I just finished a pretty good book that might appeal to anyone interested in the settlement of the West: Forty Years on the Frontier by Granville Stuart and others. Narrative and diary format of a man who went to the CA gold rush--covers a lot of ground, ending in Montana in the late 1880s.
Stuart mentions the acquisition of a "new breach loading fifty caliber Maynard carbine taking brass reloading cartridges intended to contain forty grains of black powder". Wikipedia states that Maynard cartridges contained no internal primer and that there was a hole in the base through which fire from an external percussion cap traveled. However, in The Guns That Won the Old West, John Walter states that the guns were rim-fire, with an auxiliary percussion cap mechanism, and that shooters would drill holes in spent rim fire cases so they could be re-used.
Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks in advance!
By the way, Stuart reports killing a deer with a Model 1851 Navy at 100 yards. Shades of Elmer Keith.
Stuart mentions the acquisition of a "new breach loading fifty caliber Maynard carbine taking brass reloading cartridges intended to contain forty grains of black powder". Wikipedia states that Maynard cartridges contained no internal primer and that there was a hole in the base through which fire from an external percussion cap traveled. However, in The Guns That Won the Old West, John Walter states that the guns were rim-fire, with an auxiliary percussion cap mechanism, and that shooters would drill holes in spent rim fire cases so they could be re-used.
Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks in advance!
By the way, Stuart reports killing a deer with a Model 1851 Navy at 100 yards. Shades of Elmer Keith.