Civil War references to breech loaders, Colt Root rifle & etc..

[Palehorseman]

I have been reading the "Life of Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest" by John Allan Wyeth.

There are more references in this book to breech loaders, Colt revolving rifles and etc. by both the Union and Confederacy than any other Civil War writings that I have read before. It seems the Maynard carbine was a favorite of cavalry for both sides in the western theater of operations. In addition to the carbine being accurate, the cartridge cases could be easily reloaded by the trooper's themselves with powder and ball 100+ times before becoming unserviceable.

The book is downloadable for free from several sources, in my case it was to Kindle.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#...al+Nathan+Bedford+Forrest+by+John+Allan+Wyeth

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

breech loader

Among others there was also the Smith and the Sharps.
Each had it's good and bad points.
I have a Smith 50 cal and an 1863 model Sharps (54 cal).
back in the day both them and the maynard
they experimented with different cartridge cases.
There was a special tinfoil from England, Linen, paper, and a rubber.
Only the rubber was reusable.
today instead od rubber there are plastic and brass one and the Charlies tubes made of heavy rolled paper.

I like both of mine. the Sharps for long distance the Smith as easier and lighter to carry.
One advantage of the maynard was the rotary cap ignition system even though it was still a single shot

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Thanks for the link, Currently I am recovering from post cadiac surgical complications and cant get to the library. Are all published books available for online reading?

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

elhombre

Thanks for the link, Currently I am recovering from post cadiac surgical complications and cant get to the library. Are all published books available for online reading?

No.
But you can check your local library, they do have some online, just need your membership card.
Plus some libraries will ship a book to you right to your door.
Check them out

 

[Palehorseman]

Among others there was also the Smith and the Sharps.
Each had it's good and bad points.
I have a Smith 50 cal and an 1863 model Sharps (54 cal).
back in the day both them and the maynard
they experimented with different cartridge cases.
There was a special tinfoil from England, Linen, paper, and a rubber.
Only the rubber was reusable.
today instead od rubber there are plastic and brass one and the Charlies tubes made of heavy rolled paper.

I like both of mine. the Sharps for long distance the Smith as easier and lighter to carry.
One advantage of the maynard was the rotary cap ignition system even though it was still a single shot

The rotating Maynard tape system was only used on first models, was not used on later models.

 

[Palehorseman]

Thanks for the link, Currently I am recovering from post cadiac surgical complications and cant get to the library. Are all published books available for online reading?

All written materials published in the US before 1923 are not copyright protected and fall into public domain, so they are free to download.

I use the Library of Congress a lot for downloading historical books, journals, diaries and etc..

https://archive.org/details/lifeoflieutenant00wyeth

Other favorite sources are Gutenberg and Digilibraries.

https://www.gutenberg.org/

http://www.digilibraries.com/

 

[Berkley]

Google Books and Project Gutenberg are good places to start looking for interesting free online reading.

(Oops, Palehorseman was adding links while I was typing.)