Merrill Breechloading Conversion of the 1841 Mississippi Rifle

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Merrill Breechloading Conversion of the 1841 Mississippi Rifle

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Күн бұрын

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James Merrill of Baltimore had his hands in several Civil War era firearms - rifles built from scratch, conversions of the Jenks carbines, and also conversions of 1841 Mississippi rifles done by the Harpers Ferry Arsenal. Merrill’s conversion involved a knee-joint type lever which could be opened to allow loading of a rifle from the breech. The system was relatively simple, and it was one of three (the others were the Lindner and Montstorm) made in small numbers for testing by Harpers Ferry. It appears that 300 Merrill conversions were done, 100 each of the 1841 Mississippi Rifle, 1842 musket, and 1847 musketoon.
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Пікірлер: 237

@Taistelukalkkuna 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting gun and that brass makes rifle look even more gorgeous.

@samholdsworth3957 4 жыл бұрын

The*

@drottle 4 жыл бұрын

Agreed

@darkoflight4938 4 жыл бұрын

Was thinking just the same you fighting turkey.

@Taolan8472 4 жыл бұрын

Brass furniture just always seems to add a touch of class these days

@drottle 4 жыл бұрын

@@Taolan8472 my favorite gun I own is a blued marlin repeater with brass accents, there's nothing more timeless than a beautifully simple gun with some splash of color.

@TheHacknor 4 жыл бұрын

It's breechloading month boys

@vertigo4236 4 жыл бұрын

That's what she said! Runs away...

@donn7261 4 жыл бұрын

Over 50 years ago my uncle, who had a very large (50+) antique rifle collection, had a Merrill conversion. He told me that the loading procedure was, open the breech and load a bullet then seat it as far as it would go without powder. Now place the paper charge in and close. Compressing the powder but also ruptured the back of paper case. Cap and fire.

@danielburgess7785 4 жыл бұрын

Transition weapons always get my attention.

@williamsample2631 4 жыл бұрын

Don't they, I mean it's like that's how they got from point A to B. I mean you see a little of the trapdoor in this.

@JaMayhem 4 жыл бұрын

Civil war breach loader are some of my favorite rifles

@stilllife8 4 жыл бұрын

That's one of the slickest breach-load conversions I've ever seen. Gorgeous gun.

@richardelliott9511 4 жыл бұрын

This seems to be one of the better conversions. Any reports or speculation of how good the gas seal was. Looks as if that "rammer" plug could have been fitted with a gasket of some kind as an obturator. Great content as always.

@Kaboomf 4 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about that, the groove in the breech plug looks like it may be meant to hold some sort of gasket maybe? Wrap some greased twine around there, better than nothing.

@Matt_The_Hugenot 4 жыл бұрын

Vulcanised rubber was available back then, it was new to the market and was the latest wonder material of the victorian age.

@richardelliott9511 4 жыл бұрын

@@Matt_The_Hugenot some real possibility there.

@markfergerson2145 4 жыл бұрын

Richard Elliott At 5:12 it looks like there's a brass-colored fragment in the groove. Might have been a brass ring obturator at one time that embrittled and fell out? (EDIT) Damn, I missed the : key first time around.

@richardelliott9511 4 жыл бұрын

@@markfergerson2145 Ian usually would mention this subject, especially after that Sharps burned the hair from his arm, but didn't this time. Disappointing. Still a great video on a gun we otherwise wouldn't even have known existed.

@pops55650 4 жыл бұрын

Ian brings a bedroll to RIA, tells them “I’m going to be here a few days boys” what an awesome vacation that would be

@nonamesplease6288 4 жыл бұрын

A few friends of mine collect Civil War era weapons. Those who have them highly prize their Mississippi rifles, because they are just such handsome and well built pieces. I never knew that Harper's Ferry made these conversions. Thanks for the new and surprising information.

@evanwiltse6127 4 жыл бұрын

Wasn’t the civil war in the 1860’s tho?

@jeffreyroot6300 4 жыл бұрын

Evan Wiltse Yes. And the 1841 was used in the Civil War as well, as was almost any working military arm either belligerent could lay their hands on.

@johnkelinske1449 4 жыл бұрын

@@evanwiltse6127 There were guys still using flintlocks.

@evanwiltse6127 4 жыл бұрын

John Kelinske yeah but I just thought the 1841 would be outdated by then

@johnkelinske1449 4 жыл бұрын

@@evanwiltse6127 Not at all, Model 1816 muskets converted to percussion were used in the early years of the war, among many others. The last M-1 Carbines were built before 1945, yet they were still in military use well over 20 years later just as another example.

@roempoetliar7995 4 жыл бұрын

Ad be like: "with this conversion you can load your gun as fast as you say Mississippi"

@vertigo4236 4 жыл бұрын

Missussisp... no! Misiis... damm! Missish... arg! Give me the musket I need a longer reload...

@Taistelukalkkuna 4 жыл бұрын

@@vertigo4236 *Hands ye olde wheellock musket*

@peterblack7464 3 жыл бұрын

@@Taistelukalkkuna 🤣

@acidwizzardbastard 4 жыл бұрын

Hell yeah, love me some breechloading conversions.

@Draggoon12 4 жыл бұрын

Even if Harper's Ferry wasn't burned, I'm not sure significantly larger amounts of muzzleloaders would have been converted. Ripley was generally resistant to these emerging technologies fearing wasteful expenditures of ammunition

@hawkticus_history_corner 4 жыл бұрын

The constant paranoia about ammo is something I find incredibly odd. I'm pretty sure that firing 30 shots over the course of 4-5 minutes instead of 10-11 minutes would cause the enemy to break faster and could very well save ammo. Like, good lord what is that mans obsession with "wasting" bullets?

@hawkticus_history_corner 4 жыл бұрын

@DOUG HEINS But if we follow the logic that we can already see, aren't they ALREADY firing all of their ammo to little to no effect? And thus wouldn't an increase in fire rate actually increase their effectiveness by lowering the enemy's ability to retaliate and increasing the odds of a hit? I mean, if they aren't aiming, more fire rate is better.

@hawkticus_history_corner 4 жыл бұрын

@DOUG HEINS Yes, I understand what he wanted, but that wasn't reality. Soldiers will take cover if its provided, and evidence shows that they didn't do slow aim and fire because they were trying not to get shot, so getting faster follow up shots would be a net benefit as it's more lead downrange in a faster time, making it harder for the enemy to fire back or get into position. I get what he meant, but it just doesn't hold up at all and really any engagement with a unit with rapid firing weapons should have shown this.

@mmouse1886 4 жыл бұрын

@@hawkticus_history_corner The entire reason behind the train of logic of concise aimed shots whilst in cover or in Trenches is because of the Logistics at the time where garbage, the chances of the enemy being able to use a cavalry detachment and eat all of your supplies for the campaign was very high and very often occurred during the Napoleonic Wars and the US Civil War. So soldiers firing off all of their rounds in a single battle to "suppress" enemies would be a retarded idea because then the enemy regiments have to just wait unless they miss all of their volleys, then charge down the enemy as they have no ammo and your combat ability for your entire army is instantly depleted in an hour or 5. So precious use of bullets, powder, and caps was more important than even casualties of *any* rank, something that happened even until WWII.

@jeffreyroot6300 4 жыл бұрын

Rip leg was a product of the “peacetime “ Army. A force constantly fighting skirmishes on the borders and frontiers of the rapidly expanding nation. Logistics was extremely limited beyond the railroads, so mules and wagons handled the last hundred miles or so, sometimes more. Practically, that meant troops often only had the ammunition on their persons to last a multi day patrol and any firefights that might happen along the way. There was often very limited ammunition for training as well. Repeaters under those conditions might have been unsupportable, and that was the mindset this man’s whole career. Suddenly having to support a mass army with lots of different weapons using multiple different cartridges cobbled together from all over the US and Europe was enough to drive anyone to distraction.

@dyerwulf5459 4 жыл бұрын

This answers one of my long standing questions; did anyone ever try and use the minnie ball in a breech loading system.

@wildrangeringreen 2 жыл бұрын

The Snider bullet was Hollow-base, and the original .50-70 bullets were cup base (amongst others). The expanding base bullet idea stuck around for quite a few decades before people finally came to the conclusion that you didn't really need it if your bullets were even close to groove-sized (technically, you don't need it for muzzle loading rifles either, but your bullet-bore tolerances have to be tighter (not good for military use).

@KnightRider378 4 жыл бұрын

As a Virginian, I always love hearing about guns that have come out of my beloved home state. Assuming you haven’t done one already, and if you could get your hands on one, I’d love to see a video on the Richmond rifle, especially with its ties to the Harpers Ferry Arsenal.

@DragonArcadia 4 жыл бұрын

0:45 Shoutout to the ghost of Jefferson Davis making a guest appearance.

@Vincent-S 4 жыл бұрын

I can only hope that drawings, descriptions and such of the destroyed conversion rifles still exist. It's a darn shame for them and many other rifle experiments and prototypes to be completely lost to time

@jonminer9891 4 жыл бұрын

Hi, Ian. So the burning of the armory was a serious setback for rifle design. This rifle was a great improvement over many of the rifles used in the Civil War. I like the looks of it. Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!

@robertfox1401 4 жыл бұрын

Wow that is so very interesting. I'm constantly surprised by the technology that was had historically. So often it seems that more modern ideas were tested long before it was generally accepted as a good idea and or made widely available by manufacturing capability.

@isaiahcampbell488 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, the limiting factors tend to be the limits of material science and also the "limits" people "in the know" put on various things. Like how in ancient China one emperor literally tried to send himself to the moon using rockets. His followers said he made it, his competitors thought him crazy and his subjects liars, and the idea of rocket travel was put on hold for a very long time until people started pushing the science of the day to the limit with people like Von Braun and Goddard finally making headway. But yeah, not a new idea, science and materials just hadn't caught up with the ideas yet.

@sharonrigs7999 8 ай бұрын

This is definitely one of the better and nicer capping breachloaders

@presidentlouis-napoleonbon8889 4 жыл бұрын

Those sort of work like a Podewils-Lindner. Opening the breech, putting in a paper cartridge, and capping the gun.

@johnkelinske1449 4 жыл бұрын

More similar to a Westly Richards than the bolt action on the Lindner.

@slaughterhound8793 4 жыл бұрын

Always been a fan of the Mississippi Rifle, so this was a very interesting installment of Forgotten Weapons.

@kbjerke 4 жыл бұрын

That is a BRILLIANT conversion! Could have revolutionized the war effort, IMHO. Thank goodness there are still a handful of examples left for us to appreciate. Present - day black powder shooters would have lots of fun with a reproduction of one of these. I know *I* would!

@comiketiger 4 жыл бұрын

Man, I like these videos! So many interesting weapons I'd never heard of or knew very little about! Thanks Ian! You do a great job with these.

@davidshaddick4382 4 жыл бұрын

I wondered if John Brown would have used any them when he seized the arsenal in 1858?

@stevenbaker8184 3 жыл бұрын

No, he was captured pretty quickly. And hung not long after the raid.

@0418182308lw 4 жыл бұрын

an early upload. now i can go to bed at a reasonable time

@thetinfoilfreak 4 жыл бұрын

I wake up to get this as early as possible

@jwnagy 4 жыл бұрын

M1841 was very accurate. I have one still in its original 54 cal. and it shoots a 2" pattern at 100 yards...patched round ball. I shot a nice 9 pointer with it a few years ago. Very fun to shoot. The breech load conversion looks really interesting. The one I use was made in 1850 by Robbins and Lawrence, one of the contractors hired to manufacture them. It has a steel barrel and the original brass tipped ramrod.

@ssholum 4 жыл бұрын

"In the very beginning, the 1841 was really kinda more of a jaeger rifle" Dang, all the way before light, Earth, seas, and man! But so sayeth gun Jesus.

@Taistelukalkkuna 4 жыл бұрын

"And Davis saw the rifle, and that it was good."

@dndboy13 4 жыл бұрын

"yeah yeah, light and waters and stuff, but check this out; comes out in 1841, i cant wait"

@jwnagy 3 жыл бұрын

I believe it was considered, at the time it was introduced, to be one of the most accurate military rifles of the day. Some even had steel barrels.

@wittsullivan8130 4 жыл бұрын

I had an Italian reproduction of a '41 Mississippi/Whitney/etc rifle in .54 caliber. Even though it had a very simple rear sight, it was accurate and easy to handle and balanced great. The barrel had thick walls to give it some weight but it didn't feel heavy. I mostly shot patched round balls. The repros had very wimpy ramrods designed for Minie bullets which like you said were used on the converted, rebored to .58" guns. You do not want to try to use a ramrod with a tightly patched roundball or the brazed on tip might warp or snap. Another thing, the Mississippi rifle was also used by the Texas Rangers along with their Walkers. They would shoot their rifle and instead of bothering to reload, they would draw their Walkers and finish what they started. The Mississippi rifle with a roundball used the same amount of powder as the Walker could hold, 60 grains. Mine being a repro with more modern and better steel, could handle higher loads, but I never saw the need of it, because more powder, means more blow through and more smoke and flash outside of the barrel instead of behind the ball where it counted. :)

@Gordonseries385 4 жыл бұрын

Nice looking and robust construction never seen one like that Been learning allot from your channel take care

@kenibnanak5554 4 жыл бұрын

I would very much advise always using paper cartridges in that design. There is a fairly large cranny at the rear and some nooks in front where loose powder flakes could accumulate should you load a few rounds by clumsily pouring powder in and hoping the knee joint rammer pushes it all. It probably won't. Eventually you will therefore have a potential grenade to he held against one's cheek when firing. Stick with paper cartridges. :)

@carterlowe5635 4 жыл бұрын

You’re a very underrated channel

@xxOmponxx 4 жыл бұрын

Early breechloaders are so cool. I love how Ian is covering them.

@criffermaclennan 4 жыл бұрын

What a beautiful rifle...looks very handy indeed

@happyhaunter_5546 4 жыл бұрын

ForgottenBreechloaders, the new miniseries brought you by the producers of ForgottenBergmanns

@dominicvucic8654 3 жыл бұрын

The armory may have been burned down but the tooling and machinery was sent to Richmond virginia and fayettvile North Carolina and they would go on to make about 60k-75k richmond fayettevill pattern rifles some of the few reliable domestically built rifle by the confederates

@soriddosuneko 4 жыл бұрын

Aight gentlemen, we are quite early today

@jacobs.9797 4 жыл бұрын

A really cool, and beautiful rifle.

@EchtMartijn 4 жыл бұрын

Love the loading mechanism!

@briansmith3011 4 жыл бұрын

Could the Harper’s Ferry name be used for a new gun company for name recognition, similar to Springfield?

@ScottKenny1978 4 жыл бұрын

Probably. You'd need to check the names of gun makers with the ATF to be sure.

@jenniferwhite6089 3 жыл бұрын

wow would be a great documentary on the place if it would be possible

@lakrids-pibe 4 жыл бұрын

Ram, Powder and Ball, three of the four Beatles.

@ianfurqueron5850 4 жыл бұрын

Very cool. The auction estimate seems reasonable for such a rare piece. It'll be interesting to see what it finally sells for.

@bedeodempsey5007 4 жыл бұрын

My 1841, marked 1854, is my favorite 19 th century military arm, including a few 1816 conversions to caplock, a 1854 Lorenz and 1862 Richmond. The Mississippi outshines them all.

@Matt_The_Hugenot 4 жыл бұрын

I'd like to know whether the extra woodwork was original, part of the conversion, or a repair at some point. Looks like it would have been one of the faster shooting rifles of the time other than the tube loaders that were just around the corner.

@slade9372 4 жыл бұрын

I was curious about the woodwork as well.

@PaDDy7389 4 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a very interesting what if scenario.

@loupiscanis9449 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you , Ian .

@62jape 4 жыл бұрын

At the time harpers ferry was in Virginia but today it is in West Virginia.

@nathanrodriguez780 4 жыл бұрын

RocketSurgeon Actually, when tectonic plates shift, you don’t have to do any of the work.

@Panzermeister36 4 жыл бұрын

Today the Harper's Ferry Arsenal is actually located in nowhere since it burned down 159 years ago.

@josephenders1893 4 жыл бұрын

Hey Ian. Not sure if you noticed or if it's pointed out but there's a few visual artifacts or something in this video. Right at the end, there's a green flash on I think the top left of the video. I believe there was a similar thing earlier in the video too.

@SteamCrane 4 жыл бұрын

Watching the rammer work, I'm thinking 16" naval gun.

@noahbryant1475 4 жыл бұрын

I visited mr Knights museum in Florida and I’m pretty sure that was the day you were shooting the knights lmg. I know you were shooting something. I appreciate you putting the link in the Farquhar video.

@PapaSchultz74 4 жыл бұрын

I understand why Ian loves this gun. With all these conversions it reminds him the Lebel 🇨🇵 😉

@ericsteenbergen9470 4 жыл бұрын

Huh, it's pretty much a Morse Carbine action but set up for loose ball and powder instead of cartridges. Interesting! I suppose the guys at Harper's Ferry really liked it.

@stefanmolnapor910 4 жыл бұрын

That thing is Beautiful! Also Slick!

@jerryjohnsonii4181 4 жыл бұрын

Very interesting Cap an Ball Musket Rifle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@kurixtao 4 жыл бұрын

Yes

@lawrenceestreich9737 4 жыл бұрын

I wonder if Lee got his idea for the Lee Hand Loader from this rifle? It popped in to my mind as soon as I saw you operate it.

@stevenbaker8184 3 жыл бұрын

Ian not to correct but Harpers Ferry was not in Confederate territory after 1861.Historically the dividing line of Union and Confederate held territory in that area, was the Shenandoah river. Harpers Ferry is currently in West Virginia now. Not including The city of Winchester. Which traded hands three times. But the area surrounding the Town of Harpers Ferry remained in the part of Virginia that seceded to become West Virginia and at no time was Confederate territory after secession. They moved the tooling to Richmond very early on. You yourself spoke of this in other videos concerning Confederate arms. The tooling was moved twice more to South Carolina. Harpers Ferry was in the headquarters area for the Valley Campaigns. Which spanned from Berkeley Springs in the west through Martinsburg all the way east to Lovettsville Va.Franz Segel and Burnside commanded the Dept of West Virginia. In the area was encampmented approximately 60,000 to 125,000 UNION troops depending on the time.i happen to know this because I've lived in Northern Virginia all my life and the history was pretty much driven home. If it's any indication I live 43 miles east of Harpers Ferry. In the town where McClellan gave his farewell to the troops speech.

@davefellhoelter1343 2 жыл бұрын

Re WATCHING? I noticed the distance past touch hole the ram would be in battery. Then I noticed a view filmed of the face of the pusher piston looked to have a hole centered. While I also noticed the O grove on the skirt of the pusher piston. Could this whole knee jointed mechanism forward of the touch hole be part of the area exposed to BP gasses as they expanded? I would love to see the relation of the touch hole to all of this! I suspect the loading procedure was a bit different than as mentioned? "I Suspect" the arm was pulled out of position with an open breach, then a projectile was rammed forward and opened again, then a powder charge from opened paper cartage was dumped into the open breach rammed home and closed into battery before the nipple was caped. This "Suspected method" would leave enough powder for the touch hole area to start the powder train to the main charge.

@lairdcummings9092 4 жыл бұрын

Simple conversion; easy to operate. A potential game changer, had things been different...

@crazyfvck 4 жыл бұрын

Beautiful rifle :)

@DRNewcomb 4 жыл бұрын

Is that groove on the breech plug supposed to have an obdurator of some sort?

@wizardofahhhs759 4 жыл бұрын

Probably a leather washer.

@Taco_Syndicate 4 жыл бұрын

Can ya slow down the subliminal messages? I’d like to appreciate them a bit more... but maybe that’s just me.

@joaquimpereira4995 4 жыл бұрын

What do you mean?

@gohunt001-5 4 жыл бұрын

@@joaquimpereira4995 0:47

@KazeKitsune 4 жыл бұрын

@@joaquimpereira4995 I think they were referring to a brief rendering artifact that caused a frame to be misplaced.

@gohunt001-5 4 жыл бұрын

On closer examination that was an image of the gun's trigger guard scaked down to the top left with a green background. No subliminal messaging, just an editing error

@l.t.justice 4 жыл бұрын

Illuminati confirmed!

@toweringhorse2054 Жыл бұрын

This thing is really steampunk looking

@456eec 4 жыл бұрын

Did the groove in the ramming part originally have a rubber O ring to obturate the chamber?

@carsonm7292 4 жыл бұрын

The Mississippi Rifles' Mississippi Rifles

@TehAlekzi 4 жыл бұрын

The video seems to have couple of green artifacts here and there, like on the 12th frame from 8:06

@mikehoare1338 4 жыл бұрын

Ian, how about a book "civil war breech loading firearms and concepts" ?

@enricopaolocoronado2511 4 жыл бұрын

Good looking rifle.

@devinsixt9272 4 жыл бұрын

New World was a lot of fun.

@YerluvinunclePete 4 жыл бұрын

Do you think there'd be a rubber ring in that groove in the bolt?

@Jxb1a2 4 жыл бұрын

We need you in a John Wick movie.

@speeddemon3224 4 жыл бұрын

You should try to get a look at the new kn 7.5

@nextlifeonearth 4 жыл бұрын

Something went wrong with editing, because it looks like it's been blinking a few times with a green screen and the content in a smaller portion of the screen.

@Dank-gb6jn 4 жыл бұрын

Do a video on the Iver Johnson Champion line of shotguns please.

@freemandecker8584 4 жыл бұрын

I was wonder, looking at the breach, how they manage to ram the paper cartridge & ball home without destroying the paper cartridge.. then I saw something in the business end of the plunger indicating this may be a two loading process.. 1st the ball goes into to the breach.. it is rammed home.. then the paper cartridge is inserted & rammed home.. once the power charge is press up against the ball, it's time to half-cock & load the primer. am I wrong here?

@saladv6069 4 жыл бұрын

Can you make a video on the Indian 5.56x30 carbine round

@nativegerry335 8 ай бұрын

During the civil war was this a standard regular line infantry issue or only for skirmishers and special infantry units?

@silverstar4289 3 ай бұрын

They were not common. An Indiana unit bought some during a TDA in DC. I handled one attributed to a soldier of that unit.

@are115 4 жыл бұрын

Question Ian, while not related to this gun, where do you go to find and research gun patents?

@thelemon0001 4 жыл бұрын

Imagine if you could travel back to any point in time... How far back would you go to tell the firearms design community that with the help of metallurgy, you can house powder & bullet in a single self-contained unit.

@wildrangeringreen 2 жыл бұрын

they were using paper cartridges in the 1600's, so earlier than that, I suppose. There were wheellock breech loaders from the 1400's that used replaceable chambers, the biggest issue with adopting metallic cartridges is the lack of industrial backing for them pre-1850's (even still, drawn cases weren't widespread until the 1870's in most places). In line ignition was more-or-less conceptualized by the early 1700's because there are quite a few inline flintlocks from the 1720's. Ease of manufacture, logistics, and the knowledgeability of the customers were the determining factors in the development of firearms.

@themarast 4 жыл бұрын

do you have some opportunity to make a video about AEK 971?

@RobertoDonatti 4 жыл бұрын

Very similar to the Darne system.

@TheGM-20XX 4 жыл бұрын

Now we know why John Brown stormed Harper's Ferry.

@cpcw06 4 жыл бұрын

Is there a good book on these Merrill conversions?

@ThePerfectRed 4 жыл бұрын

6:42 Does anybody know why the bolt face is hollow rather than flat? Does that center hole lead anywhere?

@bofoenss8393 4 жыл бұрын

Great video as always. One question, though. The "rammer" seemed to have a concave hollowing with a hole as the base of the chamber. Was this hole through which the sparks from percussion cap entered the chamber?

@coreymerrill3257 4 жыл бұрын

What a catchy name!

@thedevilinthecircuit1414 4 жыл бұрын

Has that butt stock been repaired? Looks like wood has been scabbed onto the left site where the cheek goes. Very cool rifle!

@xxOmponxx 4 жыл бұрын

Notice the small glitch at 8:05

@GiveMeYourNachosButthead 4 жыл бұрын

Yeeehaw! Amazing rifle.

@Lord.Kiltridge 4 жыл бұрын

The only obviously questionable element about this design I see is that there is some doubt about how well the powder is compressed given that the Minié ball was is designed to NOT provide much resistance until after the powder is fired.

@wildrangeringreen 2 жыл бұрын

being a breech loader, the Army would have had the ammo made special for the rifles, and would have required the bullets to be larger than the bore. The navy had some confusion between their muzzleloaders and the Jenks breechloaders, which were technically the same caliber (.52), but the breechloader needed the bigger projectile to work well. Expanding base bullets were in use for quite a few decades, eventually people came to the conclusion that so long as your bullet was remotely close to the groove diameter, you don't really need the hollow or cup base on the bullet (that also moves the center of mass back in the bullet, making it a little more stable in flight, albeit more difficult to stabilize than the Hollow-base bullets)

@ChamplainValleyRailSnapshots 4 жыл бұрын

I'm curious as to the extent of the testing the various conversions underwent and if there was any clear "winner" as far as effectiveness, and ease and cost of conversion.

@cpcw06 4 жыл бұрын

I would recommend reading "The Best Gun in the World" by Seigler. It is about the Morse carbine, but it does go over the testing of breechloading rifles of the time.