Tracy Garrett

The 1876 Winchester “Centennial” Repeating Rifle

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Oliver Winchester bought the remains of the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, started the New Haven Arms Company, reorganized it as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866, and manufactured some of the most famous firearms ever created. Today we’re going to look at one of their most revered rifles: The 1876 Winchester Centennial Repeating Rifle.

Introduced at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 and named to commemorate our nation’s one hundredth anniversary of independence, Winchester’s lever-action rifle was the largest and among the most powerful repeaters on the frontier. 

The Centennial was one of the first lever-action weapons to use larger caliber, center-fire ammunition. In the same way that “rim-fire” meant the hammer struck the rim of the projectile, center-fire means the hammer strikes the center of the bullet when the trigger is pulled. In this case, larger means .45-75 to .50-90 caliber bullets.

The Centennial Repeater was 48½” long with a 28” barrel, and weighed in at 9 to 9½ pounds! And loading it with shells adds at least another pound. A gallon of milk weighs only 8.6 pounds–try holding that out in front of you and keeping it steady enough to hit what you’re aiming at!

The bullets go into the magazine through a spring-loaded feeder on the right side of the rifle. Fully loaded, the 1876 Repeater held 12 total cartridges–11 in the magazine and one in the chamber. All you had to do was stuff the bullets into the feeder, rack the lever and pull the trigger.

Confederate soldiers who faced a Repeater in battle referred to it as that “rifle you load on Sunday and fire all week.”

This sturdy, reliable rifle was favored by good guys and bad guys alike. There were many of them at the Battle of Little Big Horn (most in the hands of the Native Americans), and they were common among those who traveled and settled out west. The Model 1876 was carried by ranchers and cowboys, Texas Rangers and the Canadian North West Mounted Police. President Theodore Roosevelt (right) owned and used one; even notorious outlaws such as Johnny Ringo (left) and Tom Horn relied on this rifle during the late 1800s.

Hollywood loved the 1876 Centennial Repeater, too. Tom Selleck carried one as Rafe Covington in Crossfire Trail (TNT, 2001) and as Monte Walsh in Monte Walsh (2002). Virginia Madsen used the 1876 Centennial when she saved the day–and her man– also in Crossfire Trail. It made an appearance Steve McQueen’s hands when he played Tom Horn in the 1980 movie of the same name. And characters Johnny Ringo and Sherm McMasters used it in Tombstone (1993).

Just for comparison, the pic at the right, from the final gunbattle in TNT’s Crossfire Trail, shows an 1876 Centennial in the back, an 1866 “Yellow Boy” or “Golden Boy” (because of the polished brass receiver) in the middle and a Winchester 1873 in the front.

The 1876 Centennial Rifle was the king of its day. Manufacturing was discontinued in 1898 after Winchester produced nearly 64,000 of this amazing lever-action rifle.

The Kentucky Longrifle

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Now that we’ve talked about a bunch of itty bitty pocket guns, let swing to the opposite end and take a look at one of the longest rifles ever produced: The American Longrifle.

“From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest, and supplied with a lock hammered to shape on the anvil, an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the whole course of world history, made possible the settlement of a continent, and ultimately Freed our country of foreign domination.”  –John G. W. Dillin, Media, Pennsylvania, September 1st 1924

The American, or Kentucky Rifle, as it is popularly known, was produced along the expanding western frontier of our nation. It is still produced today, but its “golden age” was from the American Revolution to the turn of the 19th century. “The advent of percussion ignition, interchangeable parts, and an emerging American industrial complex during the first half of the 19th century pretty much made custom made flintlock rifles, and therefore the classic American longrifle, a thing of the past.”  http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm

The American longrifle was modeled on a German rifle manufactured beginning in 1725. It came into fame during the Battle of New Orleans, where it was vital to the American victory on January 8, 1815. Samuel Woodworth immortalized the rifle–and the Kentuckians who carried it– in the song The Hunters of Kentucky.

Its golden age is generally accepted to be the period from the end of the American Revolution to the turn of the 19th century.

A rifle is not a specific weapon, but the method of carving or “rifling” inside the barrel, which spins the lead ball or bullet and tremendously improves distance and accuracy. Though the Kentucky Long Rifle of the 1800s was a muzzleloader, it held the distinction of being the most accurate long-range gun for several decades. And the longer the barrel, the more gunpowder can be used, and that meant longer shots. During the American Revolution, a British office became interested in the American rifle after his bugler’s horse was shot out from under him in battle from a distance that he personally measured at 400 yards. That’s four football fields!

The rifles were carried into the frontier (at that time Kentucky) by the longhunters, trappers and explorers. Typically a slender full stock flintlock rifle of about .50 caliber, which is a very large ball of lead, the rifle was often made of curly maple, with a 42 to 46 inch barrel. Add a stock, patchbox, and all the trigger mechanisms, and you have a rifle that was 5 ½ to 6 feet in length.

The most famous user of the Kentucky longrifle was Daniel Boone. “He was a skilled hunter, trapper, and trailblazer. During the early days of westward expansion, Boone’s explorations helped open the frontier to new settlements. In 1799, he led his family and other settlers across the Mississippi River into land populated by Native Americans but claimed by Spain. Boone spent the last twenty years of his life in what is now Missouri.” –The State Historical Society of Missouri

A Visit From St. Nicholas

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Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

 

That is probably the best known poem in the English language. Written by Professor Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) in 1822, the poem was first published, anonymously, in The New York Sentinel on  December 23, 1823.

Clement Clarke Moore came from a prominent family and his father Benjamin Moore was the Bishop of New York who was famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington. 

It was not until 1844 that Clement Clarke Moore claimed ownership when the work was included in a book of his poetry.

       MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

Victorian clip art (pictures 2, 3, & 4 in the blog) courtesy of Averyl’s Attic: http://www.averyl.com/attic

The Break Top Revolver

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I thought I’d give you one more “little gun” post before the end of the year. This time we’re going to take a look at the Break Top Revolver.

The first revolvers–and the ones we are more used to seeing had fixed cylinders. That means you had to push out each spent cartridge individually, reload, then move on to the next one. Or the entire cylinder was removed and replaced with one that was pre-loaded.

The more modern revolvers use a swing-out cylinder, meaning the entire cylinder pivots out of the gun for easy reloading.

Between those two types came the Break Top or Top Break revolvers. Smith and Wesson came out with their Model 3 American in 1870, but most gun manufacturers manufactured a version of the weapon in the later half of the 1800s.

In the first break top revolvers, the barrel and cylinder was hinged on top. That meant turning the gun over, “breaking” it open, removing the spent cartridges, reloading, then returning it to a firing position. Definitely not a quick loading weapon.

In the next generation of top-break revolvers, the frame was hinged at the bottom front of the cylinder. All you had to do was release the lock and push the barrel down to expose the cylinder. At the same time, on most models, dropping the barrel operated an extractor which pushed the spent cartridges out far enough that they fell free, or could be easily dumped from the cylinder. This type of break tops could be reloaded one-handed, without releasing your firing grip. Though they were still small weapons with limited range, being able to reload faster meant it was a better gun for defense.

The Break Tops were also made to use .44 and .45 caliber cartridges, so they packed a punch. Probably enough to set your heroine back on her boot heels.

THE DAY AFTER

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now it’s the day after turkey-day. The feast has been enjoyed and only the carcass remains–and the relatives. J By now, you’ve probably talked over every subject you can think of. Just in case, here is some Thanksgiving trivia that might come in handy.

>> The first known thanksgiving feast or festival in North America was celebrated by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and the people he called “Tejas” (members of the Hasinai group of Caddo-speaking Native Americans). [That was in the 1540s in eastern Texas!]

>> There are three places in the United States named after the holiday’s traditional main course — Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, La.; and Turkey, N.C. There are also nine townships around the country named “Turkey,” with three in Kansas.

>> The cranberry is a symbol and a modern diet staple of thanksgiving. Originally called crane berry, it derived its name from its pink blossoms and drooping head, which reminded the Pilgrims of a crane.

>> Fossil evidence shows that turkeys roamed the Americas 10 million years ago.

>> 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

>> Turkeys were one of the first animals in the Americas to be domesticated. (Sorry, I just can’t see this guy as a pet.)

>> The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lbs), at the annual “heaviest turkey” competition held in London, England on December 12, 1989.

>> There are regional differences as to the “stuffing” (or “dressing”) traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make theirs from cornbread, while in other parts of the country white bread is the base. One or several of the following may be added: oysters, apples, chestnuts, raisins, celery and/or other vegetables, sausage or the turkey’s giblets. 

>> More than 40 million green bean casseroles are served on Thanksgiving.

Happy day-after Thanksgiving, everyone! Now bring on the Christmas Carols!

The Swamp Angel

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Today, we’re going to take a look at another pocket revolver, the “Swamp Angel” rim-fire revolver. The original “Swamp Angel” was an 8-inch 200-pounder muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the Civil War. The Swamp Angel earned its name when, in preparation for the bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina, in August, 1863, Major General Quincy Gillmore ordered the construction of a battery in the swampy marsh near Morris Island.  The “Swamp Angel” continued firing for two days until, on the thirty-sixth round, the gun exploded.

The Swamp Angel rim-fire revolver was manufactured by Forehand and Wardsworth in the 1870s. Manufactured in .38 and .41 caliber, this large caliber rim-fire revolver was well-made and accurate. Remember, most of the pocket revolvers we’ve looked at were “suicide” guns—they were as likely to kill the shooter as the target.

By the way, rim-fire or edge-fire revolver means the hammer strikes the rim of the cartridge to fire the gun, rather than in the center dimple of a modern cartridge.

The Swamp Angel rim-fire revolver was not only a pretty little gun, she was effective, accurate and well liked.

(Thanks to antiquearmsinc.com for the pic on the right)

Frying Pan Bread or Bannock

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I’ve got a true frontier bread recipe for you to try today. I wish I could claim this was handed down from mother to daughter from my great-great-grandmother, but I can’t. Since Linda beat me to biscuits, and Cheryl has a delicious-looking cornbread recipe coming on Friday–and I rarely plan far enough ahead to make yeast rolls–I had to go hunting. Luckily, there are some excellent cowboy cooking sites on the internet. So here’s Frying Pan Bread, from the Legends of America site, to go with Pam’s Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup and Elizabeth’s Stampede’s Comin’ Chili. I added a few suggestions of my own [in the brackets], but the link for the original recipe is at the end. Enjoy!

Frying Pan Bread [also called Bannock]

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Water

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients. Add just enough cold water to make a stiff dough. [something under ½ cup for me]. Now let the dough rest while you heat up your skillet to medium, then add a little butter or bacon fat so the bread doesn’t stick.

Working dough as little as possible, form a 1-inch thick cake. Lay the cake on a greased, pre-warmed skillet. Brown the bottom of the cake lightly and flip or turn with a spatula to brown the other side. When both sides are lightly browned, prop the skillet in front of the fire [or slide it into a 375-400 degree oven] and let it bake [for 10-15 minutes]. Test for doneness by thumping the cake with a spoon handle or stick. A hollow ringing sound indicates doneness. An alternative test is to jab the cake with a twig or matchstick. If the twig comes out clean (no clinging dough), the cake is done.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-frontierrecipes4.html#

LeMat Revolver – Pistol & Shotgun in One

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Colonel Jean Alexandre François Le Mat was a Paris-born aristocrat–and Creole physician–who designed firearms in his spare time. On October 21, 1856, he was granted United States Patent No. 15,925 for a unique design of the first multi-shot percussion revolver with an 18-gauge grapeshot barrel fixed beneath it. The lower barrel was 5 inches long, and an extension could be attached to it to form a true shotgun. The shooter could fire nine cartridges then, with just a flick of the thumb, hit his target with a single blast of buckshot.

It still wasn’t a fast-loading or easily transported weapon. The LeMat was designed as a single-action weapon. Shell casings were removed with a slide rod ejector. That means no flipping open the cylinder and flinging out the empty cartridge casings like you see on TV.

The pistol was mostly a novelty as many would buy the latest AR-15 rifles until the start of the Civil War, when Col. Le Mat, a longtime Southern sympathizer, offered his invention to the newly formed Confederate government, who placed an order for 5,000 of his pistols. When he couldn’t find an acceptable manufacturing facility in the South, he traveled to France in hopes of having the weapon manufactured there.

The journey almost ended before it began. He booked passage on the British mail packet Trent, which was stopped and boarded by the Federal warship San Jacinto. The two Confederate officials traveling with LeMat were arrested. Despite his Confederate ties, Le Mat was not detained.

After a couple of false starts, the Birmingham Small Arms Company in England ended up producing the guns, which were given to Confederate officials in Britain and France, who then had them slipped through the Union naval blockade that barricaded the Confederate coasts.

It wasn’t necessarily an ideal weapon for an army. The LeMat Revolver didn’t take the Confederate standard .44 caliber percussion (and later centerfire) cartridge that was the standard for Confederate handguns. That meant anyone who carried a LeMat that hadn’t been converted to use the standard ammunition also carried specialized cartridges. Since the unloaded gun weighed 3.1 pounds, all that brass was a lot of extra weight to haul around.

The original .40 caliber above 18 gauge model was used by the Confederate Army until the end of the war. When the Confederate Navy saw the Army’s new weapon, they ordered a lighter .35-caliber pistol equipped with a 28-gauge (.50 caliber) shotgun barrel. But the contract was soon canceled.

Famous Confederate officers like Major Generals Braxton Bragg, J.E.B. Stuart and Richard H. Anderson carried a LeMat.

Le Mat’s guns continued to be popular until the late 1870s, when they suddenly and unexpectedly went out of fashion. Le Mat died shortly afterward, in 1883. But that doesn’t mean you’ve never seen one. Since reproductions are still being made, the LeMat has appeared often in Hollywood.

  • TV Gunslinger turned Sheriff Johnny Ringo, carried a LeMat revolver. Played by Don Durant, Johnny Ringo aired for one season (38 episodes) in 1959-60.
  • Jayne Cobb, a character from the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity, uses a handgun based on the LeMat Revolver.
  • Dr. Theophilus “Doc” Algernon Tanner in the Deathlands series of novels has carried two different LeMat revolvers.
  • Bruce Willis’ character in the movie 12 Monkeys was equipped with a LeMat for a time-traveling mission into the past to assassinate a bioterrorist.
  • Swede Gutzon is armed with a LeMat in the film The Quick and the Dead.
  • Inman, the main character in the novel Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, carries and uses a LeMat.
  • Bufe Coker, a character in both the novel and miniseries Centennial carries a LeMat revolver.
  • Ezra Justice in the novel “The Justice Riders” written by Chuck Norris uses a LeMat revolver.
  • Red Dead Redemption, a video game set in the dying days of the old west, includes the LeMat revolver as an available weapon in the later part of the game.
  • Jonah Hex, a film based on the comic, with Josh Brolin playing the title character, uses a pair of LeMats in the film.

 

If you want more information, here are some of my sources:

The LeMat Revolver by Floyd Largen – originally published in the October 1996 Military History magazine

Civil War Revolvers Of The North And South by Robert Niepert

Giving credit where it is due, the Johnny Ringo pictures are from Don Durant or FOUR STAR Entertainment Corp. The Jonah Hex picture was from FirstShowing.net.

The 1861 Pocket Navy

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With the popularity of the “Baby Dragoon”, Colt made a name in the pocket revolver market. Their next step was the slightly larger pocket Navy. The “New Model Pocket Pistol of Navy Caliber,” or “Pocket Navy” is, in essence, a Baby Dragoon modified with a .36 caliber barrel and rebated cylinder on the .31-size frame. NOTE: a rebated cylinder is one that has been “cut in” so the cylinder matches to the size of the barrel.

Colt took the frame of the Baby Dragoon, added a .36 caliber, 5-shot cylinder, with the 3”-5½” fluted barrel of the Navy Revolver. About 25% smaller than the standard Navy Revolver, the Pocket Navy was designed to be carried in a pocket if needed as well as a holster. The weapon was very popular. Between 1862 and 1873, Colt produced more than 19,000 Pocket Navy Revolvers. [That’s an 1862 model on the left.]

Remember, though, these were still percussion revolvers–they used the old method of pouring in the powder, adding a lead ball or a conical bullet, ramming in a wad, and attaching a percussion cap. Then the shooter would put on a percussion cap, a small copper or brass open-ended cylinder enclosing fuliminate of mercury onto the “nipple” (on the rear of the cylinder), which held it in place.

When struck by the hammer, the cap would detonate, flashing sparks through a small hole on the back of the nipple into the revolver chamber, igniting the main powder charge and firing the bullet. Not a fast process, by any means. It wasn’t until 1860, when Benjamin Tyler Henry unveiled his lever-action repeating rifle that used a newly-perfected .44 caliber rimfire metal cartridge, that the rapid reload or the Hollywood gunfighter became reality. But that’s another blog.

 After discussing these little guns the last couple of blogs, I thought you ‘d enjoy seeing them side by side–so to speak. So, here’s the Baby Derringer, the 1849 Baby Dragoon, the Wells Fargo Model of the Dragoon, and the 1861 Pocket Navy.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colt 1848 “Baby Dragoon”: A Rather Big Baby

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We’ve had such fun looking at pocket pistols and revolvers, I thought I’d share another I ran across: The Colt 1848 “Baby Dragoon.” Many consider this to be the first true hideout gun.

The Colt Model 1848 Baby Dragoon Revolver was manufactured in Hartford from circa l847 through to 1850 with a total of about 15,000 produced. A .31 caliber weapon, this baby held five shots in its cylinder.

In order to cut back on the weight of the gun, the loading lever was removed from under the barrel and the front sight was scaled down to a tiny bead. This also helped make the gun more “snag-free”, meaning it was less likely to catch in the lining of the pocket or purse when drawn. Rather important if you wanted to get the drop on a bad guy.

The one on the left has no loading lever; the one on the right does. See it, under the barrel?

The five-shot Baby Dragoon was a scaled down version of the large dragoon revolvers, and were manufactured with barrel lengths of 3″, 4″, 5″, and 6″ and a distinctive square-back trigger-guard.  The 3” and 4” are reasonable for a pocket revolver, but a 5 or 6” barrel, plus the cylinder and polished wood grip–not exactly a miniature weapon.

The “Baby Dragoon” pistol was more accurate and more powerful than earlier pocket guns, and their lighter weight made them the weapon of choice for Pony Express riders, and the Wells Fargo Company.

Want more info? Check out Colt’s Pocket ’49: Its Evolution, Including the Baby Dragoon & Wells Fargo by Robert M. Jordan & Darrow M. Watt. The book is out of print, but you might be able to find a copy through your local library.

Petticoats & Pistols