Cool Cartridge at the Range Today
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BLACKHAWKNJ
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Yes, Burnside had a very mixed record as a combat commander, it was the fiasco of The Crater that led to his final relief.
The profusion of designs with their proprietary ammunition was a big part of the reason why Union Ordnance Chief Ripley resisted the adoption of breech loaders.
The profusion of designs with their proprietary ammunition was a big part of the reason why Union Ordnance Chief Ripley resisted the adoption of breech loaders.
lemaymiami
Member
Is it just me or was Burnside the source of the word "sideburns" for folks with all that hair below their ears ("muttonchop" whiskers)?
lightman
Member
Those old cartridges are cool! A friend owns a .56 caliber Spencer that he reloads for. It was an expensive project. He had a breech block machined to convert it from rimfire to center fire. A custom die set and a custom bullet mold. I think he uses 50-70 Gov cases for the parent case and has to turn them down a little. Just for kicks he Deer hunted with it until he scored on one.
Jim Watson
Member
I knew a guy who bought a Spencer for $10 from the owner of the land he hunted over. The farmer could no longer get ammo and had no use for it. You must bear in mind that this was ca 1950.
Since most of you seem to never have had the pleasure to play with stuff from the Civil War- I'm a North South Skirmish Association member and while I do play in the modern world, my thing is competition with old school arms and in the N-SSA, we shoot Civil War arms included cannon and mortars. Yup, we live fire artillery for score and I'm on a 6lb rifled howitzer crew.
First up- yeah, the Maynard has a weird (to modern eyes) cartridge case but, it can be extremely accurate when loaded properly and the Burnside as well. There is also a brass case for the 1858 Smith that looks a bit funky. The time period of the War had quite a few innovations in firearms and in the end, the Henry pretty much showed the path forward. For my personal arms in the Carbine class, I mainly shoot a Parker Hale musketoon or a 1863 Sharps. I do have a brace of Smiths for when I feel like it. Of those, the musketoon and the Sharps are the most accurate by far. The only difference competition wise is rate of fire. I do about 4/min with the Parker Hale and 8/min with the Sharps.
Second- accuracy. Yes, these old guns give up nothing to a modern arm.
Musketoon at 100yd, 58cal, 24in barrel.
Sharps at 50yd, flyer is operator error.
And one of my competition muskets- 1862 Colt at 50yd. Grid squares are 1in.
Nationals Carbine competition underway in Winchester VA. This is the left end of the firing line and it extends way into the smoke to position 70. There are 3 Control Towers. Make no mistake, this ain't reenacting, we shoot live ammunition.
I think I mentioned artillery, this is part of the artillery park for Relay 2. Relay one is in the distance where all the smoke is. I shot this pic standing on the trailer with our howitzer. At our Nationals, there's usually about 50 cannon being shot in competition and quite a few mortars.
My son and I usually crew at Positions 1&2 on the gun. It's a full size "Pack Parrot" that was designed for cavalry use in rough terrain. With it's short barrel, it has a seriously obnoxious muzzleblast and we get back behind the axles when we touch it off.
First up- yeah, the Maynard has a weird (to modern eyes) cartridge case but, it can be extremely accurate when loaded properly and the Burnside as well. There is also a brass case for the 1858 Smith that looks a bit funky. The time period of the War had quite a few innovations in firearms and in the end, the Henry pretty much showed the path forward. For my personal arms in the Carbine class, I mainly shoot a Parker Hale musketoon or a 1863 Sharps. I do have a brace of Smiths for when I feel like it. Of those, the musketoon and the Sharps are the most accurate by far. The only difference competition wise is rate of fire. I do about 4/min with the Parker Hale and 8/min with the Sharps.
Second- accuracy. Yes, these old guns give up nothing to a modern arm.
Musketoon at 100yd, 58cal, 24in barrel.
Sharps at 50yd, flyer is operator error.
And one of my competition muskets- 1862 Colt at 50yd. Grid squares are 1in.
Nationals Carbine competition underway in Winchester VA. This is the left end of the firing line and it extends way into the smoke to position 70. There are 3 Control Towers. Make no mistake, this ain't reenacting, we shoot live ammunition.
I think I mentioned artillery, this is part of the artillery park for Relay 2. Relay one is in the distance where all the smoke is. I shot this pic standing on the trailer with our howitzer. At our Nationals, there's usually about 50 cannon being shot in competition and quite a few mortars.
My son and I usually crew at Positions 1&2 on the gun. It's a full size "Pack Parrot" that was designed for cavalry use in rough terrain. With it's short barrel, it has a seriously obnoxious muzzleblast and we get back behind the axles when we touch it off.
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