Peabody Sidehammer: The Best Martini Action You've Never Heard Of
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- Опубліковано 30 сер 2020
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Henry Peabody was one of the less-recognized American firearms designers. A machinist from the age of 17, he worked at the Watertown Arsenal and eventually took a job as foreman for the Spencer rifle company in 1862. That same year he patented a dropping-block rifle action, and began working on developing it for military use. He partnered with the Providence Tool Company in Rhode Island to manufacture his guns, and while he was not able to get it adopted by the US military they did begin getting a number of foreign military contracts by 1867 or so. His big break was a sale of 15,000 guns to Switzerland in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War. This was followed by a contract for Spain, and then an open-ended sale to the French Government of National Defense in 1871 following the military disaster of the Franco-Prussian War. In total, some 113,000 Peabody sidehammer rifles and carbines were made over just a few years - a remarkable success for the time by a small company and otherwise unknown inventor.
Peabody and Providence Tool would follow this with an even more successful period manufacturing the Peabody-Martini rifle, but that is a story for another video. Henry Peabody died a wealthy bachelor in Boston in 1903, and left his fortune ($350,000 at the time; about $9 million by today’s value) to founding a girls’ school in Norwood Massachusetts.
For more details on the development of the Peabody rifles and the various contracts manufactured, I highly recommend Edward Hull’s book “Peabody Firearms”:
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Me seeing a 20 minute video for a U.S. breechloader. "Wow Ian, I'm surprised, you're usually not that into 19th century American stuff"
Ian: *Talks for several minutes about how they were shipped to France*
Me: "Ah, now I get it."
Ah, yes of course, France.
@Joseph LMAO
Ahhhh, the French.
@@mredsterish 9
06 56 47 97 55
A literal case of:
"how many guns do you need?"
"yes"
"I'll take your entire stock."
''Guns, lots of guns.''
"All of them, Katie."
"I need guns, lots of guns."
@@Alpha.Phenix is that a hound reference?! 😃
I think watching Ian should count for history credit in schools. I learn a lot of history along with the great guns.
I would be SO DOWN to learn a gun history course for extra credits
I know right?
"Oh yeah, of course, the Franco-Prussian War." Duh.
A friend of mine went to a very expensive private high school in that school One of the classes they could take was ww2 engineering
With todays "social issues" I would suggest not even telling a teacher you watch videos about firearms😂😂😂
hrosemd I took AP world history in high school and then majored in history in college, and I still have learned more about the Franco Prussian War in Ian and Othias’ videos than I never did in school. (Granted that wasn’t the time period I focused on college, but still!)
The rifles case hardening is gorgeous. Wonder if the Parisian’s had any problem getting hold of the ammunition?
the Prussians defeated Paris fairly quickly after about 5 months, then it was seized by the Commune and held for a further 2 months, who were then crushed by the Regulat French army, chances are the guns never made past the warehouse to be distributed
andrew w that’s one way of solving a logistic problem! Thanks.
They had problems finding enough rats to eat, so I imagine ammunition would also be an issue.
@@ProjectThunderclaw Problems finding rats? In Paris...? How dire was the situation that the rats flee the city?
@@cheyannei5983 it was real bad. They ended up slaughtering the zoo animals because they ran out of rats and dogs.
The shape of the stock on those rifles is just gorgeous.
Especially the carbine. Really pretty.
Svelte
I'm the proud caretaker of a .43 Spanish rifle. My grand father had bought it maybe a 100 years ago. He shot it once and said he could see the bullet fly, never shot it again. I'm shooting it now with mild smokeless loads. There's no windage adjustments on the sights but a machined slip on front sight fixed that. I'm a grand father now and my grand son likes shooting it.
@J CC I disagree. I have shot quite a few smokeless rounds through the years in the old black bowder rifles with proper loads and never experienced any problems nor have I ever seen one that was "blown up". Always exercise prudence when shooting any firearm of any vintage, but I note that Canadian Dominion for many years loaded factory smokeless rounds for the .43 Mauser rifle and I found them to shoot wonderfully well in my 71/84.
@@johnkelinske1449 I agree with you. There's a number of websites that show reasonable reloading data for this cartridge. I've reloaded for 50+ years and haven't had any "blown up" guns. I use my homemade black powder with bowling balls, easy cleanup with a garden hose.
The 43 Spanish was a World Beater, it spanked everything else !!!
Only 1860’s kids remember this one!
I can imagine his family hopping around incensed at the reading of his will. Even more so when the will was upheld! All the relatives seem to emerge from the woodwork when there is a will to be read 😆👍
They say that money changes you. It doesn't - it changes the people around you. They turn into grasping, avaricious, freeloading monsters, each of whom thinks that they should be the sole beneficiary of *your* hard work and financial prudence. I hope that Peabody's relatives wasted a heap of money trying to get hold of his !
@@Kevin-mx1vi I thoroughly concur. I used to be a house manager and cook for a supported sheltered housing project for older people. When a resident passed away, people I had never seen before turned up full of faux concern, their eyes betraying their avarice!
My great grandfather got a million dollars from his friend and long story short the same situation happened with the will of my grandmother. It has destroyed our family.
Where there's a will, there's a relative.
😆
I wish you could show examples of the cartdidges too, specially on these old rifles with obselete calibres
If he had any I'm sure he would but some of these are hard to get ammo for
He's an issues with the owners of photos before, particularly of rare ammunition.
I bet some of the ammo for these guns is far more rare than the guns themselves
@@jongreenshields2815 My Peabody shoots 45-70 with low powered loads just fine.
the ammo is similar to the Swiss Vetterli Rimfire Caliber 10.5mm
"If you've stuck around this long, you're interested in Peabody and his rifles" ....maybe. For me, at least, I just like the way you present stuff. You could be presenting a historic cupcake tin, and I'd probably watch at least 20 minutes of it
Matt Morrisson oh well done! I watched to the end and not once did Ian mention the cupcake tin! I feel so duped and silly!
Snub relatives to make a girls school in the will, with money from gun sales? Sounds like he got priorities in order. I think I like this Peabody fellow. And he made something for Ian to make a video with so double win in my book.
My 3rd great grandmother attended the school his fortune funded in its entirety. I believe it’s still standing today, it was when I was last in the area, but it’s been a good amount of years since then. The school itself actually has a pretty cool history of its own, as in the events that unfolded there and such.
@@ILikeToLaughAtYou per another thread the physical building is no more but the institution remains
The Martini style of rifles always seemed so interesting.
Yes and they also always looked somewhat the same
iirc the name of the action is Falling Block
@@jurtra9090 It is actually a pivoting or swinging block type.
There are records that once, in the war of 1879, Peabody rifles used by Peru outranged Chilean artillery. In the same battle (Tarapacá) there were cases of Chilean soldiers dropping their Comblain rifles to take the Peabody from fallen Peruvians.
A 17 year old having a career is the most unbelievable part of this story
At least in today's society. 150 years ago though...
He was probably married by that point too...
* cries in 26 years of age *
Children as young as 7 had a career at that point of time. It is helped that those kids where from poor families and pay was not good that everyone must pitch in...
Very common in England until around 30 years ago.
Well, I was ready to dry my tears for poor old Peabody who had a good gun and never sold a single one, but it appears he did pretty well after all. Good for him :D
The main reason the US Army didn't adopt it was they and CONgress were told the Trapdoor Springfield option was cheaper.
Dude lived the hustle.
@@johnkelinske1449 lol
During the "Fenian Invasion", of 1866 the Canadian Militias were primarily armed with M.L. Enfields and one of the leaders of the Invaders was killed by the ramrod from one of these rifles, classic rookie mistake under the stress of battle, thirty thousand Enfields were immediately sent to England by the Colonies Militias for conversion to the Snider Pattern.
It was made for me
Well you are a peabody, Do you have a bushy Victorian mustache
The german V stamp means ,Vorrat' ( stored/ in stock). But a note to the french/ german war of 1870/1871. The ,prussian' army was in reality the ,North German Federation Army' together with the allied forces of Bayern, Württemberg and Baden.
My dad saw me watching this video and went over to his gun rack and pulled out a Peabody rifle!
We think it's from the Connecticut national guard judging by the markings. It's in outstanding condition.
And what those 'markings' be specifically that lead you to believe it to be a Connecticut issued rifle?
@@brianpowell6476probably a Conn stamped into the stock. That was common for the time period. I own a Civil War used Musket stamped OVM on the stock for Ohio Volunteer Militia.
Providence Rhode island huh, I wonder this one of these bad boys were used on any Eldritch or unknowable horrors back in the day?
Cthulu
I don't get it, care to explain?
@@supersarge2477 New England is the setting of the majority of H.P. Lovecraft's work. He was famously enamored with it.
Yeah, I stuck around to the end because of you, Ian; Mr. Peabody's story is interesting but you make it doubly so! Thank you.
And as a bonus, "Peabody Sidehammer" is a shoe-in for the name of a professor at Hogwarts when Harry Potter gets rebooted.
Nothing says defense against the dark arts like a big bored breech loaders.
Alakablam!
D H I mean which works better. A spell or a 50 caliber bullet entering the skull at high velocity
Ah yes that one action that goes swoosh click wooooooosh ding
I have more of a 'Kachunk schlick click boom' fetish ;)
@@VeraTR909 personally I like click swoosh (my over and under 12 gauge with extractors)
Yoo Ian, we love the incredibly interesting backstories and history of the people -companies and countries that comes along with the firearms. i've seen some comments from the new A.D.D generation complaining and i wanted to push back that notion that they spread and let you know and i'm speaking for nearly all of us - that we like the long background stories over the latter.
Thanks for the years of knowledge and entertainment.
wow what a story about the guns and the people
Gun jesus with a banger this fine late night/ early morning
This seems more like "Improbable History" then Forgotten Weapons
i hope everyone has been and signed the petition to get Ian in the new john wick!
Im for the special weapons guy on 007
The Peabody was a nicely designed rifle. Had a chance in the 1980's to buy one at Martin B Retting in Santa Monica California. I should have ☺
A gun that was (fairly) widely adopted, hardly used in warfare, the company that manufactured it was smart and made good money off of it, and the guy who designed it was successful and even got to pursue his own personal interests and died wealthy and content. This is a feel good story all around.
I've noticed it before in other videos but you are *very* left handed Ian. I'm a lefty but anything involving two hands I do the right handed way (think pitch left handed, bat right handed). Partly because I'm a bit of a 70/30 case, partly because I've trained myself that way for certain things. But it wouldn't even occur to me to reach over this rifle with my left thumb to cock the side hammer. Another fascinating reason to watch your videos :)
That preamble was so long, I was expecting to hear "Hi! I'm Ian. And _this..._ (grunt)... is the" etc. etc."
The historical context you always share is very much appreciated,Ian!
Peabody Sidehammer is the best period fictional character name for a tough guy.
I saw this video pop up on my recommendations and had forgotten about my own comment.
I have admired Peabody rifles for a long time. I almost bought one at a gun show, but had done my homework. My dummy .43 Spanish Remington cartridge did not chamber, much to the chagrin of the seller. His .433 Peabody round did. Looking forward to the Martini Rifle in the next installment. I prefer BP cartridge rifles that can be cleaned by pushing a cleaning rod thru from the breach, but I would still like to own a Peabody converted to 45-70 center-fire.
@J H Great experiment.......... I am Swiss/American and will never understand why they never purchased a Remington rolling block in reloadable centerfire like the Scandinavians. Perhaps they did not like that the excellent strong action was not at all complicated, like a Swiss timepiece or a Swiss Army Knife.
@@robertrobert7924 Well, because they are Swiss, pretty much the same reason the Germans have always done as they do.
@@johnkelinske1449 And let's not forget the English who converted a complicated .577 layered brass cartridge to 577-450 for their Martini instead of using a more simple modern drawn brass cartridge similar to the 45-70 or 43 Remington Spanish.
@@robertrobert7924 Yes. I think the main reason indeed was it was cheaper than the drawn brass case.
@@johnkelinske1449 I don't know. It may have been because they already had a system set up which could be adapted and therefore used without new equipment. And there is also a possible case to be made for bribery and corruption in high places of government.
Makes me happy that some old guns are in such great condition. I hope whoever buys them treats them well so we don't lose them forever.
He should write a book on the firearms industry of new england, so many interesting stories from here.
In the 1966 Canadian movie, "The Trap", Oliver Reed plays a rough trapper who carries a Peabody carbine.
Never saw a more interesting video from you ian. Loved the history and personal history of this
Looking forward to the follow up video on the Martini’s
Underrated FW video. Love the narrative painted of the people involved.
I love these kind of deep dives.
I owned one of the Swiss contract ones once years ago. Interesting rifle. It had been changed over to centerfire but the ammunition was still something of a pain as the case had to be made from reworked .348 Winchester brass. It was more trouble than I wanted to fool with at the time, so I traded it off on something else.
17:03 *hard cut of what I can only assume was a wild tangent about stradivarius violins*
I love when a video of yours has an extended intro/history.
The gun that was bought to fight the war in my back garden. Literally.
Did the Irish try to come take your back garden too??
@@goodmaninastorm4617 No, the Prussians you silly person. The Franco-Prussian war was fought in my back garden --google Schlacht bei Villiers or Bataille de Champigny - the different names being due to where the different armies started. I live halfway between them, which is why the war monuments are less than 500m from my house.
They look great in that mint condition. If I'd been a soldier issued with one like that I'd feel a lot of pride and responsibility.
Fascinating stuff Ian, great work as always!
Interesting fact! The Prussian Dreyse system (design complete in 1835, patented in 1841) is older than the Austrian Lorenz M1854, though definitely the Dreyse was a new generation.
I stuck around. Excellent presentation. Thanks
I love that you present the source at the end.
I enjoyed this video more than I think I should have. The history behind the gin and how you presented it was wonderful.
So in short, a history of bad timings...
Still I like how it looks ;-)
No different from John Pedersen...
First rifle I ever fired was a martini action .22lR rimfire. I still get soppy when I hear that lever go "Click"......
Thank you for sharing and the history Ian take care
Fascinating history lesson. Loved it!
I have a vague memory of someone, probably an Italian company, manufacturing a reproduction of the Peabody for a brief time. I THINK it was in the 1970s or early 1980s. I recall that H&R was producing it's Trapdoor reproduction (carbine) at the same time. I also recall that both carbines came in "plain/service", "fancy", and "extra fancy" in terms of fit, finish and wood. I also seem to recall VERY high prices (for the time period) relating to the Peabody carbines more so than the H&R Trapdoors.
I think the Providence Tool Co. was resurrected and made target and hunting rifles based on the Peabody actions until like a couple years ago. Used to advertise in Wolfe publishing mags. Also made reproductions of the Climbin' Lyman 21 receiver sight that was commonly used on Winchester 1895s. Haven't seen anything of them lately.
Edit: although the website is still up, so who knows
@@270winch I think you may be right! It just seems like it was back when I was in my twenties to early thirties that I saw the adds for "Peabody" carbines....Or maybe I'm just so damn old I JUST THINK I recall such adds and (Wolfe magazines or not) the, for me at least, eye popping prices! Thanks for the very kind reply.
This is why i love this channel. I have one of the Remington Greek contract Rolling blocks that was sold to France instead of Greece for the Prussian war. Rarely do I hear about this time period when it comes to Remington. Would love to learn more about it.
I would send it for a video.
The Peabody is a beautiful design! That color case-hardening is fantastic! That would be a treat to own!
I for one am a huge fan of the historical nitty-gritties. Thank you, Ian.
The rifle is truly a beautiful piece of work, I would so love to add that to my unstarted collection.
You don't start a collection. You just buy stuff you like and suddenly realize you're a collector.
@@SteamCrane "I swear it just followed me home"!
Just as you start talking about the Providence Tool company, I am driving by their old building. As a Rhode islander.. I feel as if I need to own one
I really enjoy the videos where you have an extensive back story (recent examples: this and the M1 carbine).
I love my 1933 GP Greener Martini shotgun. Thanks for sharing this obscure rendition of the Martini action
More the Martini was a less obscure rendition of Peabody's action. Martini was familiar with the Peabody, being Swiss.
Beautiful mate thank you for posting
A fascinating and underappreciated rifle. I have seen vintage turn of the century Alfa and Bannerman catalogs which still list the Peabody.
a few years ago I got very lucky at a local gun show, and picked up a Peabody from the Connecticut militia order
Looking forward to the martini Henry video, I had a .30 centre fire hand gun made from a .22 rim fire rifle and used it for metallic silhouette competitions, fun shooting
Lovely video! I see these on Dutch and Belgian antique weapons websites quite often
Ian,
Just thank you for the work you do. Interesting, as always.
Amazing story! Thanks for sharing all these nice information with us :)
Great Video Ian! Side hammers are my favorites!!!
I'd probably prefer this to a trapdoor Springfield, seems cool
The main reason the US Army didn't adopt it as standard issue was the Trapdoor was sold as being cheaper, in the aftermath of the Civil War it was hard to sell any military arms on the domestic market. Colt survived mostly on the Russian Berdan I rifle contract for example, S&W was nearly the same.
@@johnkelinske1449 yeah, definitely understand the military going with the trapdoor, just if I was just a guy/ hunter at the time I'd probably have got it
@@d4ngru5h83 Me too!
I really like the biographies of gun designers. If you could do more of those that would be awesome
my sister called and asked if I wanted "an old gun" to hang up. I said sure and sure enough it's a Peabody. Took me hours to try and find any information that lead me to figure out what gun i was holding but I finally found it.
The history and side stories always fascinate me.
Thanks ian!! Very cool!
I have a Connecticut Militia Peabody that someone cut down poorly to carbine length and never installed a front sight. It is chambered in 45-70, a center fire cartridge and the firing pin and breech block has been modified accordingly. Strangely enough, the lower sling swivel is ground off and the militia markings are stamped into that.
Thank you , Ian .
"Come on out, ye bloody Finians, come on out and fight!"He cried, "I was only joking!" when he heard me little...wait, Peabody? That doesn't rhyme!
Shoutout to the podcast Revolutions by Mike Duncan, which features the siege of Paris in ep8.4.
Very good and relevant history for anyone who's interested.
Awesome video! Thank you, sir.
Didn't know about this one; bonus points for large bore rim-fire cartridges alive. 😊
And, once again, the infamous US Ordinance Board strikes again... 😜
Taxpayer money bubtrapdoors were cheaper
Its like a high quality Frankenmusket. Enfield style ramrod and sights, Spencer Hammer and a model 1855/61/63 shaped stock complete with Buttplate, barrel bands and nosecap.
Yahooo! I’ve been waiting for this one!
Norwood, Massachusetts, my hometown. Norwood high school back in the day, shared the campus with the peabody school.
That’s really interesting thank you for sharing
I knew this sounded familiar! Couldn't work out from where until you mentioned swiss, I imagine this was probably in a bloke video, or maybe mentioned in a c&rsenal
"This is one of those 33,000 parisian guns"
now we see Ian's angle ;)
My first thought at first glimpse was, what beautiful pristine examples. Beautiful case hardening. I love the red color of the wood on the carbine. Its rear sight is extremely practical too. Would love for someone to make modern repros- maybe a carbine in 38-55 or 35 Rem (or 357 mag of course; let's not lie) and a rifle in 45-70 (what else) and maybe 40-65. They could shorten the rifle by 4-6" and make it handier while not sacrificing ballistics. Lots of potential here. Reviving 43 Spanish would not be a bad thing either. I remember a few years ago reading a series of Reid Coffield articles where he made himself a neat little Rolling Block carbine in 44-40. Good times. Nice to see such great examples, and to hear that there is a good number of them. Many thanks for the backstory on Peabody himself and the manufacturer- that type of historical info is always very interesting and a great addition to a presentation. Great video as always. Thank you
Ah yes the Peabody is a really cool rifle. I got to see my first one in the Canadian War Museum, we may not have had a load of them but they're one of my favourite Canadian service rifles, they look really slick. I'd love to own one someday for their historical significance to us.
I love your videos man, keep it up!
Well Done, as always!
A brilliant presenter! I could listen to him all day.
When a German mark tells you that the rifle is made for the French
hmmm
The Germans captured the rifles during the Franco-Prussian war, then proofed them via German regulations for proofing rifle they came to have.
Only in 1940 was the construction of the school for girls eventually approved, long after his death, as an annex of the Norwood highschool in Massachusetts.
In 1984 this school sadly closed but it was replaced by a scholarship programm for girls in 1991, which is still ongoing as on 2020, to fund bachelor degrees for example.
Very interesting history behind the guns and the designer himself; i like the carbine of those two.
Interesting rifle. Thanks Ian.
"Lot #3842. Peabody Sidehammer rifle. Never been fired, only dropped once."
At 09m26s explanation of the rifle you point to the external firing pin at the hammer calling it 'rimfire' when in fact .43 Spanish is a centerfire cartridge. The firing pin biased to the right side of the breech block might cause one to believe its rimfire but the centerfire requires the actual 'pin' to be offset to the axis of the bore.