Ian, you are doing a great job in these series for the auction houses. They are happy I am sure. he ultimate buyers should be happy to have videos of their purchases. And we get to see them all. So again thank you.
Man I heard that... I remember watching the first one of these years ago. A Spencer Carbine, 1860 Henry, 66 & 73 Winchester, Walker, 51 60 Colts, New Model Army, Sharps Rifle and a few dozen other guns later my wallet is still screaming
44 S&W Russian would use standard 44 cal. lead bullets. This popper is a proto brass mini Snyder breech loader. But nobody carries carbines on carabiner straps these days. A firing pin retractor would help loads, too.
A lovely little carbine. Sort of a scaled down version of a Snider using bronze instead of steel. I believe a repro of this little gem could easily be made in centerfire. I especially like the improved ejector.
It always amazes me how many gun designs came out between the Civil War and 1900. It seems like I find a new one everytime I research the era. And ive never heard of this one, so thanks for bringing it to light Ian. I like the simplicity of the design. With the brass its a very handsome rifle. It also looks really handy being that short and light. Im wondering with the simplicity of the design, why that action isnt more common, and why there arent any modern reproductions? Im not sure of the ballistics of the 56 Spencer, but it would be cool to see this in 45-70 (would that be too big?) or 357/44mag.
Ian i wanna say thank you, ive been a long time watcher of you (and your dad apparently! from various tv specials!) i have to say i am amazed whenever you find little specific tidbits on history, for example in this video when you explained the story behind the revised sling ring. Where do you find reliable, documented sources on information like that? It is incredible how many details you know, and now i have learned watching your videos. Much love, and thank you so much for doing this!
I never really had an interest in collecting firearms just for the sake of "collection" rather than use as toys or tools, but this cannel is starting to change my mind about that.
I wonder if the accounts of spent cartridges sticking might have been from using the older copper shell casings that were used prior to the switch to brass. Copper casings were the cause of sticking spent shells in a lot of other early cartridge using weapons.
I agree with you 100%. A reproduction of this dandy little carbine using center-fire 56-50, 44-40, .45 LC brass rimmed cartridges would probably not have the same issues. It would be beautiful in either brass or CC steel frame like the Uberti Henry. Using modern cartridges like some previously mentioned hot loads would probably blow the frame apart along with the shooter's body parts. It was, after all, designed to shoot black powder.
Great design, and pleasingly simple. The sliding extractor is a great idea. Bet it works better than the Trapdoor. Would love to see a modern repro in steel- 357 Maximum, anyone? Brass frame traditionalists can have theirs in 45 Colt. I need a Rolling Block too- thankfully those are available in repros. Don't think i had ever heard of these. Great video as always. Thank you
My God! Imagine not having a .56 Cal brass framed Spencer carbine! Seriously tho, can you imagine the advantage of owning one of these when your adversaries were armed with muzzleloaders? I'd say an aimed round every ten seconds is not a stretch with these.
I thought I knew pretty well all the Civil War firearms but I am still learning. I'd not heard of this baby until now. Interesting. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting between the French and the American ammo supplier. Oh la la!!!
I find it very strange that cavalry, whose primary weapon still was the sword in the American civil war, had these new, fast-loading breech loading guns, while the infantry was still using muzzle loading muskets.
No one has mentioned it here yet but the breechblock action strongly resembles the Snider breechblock conversion of the British Enfield muzzle-loader musket. Like the Americans, the Brits had millions of muzzle-loaders as the unitary metallic cartridge obsoleted all muzzle-loaders. Money was tight for the Americans and Brits. It made financial sense to convert existing muzzle-loader musket stocks rather than purchase a totally brand new rifle, which both nations eventually did anyway. The Americans opted for the Allin trapdoor and the Brits chose the American-invented Snider breechblock. Both systems were not perfect but still worked reliably enough for widespread adoption. The Snider breechblock conversion looks like and works almost identical to this Warner system. The Snider extraction is simpler and is integral to the breechblock itself so there were fewer moving parts than the Warner. The Snider rifle firer opened the breechblock just like the Warner but all he needed to do was slide the whole breechblock back to extract the cartridge. As in the Warner, the empty cartridge did not pop out on the ground. The firer had to tilt the rifle over and dump out the empty brass. Both the Snider conversion and the Warner worked. It's too bad the Union Army did not have access to either the Remington Rolling Block or this Warner swinging breechblock as both were invented right after the war. The Spencer and the Henry had built-in magazines but were much more expensive to manufacture and purchase. A trained soldier would have been able to fire off about 12 rounds per minute compared to 3 rounds, realistically, per minute with the standard muzzle-loader.
The reason why the Federal cavalry branch got so many breechloading carbines was threefold: 1] There weren't enough rolling mills on the North American continent [including Canada, Mexico, and the Confederacy] to supply the **billions** of round necessary to equip an army of 1.25 million men [85% of whom were infantrymen] with ammo. 2] The cartridges themselves were in their infancy; the vast majority of them were copper with an iron striking base and there were problems with the iron base and copper sleeve separating as the weapons were cocked to reload them. The copper sleeve would then have to be dug out of chamber with a knife... with predictable results. 3] Should their carbine jam, the cavalry could resort to their revolvers [which were cap-and-ball percussion]. If an infantryman's rifle was jammed [it takes a fair amount of work to worm a seated Minie ball out of a musket], all he had was his bayonet.
+CapnHolic I think the main difference would be having the metallurgy right for making the locking system on a rolling block ie the right type of steel and heat treating it correctly. The design of this action is less critical on materials which would make it easier to make in the long run :-)
Jesse Sisolack I actually meant to say falling block, but got the two mixed up for some reason. Although I admit it would be a tad more complicated than this, even though it is still basic.
This is also good rifle. Also is not bad. I like it. More easier, more convenient to manufacture, engineering construction and mechanics. Which is also very important for those who are not very good engineers, designers, locksmiths like the great masters. These great masters have much better tools, machines, equipment, they are there whole factories with hundreds of thousands of workers.
That's what I was going to comment. If there are any other American rifles that are so similar to the Snider system, I must not have heard of them, because I can't think of any.
Nothing like being a soldier, getting a new gun and the wrong ammunition or crappy ammunition. One thing nice about the cav or being a militia troop, you could have newer style guns. Like Illinois troops, I would gladly turn over 3-4 months pay to get one.
Are you sure you don't have the Warners reversed? Every other source I have seen on these, lists the version with the saddle ring bar as a second model, and this version as a first model. I recently had a Warner with a single-digit serial number in my hands, and it was identical to this one. Rifle #3, on display at the Springfirls Armory museum, is the same.
+Stigstigster I know, I know; it was a joke. I don't actually believe in the "cowardly French" myth myself, the myth has come from WWII and France's many almost-comical military blunders in the past (from Waterloo to Dien Bien Phu). I did not mean to imply that France was actually a cowardly nation or entirely militarily incompetent; I'm saying that a blunder like this (and to be fair, the American exporters are just as much at fault for the ammunition mix-up) just can't help but give a sympathetic chuckle to the myth.
+Edward Ross More the fault of an incompetent merchant eager to make a quick buck off a half defeated nation so desperate to get modern breechloaders that they bought the weapons sight unseen and assumed the seller wouldn't ship a million rounds of the wrong ammo. Exactly the type of disaster that the US wanted to avoid by standardizing carbine ammo.
The contract was for the Warners with 1 million rounds for the same. The sellers simply lied. At the time the National Government was buying anything that went bang, ideally breechloading.
Hi just a thought have you considered doing a series on the weapon that you've featured with their new owners ? Firing or even the new owners collection ? Cheers Hutch
+SamuraiPie8111 There are worse ways to pronounce that name. Worcester sauce is pronounced in the Czech republic "vohrchester" (yes, simple "v", full "o" like in "stop" and a "ch"). I've been in Worcester, btw (in Worcestershire, England, UK), nice city.
Am I correct that the Sharps breech loader, during the Civil War fired a linen cartridge in .52 caliber and if so why was it more liked then the metallic cartridge guns.
How would you even know if it did leave the US in the first place? and found its way back to the US just because the markings on the rifle do not guarantee it left the US at all.
Речь такая ...............как посуду бьют! Ненадёжная нация! И чем этот язык заслужил роль .......................нет он больше разъединяет человечество
are replacement parts unheard of when these were being made? why not just buy a second breach block made in the center fire style (this gun looks to have an easily removable pin that the block swings on... if not, then the point is moot)?
Very interesting Ian. The transition to full metalic cartridges is a very interesting part of fire arms history. Great video as always buddy.
Ian, you are doing a great job in these series for the auction houses. They are happy I am sure. he ultimate buyers should be happy to have videos of their purchases. And we get to see them all. So again thank you.
+Doby Pilgrim Excuse the typo, please. Sticky keyboard this morning.
+Doby Pilgrim Totally understandable... It is a beautiful little carbine after all ;-)
Every time that I watch one of these videos on 19th century firearms I can hear my wallet screaming in fear.
Man I heard that... I remember watching the first one of these years ago. A Spencer Carbine, 1860 Henry, 66 & 73 Winchester, Walker, 51 60 Colts, New Model Army, Sharps Rifle and a few dozen other guns later my wallet is still screaming
I’ve had my wallet hide on me many times
FOR SALE: 2,400 .56 single-shot rifles, ammunition included*
*compatible 0.56 ammunition sold separately
Oh hey fancy meeting you here.
@@j.yossarian6852 where the elite meet to greet
And yet another simple solution to the cartridge use - THanks!
I learn a lot about firearm history on this channel, thanks for discussing these old guns!
A reproduction of this in .357 magnum sounds like it would be a whole bunch of fun.
'ken oath, or better yet, 44/40 giving you the option of black powder loads if you so wish.
44 S&W Russian would use standard 44 cal. lead bullets. This popper is a proto brass mini Snyder breech loader. But nobody carries carbines on carabiner straps these days.
A firing pin retractor would help loads, too.
Yes, it would.
@@marvindebot3264 ⅔³
A lovely little carbine. Sort of a scaled down version of a Snider using bronze instead of steel. I believe a repro of this little gem could easily be made in centerfire. I especially like the improved ejector.
It always amazes me how many gun designs came out between the Civil War and 1900. It seems like I find a new one everytime I research the era. And ive never heard of this one, so thanks for bringing it to light Ian.
I like the simplicity of the design. With the brass its a very handsome rifle. It also looks really handy being that short and light. Im wondering with the simplicity of the design, why that action isnt more common, and why there arent any modern reproductions? Im not sure of the ballistics of the 56 Spencer, but it would be cool to see this in 45-70 (would that be too big?) or 357/44mag.
.45 Long Colt would be a better cartridge for the gun. That way you could pull off the whole .45lc .410 stunt
I like it. It doesn't look terribly hard to reproduce either.
I agree, a reproduction of this would be super cool!
That's actually a brilliant single shot design. With a tapered cartridge, I could see a modern adaption.
I love this gun a lot. I will love to see more civil war breech loading cavalry carbines. keep it up.
That has to be the most beautiful US Civil War era gun I have ever seen.
“Sold to France…” now we know why Ian is presenting this rifle to us!
The hammer acts as a secondary breach block lock as soon as it's hitting the stricker. Very cool.
Very interesting video of a very beautiful weapon,thanks once again for what you do Ian,keep it up!
Weapon?
@Jason Stewart
Is it not a weapon? Idiot.
Ian i wanna say thank you, ive been a long time watcher of you (and your dad apparently! from various tv specials!) i have to say i am amazed whenever you find little specific tidbits on history, for example in this video when you explained the story behind the revised sling ring. Where do you find reliable, documented sources on information like that? It is incredible how many details you know, and now i have learned watching your videos.
Much love, and thank you so much for doing this!
This looks handier to use than the Trap-door Springfield mechanism.
Wow. Clever and very interesting. Once again, an excellent video!
Like a more complicated precursor to the Snider breech system!
Sharps so much simpler !
Looks like a Snider actio and a Ballard extractor. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
I never really had an interest in collecting firearms just for the sake of "collection" rather than use as toys or tools, but this cannel is starting to change my mind about that.
Looks like the predecessor to the Snider Enfield conversion.
I've got an 1877 Enfield Snider. (3 band).
Sadly it's been converted to 20g and "sporterised".
As you go, you get closer and closer to a good New England pronunciation of Worcester (Woostah).
Very similar to the way they pronounce it in Worcester, England - "Wuster"
I wonder if the accounts of spent cartridges sticking might have been from using the older copper shell casings that were used prior to the switch to brass. Copper casings were the cause of sticking spent shells in a lot of other early cartridge using weapons.
I agree with you 100%. A reproduction of this dandy little carbine using center-fire 56-50, 44-40, .45 LC brass rimmed cartridges would probably not have the same issues. It would be beautiful in either brass or CC steel frame like the Uberti Henry. Using modern cartridges like some previously mentioned hot loads would probably blow the frame apart along with the shooter's body parts. It was, after all, designed to shoot black powder.
Got to love the history of guns
A Beautiful instrument. I love it.
Very neat. I've never seen this gun before.
giggled like Beavis and Butthead at "buttstroke"
+Bluith LOL.. Me too. It's been a weird morning :P
Haha, Ian on the ground "buttstroking" Karl's log.
Ewe guys are so PC!
Yeah until someone goes through bayonet practice and tried it on you
Beautiful little carbine.
great review of a very interesting rifle ! tnx !
Guns were so much more elegant back then!
"Diggers" on the NatGeo channel found one of these (well, the relic receiver anyway) on 8/7 episode
Great design, and pleasingly simple. The sliding extractor is a great idea. Bet it works better than the Trapdoor. Would love to see a modern repro in steel- 357 Maximum, anyone? Brass frame traditionalists can have theirs in 45 Colt. I need a Rolling Block too- thankfully those are available in repros. Don't think i had ever heard of these. Great video as always. Thank you
My God! Imagine not having a .56 Cal brass framed Spencer carbine!
Seriously tho, can you imagine the advantage of owning one of these when your adversaries were armed with muzzleloaders? I'd say an aimed round every ten seconds is not a stretch with these.
Great video as always Ian
looks good & simple
Man I’m always 5-6 years late for these auctions lol
"... rebuilt, er..."
Retooled.
Reminds me of a snider breech, minus the extractor being separate and not connected to the breech block
I happen to be from Worcester, MA....
Remind me of the snider. But the hatch works as the ejector aswell.
Прекрасный карабин .Приятно было смотреть это видео.
I thought I knew pretty well all the Civil War firearms but I am still learning. I'd not heard of this baby until now. Interesting. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting between the French and the American ammo supplier. Oh la la!!!
Very nice design
Ian looks younger in 2021! More Full auto mag dumps- the fountain of youth !?!
Pretty simple, clever gun!!!
I find it very strange that cavalry, whose primary weapon still was the sword in the American civil war, had these new, fast-loading breech loading guns, while the infantry was still using muzzle loading muskets.
No one has mentioned it here yet but the breechblock action strongly resembles the Snider breechblock conversion of the British Enfield muzzle-loader musket. Like the Americans, the Brits had millions of muzzle-loaders as the unitary metallic cartridge obsoleted all muzzle-loaders. Money was tight for the Americans and Brits. It made financial sense to convert existing muzzle-loader musket stocks rather than purchase a totally brand new rifle, which both nations eventually did anyway. The Americans opted for the Allin trapdoor and the Brits chose the American-invented Snider breechblock. Both systems were not perfect but still worked reliably enough for widespread adoption. The Snider breechblock conversion looks like and works almost identical to this Warner system. The Snider extraction is simpler and is integral to the breechblock itself so there were fewer moving parts than the Warner. The Snider rifle firer opened the breechblock just like the Warner but all he needed to do was slide the whole breechblock back to extract the cartridge. As in the Warner, the empty cartridge did not pop out on the ground. The firer had to tilt the rifle over and dump out the empty brass. Both the Snider conversion and the Warner worked. It's too bad the Union Army did not have access to either the Remington Rolling Block or this Warner swinging breechblock as both were invented right after the war. The Spencer and the Henry had built-in magazines but were much more expensive to manufacture and purchase. A trained soldier would have been able to fire off about 12 rounds per minute compared to 3 rounds, realistically, per minute with the standard muzzle-loader.
I'm kind of annoyed at myself for somehow missing this one up until right now.
Thx for the new intro. The previous was crappy.
Wikipedia says the .56-56 Spencer had a muzzle energy of 1,125 ft. lbs. That's .44 magnum level performance with a 350 grain bullet. Impressive.
I can'y help but think that Jacob Snider had handled one of these before he made his rifle musket conversion system.
The reason why the Federal cavalry branch got so many breechloading carbines was threefold:
1] There weren't enough rolling mills on the North American continent [including Canada, Mexico, and the Confederacy] to supply the **billions** of round necessary to equip an army of 1.25 million men [85% of whom were infantrymen] with ammo.
2] The cartridges themselves were in their infancy; the vast majority of them were copper with an iron striking base and there were problems with the iron base and copper sleeve separating as the weapons were cocked to reload them. The copper sleeve would then have to be dug out of chamber with a knife... with predictable results.
3] Should their carbine jam, the cavalry could resort to their revolvers [which were cap-and-ball percussion]. If an infantryman's rifle was jammed [it takes a fair amount of work to worm a seated Minie ball out of a musket], all he had was his bayonet.
Huh!!
Never herd of it!!!
Just when...
Excellent history!
I have this carbine. Serial number 5.
Very simple design. Looks like something I would make from left over parts for fun, ha. Simple is good though. I like simple.
+Jesse Sisolack Actually looks more complicated than something like a rolling block.
+CapnHolic Well it might just be me or my workshop, but I would find this hinge system easier to make.
+CapnHolic I think the main difference would be having the metallurgy right for making the locking system on a rolling block ie the right type of steel and heat treating it correctly. The design of this action is less critical on materials which would make it easier to make in the long run :-)
Jesse Sisolack I actually meant to say falling block, but got the two mixed up for some reason. Although I admit it would be a tad more complicated than this, even though it is still basic.
+CapnHolic Ha, well I missread that as a falling block anyway.
This is also good rifle. Also is not bad. I like it. More easier, more convenient to manufacture, engineering construction and mechanics. Which is also very important for those who are not very good engineers, designers, locksmiths like the great masters. These great masters have much better tools, machines, equipment, they are there whole factories with hundreds of thousands of workers.
Reminds me of the Snider system.
That's what I was going to comment. If there are any other American rifles that are so similar to the Snider system, I must not have heard of them, because I can't think of any.
I love this little number's design but I don't see how the extraction technique avoids slamming the empty shell-case against the hammer face?
Love your videos! But being someone who is from Worcester, it's suprising to hear someone pronounce the city correctly lol
Fascinating. Isn't it?
Nothing like being a soldier, getting a new gun and the wrong ammunition or crappy ammunition. One thing nice about the cav or being a militia troop, you could have newer style guns. Like Illinois troops, I would gladly turn over 3-4 months pay to get one.
It was enlarged to make it more effective at extracting
Here I was hoping that it was a rolling-block carbine.
Are you sure you don't have the Warners reversed? Every other source I have seen on these, lists the version with the saddle ring bar as a second model, and this version as a first model. I recently had a Warner with a single-digit serial number in my hands, and it was identical to this one. Rifle #3, on display at the Springfirls Armory museum, is the same.
Belíssima
I'm sure many of you can't even make this and many easier models. And the modern ones are even more difficult to make
So, this is where H&K got the idea for the slap?
Nice carbine.. wish I was wealthy. I have had many extremely nice firearms but couldnt hang on to them
Importing a new rifle with a million rounds of the wrong ammunition. That really does seem like something "Only France" would do...
+Stigstigster I know, I know; it was a joke. I don't actually believe in the "cowardly French" myth myself, the myth has come from WWII and France's many almost-comical military blunders in the past (from Waterloo to Dien Bien Phu). I did not mean to imply that France was actually a cowardly nation or entirely militarily incompetent; I'm saying that a blunder like this (and to be fair, the American exporters are just as much at fault for the ammunition mix-up) just can't help but give a sympathetic chuckle to the myth.
+Edward Ross More the fault of an incompetent merchant eager to make a quick buck off a half defeated nation so desperate to get modern breechloaders that they bought the weapons sight unseen and assumed the seller wouldn't ship a million rounds of the wrong ammo. Exactly the type of disaster that the US wanted to avoid by standardizing carbine ammo.
The contract was for the Warners with 1 million rounds for the same. The sellers simply lied. At the time the National Government was buying anything that went bang, ideally breechloading.
Considering that the rifles were never going to be fired and only dropped once I don't think it really matters.
Hi just a thought have you considered doing a series on the weapon that you've featured with their new owners ? Firing or even the new owners collection ?
Cheers Hutch
When will the video on the Pancor Jackhammer come out?
+Toyla Morozyuk This weekend. I moved things up.
+Cynkel november
+Forgotten Weapons Shut up and take my donation!
+Cynkel it's happening gif
+Forgotten Weapons You're the best. :3
werster?
it's pronounced WOOSTAH
+SamuraiPie8111 Oh Stewardess, I speak Yankee....
+SamuraiPie8111 There are worse ways to pronounce that name. Worcester sauce is pronounced in the Czech republic "vohrchester" (yes, simple "v", full "o" like in "stop" and a "ch"). I've been in Worcester, btw (in Worcestershire, England, UK), nice city.
werstercershire
If he says it wrong, would you die?
@@vaclav_fejt vortshestershaiörsoos
Wonder how many Warners went west…
Well, I'll have to survive without one. 😢
As i don't have a firearm licence.
Do you have access to a Welrod silent pistol? Would be cool to get some info on that one.
+brottarnacke nope, legally they cannot come to the states
Xtorin's Guns and Ammo
Why is that?
NFA item not on the register.
And he's done a welrod.
Am I missing something here ? How does one load that thing while riding a horse ?
❤ nice job😊
Am I correct that the Sharps breech loader, during the Civil War fired a linen cartridge in .52 caliber and if so why was it more liked then the metallic cartridge guns.
what was the reasoning behind the cavalry getting the breachloaders? a matter of supply or was the infantry caught in the idea of Napoleonic fighting?
Mostly it was due to the difficulty of reloading a muzzleloader from the saddle.
With suitable ammunition, that could be a decent hunting rifle.
what would happen if you got whatever cartridge this gun uses unloaded the powder and put powder a.50 BMG bullet uses in to it and fired it?
An explosion.
Its basically a proto snider carbine
I would call it patent infringe towards the English Snyder system from the late 1850ties. Adapted by the Danish armed forces as system 62.
As always, a big "thumbs up"! FYI .... Worcester is pronounced "Woosta" by the indigenous peoples.
No that's just the Boston people who know about worcester. As an indigenous peoples myself, we pronounce it "wister".
cool rifle but I'm a bigger fan of the Remington rolling block action.
yeah
How accurate an how far were they able to shoot
And I was made about buying a box of the wrong ammo 🤣😂🤣
A less than totally reputable company,
How would you even know if it did leave the US in the first place? and found its way back to the US just because the markings on the rifle do not guarantee it left the US at all.
Are there gas leaks?
This interesting little carbine sure has a sad and short military history. I suppose that makes it less interesting for military collectors.
Речь такая ...............как посуду бьют! Ненадёжная нация! И чем этот язык заслужил роль .......................нет он больше разъединяет человечество
are replacement parts unheard of when these were being made? why not just buy a second breach block made in the center fire style (this gun looks to have an easily removable pin that the block swings on... if not, then the point is moot)?
Hola yo soy d la Argentina te filisito es muy linda arma me gusta a mí toda la sarma yo Soi fanáticos de la arma