The first version of this carbine was the Cosmopolitan, designed and patented by Henry Gross in 1859 and manufactured by Edward Gwyn and Abner Campbell. It is a single-shot .52 caliber carbine that loads from the breech with a paper cartridge and a separate external percussion cap. After producing a batch of the guns, Gwyn and Campbell realized that the breechblock design could be much simplified, and they patented that simplification – essentially pushing Gross out of his own invention.
Several successive contracts for the carbines were fulfilled during the Civil War, with about 8,200 produced in total. It was not the most popular or most numerous cavalry carbine of the war, but it is rather remarkable for actually being reliable and delivered consistently on time.
Cap & Ball video on the Gwyn & Campbell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlgWUb7In1g
“Cosmopolitan and Gwyn & Campbell Carbines in the Civil War” by Thomas Rentschler:
https://amzn.to/4kvApNp
“Civil War Gwyn & Campbell Carbines (aka Cosmopolitan, Union, & Grapevine)”
WHere is forend?
“(…)single-shot .52 caliber carbine that loads from the breech with a paper cartridge and a separate external percussion cap(…)”
What was standard operating procedure when cap was struck but failed to ignite propulsive explosive? Trying with another cap or removing what is inside barrel, if 2nd how and when it was supposed to be done?