From 1855 to 1915, 60 years or a little over half a century, we went from using smoothbore muskets to machine guns. At the outbreak of the civil war, most of the weapons available were smoothbore muskets, which had been the primary weapon of warfare for over 200 years. At the time, rifles were considered to be a specialists weapon which would be wasted on regular troops. Over time it was realized that the spin imparted on a rifled projectile would allow it to stay lethal over distances where smoothbore guns were useless, therefore increasing the effective range of volley fire, even if the men werent exactly sharpshooters.
They had rifles back in the Revolutionary War and they were used throughout but the main weapon of choice was still a musket. It wasn't like people woke up one day and realized "wow, rifles are cool", you goober. It was because muskets could be loaded much faster than rifles and so rifles didn't take off until technological developments allowed them to be reloaded faster.
Smoothbores were very quickly obsolete in the civil war. Gettysburg would have had a very different outcome without rifled muskets during Pickets charge. The union would have been overrun.
My family had a relative who fought in the Civil War with the N.Y. volunteers and lost an arm; he purchased the S&W Model 2 .32 long rimfire to fight the rest of the war with. We had the revolver and I must say it was a pain in the ass to punch the empty cases out and reload it especially on horseback.
One report of the Little Big Horn discussed the cartridge rims ripping off the 45-70 ammunition after the rifles started overheating and fouling, rather than extracting. This caused the rifle/carbine to become a high tech club.
the failure was greatly due to the copper cartridges. Though the outcome may not be that much different if they were brass. General Terry did ask Custer if he would want different rifles, but he refused, that and the fact that he had refused to bring along the Gatling guns. i cannot confirm the truth behind whether or not he actually did refuse different rifles. The military in general wanted the troops to use the trapdoor because it would prevent the troops from getting "trigger happy" and expending all their ammunition all at once. But again the capability of a repeater could have spared the lives of many soldiers.
10:49 its amazing im looking at a picture of 2 guys from the late 1800s and setting next to me is an AR15 that bares there name. Imagine what they would think of the AR how far guns have come an AR15 makes u a 1 man battalion! awesome video
when I was 9yo... circa 1967... in my neighborhood every kid my age had a fake 1903 Springfield parade rifle, smaller, but all wood and black steel, with a wood bullet, bought at Sunny's US Army Surplus and we played army day after school. 5 years later, circa 1972, we bought purple barrel LSD in Baltimore city, and played hippies after school. Great neighborhood
I was looking for mention of the rifle that was adopted by more countries than any other prior to WW1, the Remington rolling block. It was one of the simplest and strongest actions developed. It bridged the gap from the blackpowder 56-50 Spencer and 50-70 of, about 1864, to modern rounds such as the smokeless 7x57 Spanish Mauser and the 30-06. It was chambered in dozens of cartridge. Not being conductive to magazine loading, the single shot was considered to be simple and foolproof enough for the uneducated peasants that made up most armies up until the mid 20th century.
The 6mm Lee Navy was such a cool rifle/ cartridge combination! Too ahead of its time. The smokeless powders available burned too hot for the rifle's metallurgy. The bore wore out far too quickly.
I’m sorry, but the assessment of the Krag is vastly oversimplified, and just wrong in many cases. While not doubting the superiority of stripper clip loading mechanisms for a bolt action, saying that the Krag was bad because it “loaded slowly” is almost disingenuous. You literally just grab 5 loose rounds and throw them in the open loading gate and as long as they are all facing forwards, you can just close it and they will align themselves. I have owned one, it’s simple and fast.
The problem arises under boughts of extremem duress. We lose fine motor functions when panicked or filled with adrenaline. Loading a Krag is easy at the range, trying to load it in combat while you coild be killed at any moment is something else. No, the loading issue is not disingenuous.
This history leaves out the .50/70 Trap Door rifles, which were nearly all Allin conversions. The 1873 Trap door in .45/70 Government were nearly all new production.
True machine guns were waiting on smokeless powder cartridge to become practical. Blackpowder fouling hampered the effectiveness of even the Gattling Gun after several shots.
Just a couple notes or thoughts. If you do more videos on this subject, please edit them with sharper eye toward what's on the screen vs. what the narrator is talking about. I variously saw a Ruger cap and ball revolver being fired in slow motion while the narrator was talking about the Colt Frontier Six Shooter in "44 by 40" (note: it's "44-40," not "44 by 40"), and a modern Marlin lever action being fired while the narrator was talking about the Winchester 1866. I counted five people listed in the credits as editors - no one saw these discrepancies? Also, the early pattern Smith and Wesson revolvers are pronounced "SKO-field" not "SHOW-field". A lot of good info here, just needs more rigorous editing.
It's ironic that the US Army Ordinance Department didn't adopt any lever action rifle after the Civil War because they didn't want the soldiers to use up too much ammo (thus a partial reason for the Little Big Horn Massacre) and yet they finally woke up after facing the Mauser with a Krag! thank goodness they were forced to accept the Garand in WWII!!!
Repeaters like the Winchester were too expensive and not ' soldier proof' enough compared to a single shot for general issue. In this era, most of the rank and file were illiterate and some could barely speak English. Cavalry definitely should have had them along with elite troops like in the Civil War
@LysisAG# no disrespect but Germany did exist but weren't Unified Until Frederick the Great of Prussia and Reigon in Germany Did that in 1871 when they crushed the French army lead by Nepoleon the Third Nephew of Nepoleon the First Who Lost a Waterloo
No, they used the 1895 Lee Navy 6mm straight pull magazine rifle in the Boxer Rebellion. The first small bore rifle adopted by any U S military. It was withdrawn from service after a few years due to a short barrel life and the difficulties with controlling chamber pressure. The cartridge was ahead of its time because powder development lagged behind the cartridge design.
So Springfield stole from the Mausers design. Big deal. So they got sued and the army had to pay royalties to Mauser which is half the world away? Why even pay and who would enforce this payment anyway. Id tell them to go F their hat. Lol I dont get that part.
Why did You decide to choose the American Civil War as starting point? I mean, why didn't You include the chinese fire lances and early hand grenades, the french pots de Fer, the spanish miqueletes or the puckle gun which obviously predate american rifled muskets? And why no mention of Elisha Coolier?
From 1855 to 1915, 60 years or a little over half a century, we went from using smoothbore muskets to machine guns. At the outbreak of the civil war, most of the weapons available were smoothbore muskets, which had been the primary weapon of warfare for over 200 years. At the time, rifles were considered to be a specialists weapon which would be wasted on regular troops. Over time it was realized that the spin imparted on a rifled projectile would allow it to stay lethal over distances where smoothbore guns were useless, therefore increasing the effective range of volley fire, even if the men werent exactly sharpshooters.
Wow, Very cool! Now do the time it took from humanities first flight to landing on the moon.
War is the mother of invention.
They had rifles back in the Revolutionary War and they were used throughout but the main weapon of choice was still a musket. It wasn't like people woke up one day and realized "wow, rifles are cool", you goober. It was because muskets could be loaded much faster than rifles and so rifles didn't take off until technological developments allowed them to be reloaded faster.
Smoothbores were very quickly obsolete in the civil war. Gettysburg would have had a very different outcome without rifled muskets during Pickets charge. The union would have been overrun.
@@brealistic3542 What a shame.
My family had a relative who fought in the Civil War with the N.Y. volunteers and lost an arm; he purchased the S&W Model 2 .32 long rimfire to fight the rest of the war with. We had the revolver and I must say it was a pain in the ass to punch the empty cases out and reload it especially on horseback.
One report of the Little Big Horn discussed the cartridge rims ripping off the 45-70 ammunition after the rifles started overheating and fouling, rather than extracting. This caused the rifle/carbine to become a high tech club.
the failure was greatly due to the copper cartridges. Though the outcome may not be that much different if they were brass. General Terry did ask Custer if he would want different rifles, but he refused, that and the fact that he had refused to bring along the Gatling guns. i cannot confirm the truth behind whether or not he actually did refuse different rifles. The military in general wanted the troops to use the trapdoor because it would prevent the troops from getting "trigger happy" and expending all their ammunition all at once. But again the capability of a repeater could have spared the lives of many soldiers.
10:49 its amazing im looking at a picture of 2 guys from the late 1800s and setting next to me is an AR15 that bares there name. Imagine what they would think of the AR how far guns have come an AR15 makes u a 1 man battalion! awesome video
Smith and Wesson ❤
when I was 9yo... circa 1967... in my neighborhood every kid my age had a fake 1903 Springfield parade rifle, smaller, but all wood and black steel, with a wood bullet, bought at Sunny's US Army Surplus and we played army day after school. 5 years later, circa 1972, we bought purple barrel LSD in Baltimore city, and played hippies after school. Great neighborhood
Man, this is great
I still like my sharps 1859 carbine model with paper breach loader and my 1858 remington revolver with a 45lc conversion cylinder
I was looking for mention of the rifle that was adopted by more countries than any other prior to WW1, the Remington rolling block. It was one of the simplest and strongest actions developed. It bridged the gap from the blackpowder 56-50 Spencer and 50-70 of, about 1864, to modern rounds such as the smokeless 7x57 Spanish Mauser and the 30-06. It was chambered in dozens of cartridge. Not being conductive to magazine loading, the single shot was considered to be simple and foolproof enough for the uneducated peasants that made up most armies up until the mid 20th century.
Rolling Blocks are my 2nd favourite Single Shot after the Martini-Henry which is known to be the strongest action of it's era.
Nice photos of the old colt facility which are apartments now
🖤
The 6mm Lee Navy was such a cool rifle/ cartridge combination!
Too ahead of its time. The smokeless powders available burned too hot for the rifle's metallurgy. The bore wore out far too quickly.
the trapdoor was still used by the national guard in the Spanish American war
The Trapdoor was used by all volunteer units except the Rough Riders who got the Krag carbine
I’m sorry, but the assessment of the Krag is vastly oversimplified, and just wrong in many cases. While not doubting the superiority of stripper clip loading mechanisms for a bolt action, saying that the Krag was bad because it “loaded slowly” is almost disingenuous. You literally just grab 5 loose rounds and throw them in the open loading gate and as long as they are all facing forwards, you can just close it and they will align themselves. I have owned one, it’s simple and fast.
The problem arises under boughts of extremem duress. We lose fine motor functions when panicked or filled with adrenaline. Loading a Krag is easy at the range, trying to load it in combat while you coild be killed at any moment is something else. No, the loading issue is not disingenuous.
@chris.3711 thank you at least someone in the us still ues'es commen sense when it comes too that Norwegian piece of shit called a rifle
This history leaves out the .50/70 Trap Door rifles, which were nearly all Allin conversions. The 1873 Trap door in .45/70 Government were nearly all new production.
We actually went from that in only about 29 years,the first modern machine gun is from 1884
Uhhh original gatling guns definitely didn't use what appears to be 7.62x39.
True machine guns were waiting on smokeless powder cartridge to become practical. Blackpowder fouling hampered the effectiveness of even the Gattling Gun after several shots.
Just a couple notes or thoughts. If you do more videos on this subject, please edit them with sharper eye toward what's on the screen vs. what the narrator is talking about. I variously saw a Ruger cap and ball revolver being fired in slow motion while the narrator was talking about the Colt Frontier Six Shooter in "44 by 40" (note: it's "44-40," not "44 by 40"), and a modern Marlin lever action being fired while the narrator was talking about the Winchester 1866. I counted five people listed in the credits as editors - no one saw these discrepancies? Also, the early pattern Smith and Wesson revolvers are pronounced "SKO-field" not "SHOW-field". A lot of good info here, just needs more rigorous editing.
If we could ask the dead soldiers of the 7th Cav in 1876 how much they liked those trap door carbines...
It's ironic that the US Army Ordinance Department didn't adopt any lever action rifle after the Civil War because they didn't want the soldiers to use up too much ammo (thus a partial reason for the Little Big Horn Massacre) and yet they finally woke up after facing the Mauser with a Krag! thank goodness they were forced to accept the Garand in WWII!!!
Repeaters like the Winchester were too expensive and not ' soldier proof' enough compared to a single shot for general issue.
In this era, most of the rank and file were illiterate and some could barely speak English.
Cavalry definitely should have had them along with elite troops like in the Civil War
The Gatlin is a full automatic crank, trigger butt stock is irrelevant as the fire is automatic by fire not method.
So Germany existed in 1836? Humm that's new information. I'm glad this video told us that "Germany" didn't actually start until 1871.
@LysisAG# no disrespect but Germany did exist but weren't Unified Until Frederick the Great of Prussia and Reigon in Germany Did that in 1871 when they crushed the French army lead by Nepoleon the Third Nephew of Nepoleon the First Who Lost a Waterloo
Do lionheart filmworks kmow your uploading this?
Too bad they didn't get to the development of the M1917 Enfield story.
Your telling me the marines where made for the machine gun
The Marines were founded in 1775 as part of the Navy but Andrew Jackson made them part of the army
No, they used the 1895 Lee Navy 6mm straight pull magazine rifle in the Boxer Rebellion. The first small bore rifle adopted by any U S military. It was withdrawn from service after a few years due to a short barrel life and the difficulties with controlling chamber pressure. The cartridge was ahead of its time because powder development lagged behind the cartridge design.
😊
Yuk that guy Christopher Ruff guy is skeevy....why?
So Springfield stole from the Mausers design. Big deal. So they got sued and the army had to pay royalties to Mauser which is half the world away? Why even pay and who would enforce this payment anyway. Id tell them to go F their hat. Lol I dont get that part.
Patent laws, which can be a big deal. The payments were dropped when WWI broke out.
thats a stinkin way to live a life ...
"stinkin thinkin"
@@chris.3711no joke plus what Germany did in Belgium did help there Argument at all
Why do you need this "background choir" it just sucks.
It was a popular pistol of criminals and lawmen alike, well that's because they were alike and still are the one and the same.
Many men switched from one livelihood to the other as circumstances dictated.
Why did You decide to choose the American Civil War as starting point? I mean, why didn't You include the chinese fire lances and early hand grenades, the french pots de Fer, the spanish miqueletes or the puckle gun which obviously predate american rifled muskets? And why no mention of Elisha Coolier?
test
Iknow AMERICANS invented zero and question mark but they also invented gun.
No, the concept of zero comes from an ancient civilisation in India