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Percussion Rifle
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We started in 1996 as an all-volunteer public service to hunting. No one has ever taken a penny in salary. All our information and pictures are free and downloadable. Copy and use whatever you want. We would appreciate attribution. Please scroll down to learn more.
The Early Rifle....In order to have a better understanding of the percussion rifle, it is necessary to know a little about it's processors and their working parts. Although modified and improved, many of the major parts invented in the 15th century are still used today. All firearms both old and new consist of three basic assemblies. In the simplest of terms, the lock (today it is called the action) is the firing mechanism, the stock, can be considered the "handle" by which the gun is held and the barrel a tube through which the projectile travels. Through the 1700's these major assemblies were very valuable and hard to replace. As firearms were damaged or worn out, the still serviceable pieces could be bought and sold separately and assembled to make a usable weapon. The first question usually asked by a prospective firearms buyer of long ago was, "Does this price include the lock, stock and barrel?" This phrase "lock, stock and barrel" has today evolved to mean "all inclusive of it's parts" no matter what the item may be.
One of the earliest rifles was the Matchlock rifle. It used a wick like piece of material which remained lighted and smoldering before the gun was fired. When the trigger was activated, the "match" was lowered into a priming pan containing loose gunpowder. The "match" then ignited the gunpowder, which ignited a powder charge that forced a ball through the barrel of the weapon. The disadvantages of this rifle are obvious. Damp weather and even thick fog would render this firearm useless. If you were fighting other men the glow and smoke of the smoldering "match" could be easily seen by the enemy especially at night.
The next rifle in the evolutionary line was the Wheel lock. This rifle had a flint and spinning wheel to make a spark which in turn caused the powder to ignite. This principle is common in today's cigarette lighters. The shooter turned a key which wound a spring powered steel "wheel." When the trigger was pulled the wheel spun in contact with a piece of flint. The contact created sparks which ignited the priming powder in the pan that ignited the powder charge and propelled the bullet forward.
The Flintlock, a major step in rifle technology, was invented in the 1600's. A piece of flint was secured between the jaws of the hammer. When the trigger was pulled, the hammer holding the flint fell and struck a metal arm which was called the frizzen. The impact of the flint upon the frizzen created a spark. The powder in the pan ignited causing the powder charge behind the bullet to ignite in turn launching the bullet through the barrel.
The final progression in the history of the muzzleloader occurred in the 1800's. Although the percussion system was invented in 1807 by Rev. Alexander Forsyth it was not perfected until 1814. The percussion system made instantaneous detonation possible for the first time. Early percussion rifles used loose detonating powder but someone devised the idea of putting the detonating powder inside the base of a small copper percussion cap. During this era, fulminate of mercury began to replace gunpowder as a priming agent. When the trigger was released, the hammer came forward hitting the cap. The cap exploded making a spark which caused the charge inside the barrel to be immediately ignited.
Truthfully, only a few new designs come about during the Civil War as most of the changes made in the mid 1860's were just improvements over existing patterns or modifications to old muskets. Old smoothbore muskets of the 1850's were incredibly inaccurate and seldom hit a target more than 50 yards away. At 150 yards the smoothbore musket could hit a target three feet wide and 11 and 1/2 feet tall only 75% of the time. At 250 yards the target size was increased to six feet wide and not one out of ten shots hit it. It is safe to say that a man at 200 yards stood little risk of being hit except by a stray bullet. As the older smoothbore muskets were rebuilt and modified with rifled barrels they became much more accurate. However the everyday soldiers shooting them were not well trained. It was calculated that during the Civil War on average a soldier on either side burned 240 pounds of powder and hurled 900 pounds of lead bullets for every single man actually hit. In 1855 the government purchased the new rifled musket and the accuracy rate jumped. The Enfields, Springfields, and Whitworths were all very accurate to more than 500 yards with the Whitworths being the most accurate to 800 yards.
The Union states were as usual much more well supplied and ready to manufacture weapons for war than the Confederacy. It was not until late 1862 that the Confederacy was able to replace obsolete flintlocks with the percussion muskets. Oddly enough the main supplier of infantry weapons for the Confederacy was the Union army. More than 45,000 Union issued small arms were captured by the Confederates in 1864 alone. After the battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863, the Confederates recovered 26,000 Union rifled muskets from the battlefield.
The Three Band Enfield......English Enfield pattern muskets were both the most widely issued and well liked of all the imported arms and used by both the Union and Confederacy. The U.S. Government purchased 428,292 Enfields and the Confederacy received around 400,000 of the muzzle-loading muskets. The Enfield had a bore diameter of .577 and weighed eight pounds 14 and 1/2 ounces and was 54 inches in overall length with the barrel being 39 inches long. The better examples were made by the London Armory Company but the design was copied by almost every manufacturer. Although the London Armory Company advertised the Enfield rifled musket to be accurate to 1,000 yards it was found that past 700 yards even the best riflemen using the Enfields seldom hit their intended target.
As much as the South wanted to get weapons from Enfield Lock, the English equivalent of Springfield Armory, this was not to be. In order for the British government to supply arms, they would have to give up their neutrality and recognize the Confederate government, which was not about to happen. Still many London Armory Enfields were smuggled out on fast blockade runners. Most Enfield type rifles were made by private contractors in London and Birmingham. Because none of the other manufacturers could produce these rifles with the accuracy of the machinery owned by the Royal Small Arms Factory the parts of the "off brands" were not interchangeable. Of the tens of thousands of muskets imported, not too many London Armory Enfields have survived. Being first quality, most could easily be sold back to Europe. After the fall of the South, over 100,000 Enfields were repaired and refinished at the Springfield Armory, and then sold off to help pay the crushing war debt of the federal government.
The 1855 Rifle Musket.....This percussion rifled musket was the basic infantry weapon issued in 1855. It was manufactured by the U.S. Government before the war and was made at the Harpers Ferry arsenal for the U.S. Army. When the arsenal was captured by the Confederacy in 1861 the manufacturing equipment was shipped to Richmond and Fayetteville where production was continued for the Southern states. The 1855 rifle musket was 74 inches long and weighed almost 10 pounds. The barrel was 40 inches long (a full seven inches longer than the Harpers Ferry rifle) and bored to 0.58 caliber. It used the Maynard tape primer (rolled paper studded pellets of detonating compound) instead of the standard percussion cap. This rifle musket was the predecessor to the Springfield which copied 1855 style almost exactly.
Harpers Ferry (Yager) Rifle.....Officially known as the U.S. Model 1841 this rifle was the first issued percussion cap rifled barrel musket. This rifle was issued in the Mexican War and after a recall and retrofitting (in 1855) with a shorter barrel and sword bayonet their manufacture continued. The Union did stop using the Harpers Ferry Rifle in 1861 but the Confederacy manufactured and used it throughout the war. Some of the early models used the fulminate percussion type caps for detonation of the charge however other models were also made to use the Maynard tape primers. The U.S. Model 1855 was the first musket to have a rifled barrel and from that point on all muskets incorporated the rifled barrel which was much more accurate than a smoothbore. There were 101,096 in service at the beginning of the Civil War. The rifle was designated the Model 1855. It weighed nine and 3/4 pounds and had a 33 inch barrel that was bored out to .54 caliber.
Springfield Rifle.......The 1861 Springfield served the soldiers of the Civil War well throughout the conflict. This shoulder arm was manufactured by the Springfield Armory in Springfield Mass., and copied by 32 other various manufacturers in several states. It was issued by the Union army in huge quantities, but was not uncommon in the Confederate army as well. More than 800,000 Springfields were made by the Federal Government and more than 670,000 were purchased from other manufacturers, thus making it the "standard infantry arm". This weapon was rugged and simple in construction. Its lock mechanism was much like the other muskets and was considered typical for this class rifle. The muzzle loading Springfield percussion rifle cost $14.93 each and had a .58 caliber barrel, was rifled and 40 inches long. The rifle was 58.5 inches overall in length and weighed 9 and 1/4 pounds. It had a effective range of 500-600 yards but its "battle range" was 200-300 yards. With 60 grains of black powder and a 599 grain minie' ball the muzzle velocity would be about 950 feet per second. One of the musket's main strengths was that all of its 53 parts were interchangeable and of high quality. Each rifle was fitted for a sling although all were not issued with slings. The average issued sling (before 1864) was made of cotton cloth, with an adjustment hook. After 1864, leather slings were issued.
