First U.S. bolt action rifle

[major bill]

Among the technological advance of the Civil War was the first U.S. bolt-action rife. The Green Bolt-action Rifle.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

Among the technological advance of the Civil War was the first U.S. bolt-action rife. The Green Bolt-action Rifle.

I was totally unaware of this major bill. At least someone back then was considering that it might be a good idea to be able to keep your head down while reloading. Found some info on the Springfield Armory site. http://ww2.rediscov.com/spring/VFPC...g/DETAILS.IDC,SPECIFIC=14884,DATABASE=objects,

 

[Jobe Holiday]

Something else interesting about the Greene Rifle is there is no rifling! It is an oval-bored rifle, just lake the British Lancaster patent rifling. The bore is oval, and the entire bore twists to impart the spin to the bullet. The Government didn't like them because you had to "spoil" one cartridge to begin firing the rifle. Why? Because the cartridges were loaded with the powder over the ball which also had a lubed felt wad below the bullet. To begin firing you had to "break" one cartridge open, dump the powder on the ground, insert the bullet into the chamber, raise the bolt handle to the vertical position, push the handle forward to seat the single bullet, retract the handle to home position, raise the handle again, retract the bolt to the rear, insert a complete cartridge, then push the bolt closed. These operations gave you a loaded chamber which consisted of "Bullet with greased wad/powder charge/bullet with greased wad." The greased felt wad not only lubricated the bore but also acted as a chamber seal in front of the bolt face. Finally put the under hammer in the firing position, cap the cone, and fire. For all ensuing rounds raise the bolt handle, push it forward to seat the bullet already in the chamber, retract the bolt, insert the next cartridge, close the bolt, cap and fire. As long as there was a bullet in the chamber from the last round fired you were good to go! But, once you stopped firing and cleared the chamber/cleaned the arm you had to repeat the first step of breaking open a new cartridge, dump the powder, and insert a single bullet all over again.

The Government "bean-counters" couldn't stand the fact that every time you started the loading procedure from scratch you had to waste one powder charge by dumping it on the ground!
J.

 

[Craig L Barry]

It's funny but US government anxiety over "wasted ammunition" was a very real phenomenon that persisted quite deep into the modern era, at least WWI.

 

[Spunk Puppy]

Something else interesting about the Greene Rifle is there is no rifling! It is an oval-bored rifle, just lake the British Lancaster patent rifling. The bore is oval, and the entire bore twists to impart the spin to the bullet. The Government didn't like them because you had to "spoil" one cartridge to begin firing the rifle. Why? Because the cartridges were loaded with the powder over the ball which also had a lubed felt wad below the bullet. To begin firing you had to "break" one cartridge open, dump the powder on the ground, insert the bullet into the chamber, raise the bolt handle to the vertical position, push the handle forward to seat the single bullet, retract the handle to home position, raise the handle again, retract the bolt to the rear, insert a complete cartridge, then push the bolt closed. These operations gave you a loaded chamber which consisted of "Bullet with greased wad/powder charge/bullet with greased wad." The greased felt wad not only lubricated the bore but also acted as a chamber seal in front of the bolt face. Finally put the under hammer in the firing position, cap the cone, and fire. For all ensuing rounds raise the bolt handle, push it forward to seat the bullet already in the chamber, retract the bolt, insert the next cartridge, close the bolt, cap and fire. As long as there was a bullet in the chamber from the last round fired you were good to go! But, once you stopped firing and cleared the chamber/cleaned the arm you had to repeat the first step of breaking open a new cartridge, dump the powder, and insert a single bullet all over again.

The Government "bean-counters" couldn't stand the fact that every time you started the loading procedure from scratch you had to waste one powder charge by dumping it on the ground!
J.

Wow! What a convoluted loading method. Interesting though!