Until now, there has really been nothing substantial and scholarly printed on the Chassepot needle-fire rifle in English – but now that has changed, thanks to Guy & Leonard A-R-West. Their just-released book on […]
This rifle design was developed by the Gevelot cartridge company to compete with the Modele 1866 Chassepot for French military use, although it was not successful in that attempt. The weapon has an uncommon […]
JD Jones’ .950 JDJ cartridge is a generally described as the largest sporting rifle cartridge ever produced, producing more energy than even the 4-bore cartridges that match it in bore diameter. Only three of these […]
The Burnside carbine was originally invented by Ambrose Burnside – the man who would later command the Army of the Potomac and after whom sideburns would be named. Burnside came up with the idea while […]
Double Deuce rifle Lil’ Deuce pistol The largest sporting rifles ever actually used in the field as more than an exhibition were 4-bore stopping rifles, firing roughly 1″ in diameter (25mm) projectiles. These were intended […]
James Greene patented this unusual breechloading carbine design in 1854, and arranged to have it manufactured by the Massachusetts Arms Company of Chicopee Falls. He managed to sell 300 of them to the US military, […]
Made by SSK Industries on a McMillan action, the .950 JDJ is the largest sporting rifle made. The cartridge began as a 20mm Vulcan round, cut down to 70mm case length and necked up to […]
In my recent video on the Whitworth rifle, I made a rather embarrassing mistake, interpreting “figure of merit” accuracy measurements as complete group sizes. This was incorrect, and caused me to seriously overestimate the accuracy […]
George Morse of Baton Rouge patented a design for a remarkably modern centerfire cartridge and breechloading rifle action in 1856 and 1858, using a standard percussion cap as a primer. This was coupled with a […]
Sir Joseph Whitworth is quite the famous name in engineering circles, credited with the development of such things as Whitworth threading (the first standardized thread pattern) and engineer’s blue. When he decided to make a […]
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