Napoleon III […]

Teenagers vs the British Empire: Smith Bateman’s Hall Rifle

November 24, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

On May 20, 1826 the United States Congress formally presented Model 1819 Hall rifles with personalized silver plaques to the 20 members of Aikin’s Volunteers, for their “Gallantry at the Siege of Plattsburg”. The Volunteers […]

Russian Model 1828 Musket from the Battle of Inkerman

November 5, 2020 Ian McCollum 42

For a long time, Russian small arms were patterned closely after French designs – the Russian 1809 family was based on the French 1777 muskets, and the Russian 1828 model – like this one – […]

The 1843 Side-Lever Hall Carbine by Simeon North

October 15, 2020 Ian McCollum 8

The final production version of the Hall was Simeon North’s Model 1843 Carbine, of which 10,500 were made between 1844 and 1853. It used North’s percussion update to the design, and a cleverly simple calming […]

Bilharz Hall & Co : A Crude Confederate Cavalry Carbine Copy

October 13, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

In 1863, the Bilharz, Hall, & Co firm of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia (now Chatham VA) received a contract to make 1,000 examples of a simple percussion cavalry carbine modeled after the US Model 1855 […]