America's First Metallic Cartridge: The Burnside Carbine

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 stationed in Mexico as a young officer, and resigned his commission in 1853. A substantial amount of money had been allocated by Congress to replace the Hall carbines, and Burnside hoped that his gun would be adopted. Despite his efforts, the attempt was unsuccessful, and Burnside sold his interest in the patents and company to one Charles Jackson in 1858.
Jackson continued to promote the gun, and his big break came with the outbreak of the Civil War. Under Jackson's ownership, the company would manufacture 53,000 Burnside carbines by the end of the war, in 5 progressively improved variants.
The innovation of the Burnside was its use of a metallic cartridge to seal the breech of the weapon against escaping gas. However, the cartridge did not incorporate an ignition source. Each round had a small hole in the base, and a standard percussion cap was fitted to the outside of the breechblock to fire. This cartridge was innovative and effective, but would become obsolete by the end of the war, and no serious effort was made to continue making Burnside carbines after the fighting ended.
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[@ditzydoo4378]

Unique to this carbine was that the cartridge casing being a tapered heavy brass tube could be cleaned, re-conditioned and re-loaded in the field.

[@gregdaweson4657]

Know where to get the brass???

[@ditzydoo4378]

@@gregdaweson4657 Dixie Gunwork's did carry them every once ad a while. But a lot of owners have turned to 3D printed hulls. Also Cap&Ball did a video on this had he showed how he made is own on a lathe.

[@gregdaweson4657]

@@ditzydoo4378 Going to need to buy a lathe.

[@ditzydoo4378]

@@gregdaweson4657 Or simply find a reasonable machinist to make them. Or a high school/trade works program.. Until it's loaded, it's just a piece of brass.

[@marvindebot3264]

@@gregdaweson4657 Did you buy one? I'd love to hear how it shoots if you did.

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Ah yes, the Burnside. The Olympic torch of bullets.

[@Beanpapac15]

Rock Island Auction Company Ian got out again?

[@Matthew-Graves]

Beanpapac15 lol

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Beanpapac15 Yeah, but he can't stay away long.

[@citizen1114]

What are the sights graduated for?

[@mattmurphy8957]

For shooting at stuff farther away.

[@atticuslupum4952]

I have quite a bit of original ammo for one of these I got them at a garage sale in a box for 5$ and after a ton of research here I am

[@marvindebot3264]

LOL, How many messages did you get wanting to buy it? There are quite a few of these out there.

[@enceladus32]

It would be odd to be Burnside, leading an army, and seeing a cavalryman with your carbine.

[@ditzydoo4378]

General Burnside was a forward thinking officer that literally put his money were his mouth was in regards to arming his troops. To the extent he purchased several Gatling gun's from Dr. Gatling when they became available with his own money.

[@3DMegadoodoo]

It absolutely would not.

[@justarandomtechpriest1578]

It kinda would

[@jeffbenton6183]

That actually happened at least once, early in the war.

[@jeffbenton6183]

Imagine being Gen. McClellan and sitting on the McClellan cavalry saddle that he designed.

[@pommel47]

What a prime example of a fine condition antique. The cartouche is amazing.

[@D3faulted1]

The fit and finish on that gun is amazing. The company had some really high standards.

[@filmandfirearms]

A man with facial hair as complex as that of Ambrose Burnside must've had high standards for quality

[@suemeade2471]

Very true, just saw one and it was very well aged. Looks just like this one.

[@prophetarm]

This is actually a very elegantly designed firearm.

[@HighlanderNorth1]

✔️ Yeah, I like it. It looks nice, and despite the less than ideal cartridge design, it's not that bad. It seems like a definite advantage over paper cartridges, and it looks like the brass would be fairly easy to manufacture and reload. The design of the action is nice, but simple. I'd just like to know the ballistics.

[@dennismetzger9287]

I can't stop watching these

[@LMarcy8]

Ambrose is a distant cousin of mine. My mother is a Burnside. Thanks Ian for putting this video up. We do have possession of one if you'd like to do another video with one sometime.

[@marvindebot3264]

If you still have it and are willing to allow Ian to put a couple of rounds thru it I'm sure a lot of folk would be grateful. I can put you in touch if you like. These are a very strong action and I'm sure Ian would underload the cartridges just to make sure.

[@AqueousMantra]

I'm somehow related too! My grandmother is a Burnside. We're in Upstate NY

[@Ziphoroc]

If that’s really true then he has an address to contact him. The comments sections isn’t the place he’s going to look. Just another person looking for attention.

[@parxival39]

I’m a burnside as well! From Idaho

[@drustybhackleford6972]

@@Ziphoroc yeah hopefully we see one shoot sometime on here though, seen lots of other hella cool shit fire here tho

[@Nukle0n]

General Burnside was probably most famous for inspiring the name of sideburns for the facial hair.

[@mcqueenfanman]

Isn't he known for being the worst general ever?

[@vguyver2]

Nukleon He was a commended leader, but only as far as smaller organized trrops. He wasn't good at commanding large scale battles, only small ones. He was aware of his limitations, but Lincoln had some terrible generals under his command and Burnside successes on the battlefield gave Lincoln hope. Burnside was on of the few men who could fight, but just not good enough.

[@jaegercoyote877]

This gun made him a general

[@homelessEh]

...note to self... let it grow i have a new goal in life to obtain sideburns of such epic proportions.

[@ThomasBurkholder]

"If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time." A. Lincoln Jan. 10, 1862

[@kmech3rd]

An old girlfriend's late father found one of these in a house clean-out. He had me do some research on it. Neat old 5th model.

[@wierdalien1]

Then war were declared.

[@jeyendeoso]

-video of cannons firing -video of a renault tank with beeping sounds -video of soldiers throwing snowballs at each other

[@andyrihn1]

Artillery, cavalry charging to the tune of reverie, video of confederate veterans demonstrating the rebel yell (look it up it’s hilarious)

[@brandonobaza8610]

Alistair Shaw "Unless, of course, war were declared." _(klaxon alarm sounds)_ "What's that?" "War were declared."

[@wierdalien1]

Brandon Obaza oh futurama.

[@hairyneil]

The war of Northern aggression that is

[@DismalHollow]

While recently metal detecting near Antietam I'd found two stacks of spent Burnside cartridges. One was a set of three and the other, four. Is this because they could be re-used? Excellent video!!!

[@troy9477]

Interesting cartridge design and shape. I'm surprised no one thought to put the cap in the cartridge case. I guess they were content to work with the existing standard, a cap on a nipple, rather than do something new. Beautiful condition on that gun. I was marveling at the buttstock even before you showed the cartouche. Glad to see there are still a few historical guns in such fine condition. Great video as always. Thank you

[@frankmcgarry3155]

It’s amazing that you can still see the color case hardening

[@johnmc8785]

There used to be a restaurant in The Plains, Va., named the Whistle Stop(?). IIRC, there were almost a dozen Burnside carbines, displayed along the top of the walls. Just hanging there on hooks.

[@marvindebot3264]

Holy crap, the mother lode!

[@christopherredacted1362]

The gun also comes equipped with a set of side burns

[@peterhopkins4748]

I love these cool unusual and intriguing designs from the mid to late 1800's. The dogleg pivot for the breech block is very clever. Even on hurried wartime mass production they still made sure to maintain the precision fit and finish. I wonder how much of the complaining about these less popular weapons is due to them not being made by one of the larger companies like Colt. Perhaps it is a case of those large companies spreading some fake complaints to undermine their smaller competitors.

[@cptreech]

This is a Carbine I've been waiting to see. Thanks!

[@EDSKaR]

So the first American metal cartridge firearm has primary extraction? Ahead of the curve there.

[@Sakuxxx1x]

Somebody needs to tell Pedersoli to build this Rifle as a reproduction.

[@erazer1395]

I think a Gunsmith in Germany makes reprodutcions of these, or was it the Smith-Carbine? Sorry i'm not sure. I have to Google that.

[@Sakuxxx1x]

Yeah i live in germany, reproductions of the Smith-Carbine are available here.

[@sharpie443]

Please do one on the LeMat Revolving Carbine that's in this auction.

[@artisticevan2358]

I love how much effort goes into these awesome vids

[@blueband8114]

That is a nice looking well made Carbine.

[@georgeflutey5925]

Great video. What a clever design. Carbine is in amazing condition for age.

[@AdamWest84]

Just came across this video, and had to comment. I grew up in Burnside, KY. Even went to elementary school at Burnside Elementary. Pretty cool seeing some additional history about the man whose name they used!

[@johnoneil9188]

It is interesting to see that Burnside is known for more than being a Civil War general and for having a specific style of hair on his face.

[@d4walkaline]

So Burnside was famous for more than just sideburns, good to know. Very informative and entertaining as always.

[@slaughterhound8793]

That lever to remove the breech-block reminds me of the disassembly latch on a Beretta 92.

[@econoroller]

If anyone happens to stumble across an 1863 Burnside carbine that has been modified with a unique modification....it has a set screw on the trigger guard on the breech lock release lever, much like a Winchester "Mare's Leg" -Please message me if you have any information, it belongs to ME. -It is a family heirloom. Thank you

[@michael184272]

Very enjoyable and informative... thanks for posting..

[@brianfuller7691]

This is an amazing carbine that should be better known and appreciated

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@yellowbusguy]

That gun is unbelievably pristine!! Amazing.

[@mtodd4723]

Cool , thank you for sharing .

[@gilesguimbarde9305]

Interesting video, valuable information.

[@loltoolna2237]

An amazing weapon. Enjoyed the history lesson...

[@balrajsingh-zp4wq]

Beautiful gun nice video thanks for these all videos

[@sbrazenor2]

When I saw this and heard about General Burnside, I wondered if the park in my city was named after him. It appears so. I’m also in Providence, RI. 😁👍

[@SuperTelecom]

I love you Ian. You make my life better.

[@ironridgeoutdoors]

"Kind of looks like an ice cream cone..." Rather phallic if you ask me.

[@robertcowley-yamamoto4880]

Could have told me it was a Roman dildo and I would have believed you

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

Three inches long, with a 25% reverse taper? Your wife must be disappointed.

[@slavensmolcic]

@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III But your would be satisfied.

[@Ninth_Penumbra]

It's a bullet, so kind'a more of a sperm than a phallus...

[@TreacherousFennec]

i lost it when gun jesus showed us the uncut pp cartridge

[@milgeekmedia]

This was REALLY interesting, thank you! - This is like the 'missing link' between percussion and cartridge weapons. I bet he was kicking himself that he didn't think "why don't I attach a primer to the cartridge and eliminate one of the operations"? LOL - Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :D

[@vijay-fw4xw]

Good to see you man you have a nice job

[@nateniezgoda1964]

In my second year of college I got to mess around with a bunch of civil war carbines as an assignment to create a display of civil war weaponry. The civil was was period of crazy innovation and the weapons were super interesting

[@DafodilWorkshopProductions]

I just saw this on the counter at my gunstore and almost walked by it before recognizing it from just the bottom view, it was very neat.

[@lysanderxiii2335]

Just a note: A "self-contained, metallic cartridge" is one that has all elements required to fire the round contained within the cartridge; that includes some form of priming. The Burnside Carbine uses an external primer (standard musket cap), so it is not a "self-contained, metallic cartridge". The Burnside does use the cartridge case to obturate the chamber, so it that respect it is more 'modern' than some of the other Civil War breech loading carbines. As an aside, I would have hated to be a supply officer for the Union Army....

[@pommel47]

Was any attempt made to cover the open hole at the rear of the case with any seal (combustible paper, etc.) in order to keep powder dust from leaking out during shipping or to keep dampness from entering inside the brass case?

[@SubZero_NH3]

Super cool!!! Nice video sir!!!!

[@JohnAllen-gg1oz]

The Morse Carbine actually fired a center-fire primed cartridge.

[@jaymassengill3340]

It is said that upon his sudden death in 1881, Burnside's final words were "Damn that bastard General Meade..." and a handful of his conical cartridges fell from his hand tumbling onto the floor. Okay, as usual I made that up...

[@BillRoyMcBill]

Sounds legit, I'm going to spread this tale.

[@charlesinglin]

I thought his last word was "Rosecrans."

[@justindunlap1235]

Yes

[@jeffbenton6183]

@@charlesinglin Did something Gen. Rosecrans did affect something Gen. Burnsides did? I'm a huge Civil War buff, but I don't remember them working closely together (other than Burnsides forcing open the Cumberland Gap and liberating Knoxville, while Rosecrans moved towards Chattanooga from the South.

[@jeffbenton6183]

Jay Massengill: is that a reference to the Battle of the Crater?

[@dr.bright1050]

hello everyone. I am part of the burnside family. Second I am directly related to general ambrose burnside. I love the rifle that he invented.

[@duaneho555]

This is an incredibly cool carbine. 👍🏻

[@ianfinrir8724]

In Perryville, Kentucky, the Battle Of Perryville museum has various cartridges found on the site. Among them are a few Burnside cartridges as well as a few small Pinfire cartridges.

[@marklandwehr7604]

Pretty good-looking case hardening on that lever action

[@CDP-1802]

My favorite civil war carbine besides the first pattern Maynard carbine

[@PalmettoNDN]

Is that a Burnside round in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

[@caseyshipley8946]

The American civil war is fascinating, so many pioneering weapons came from it.

[@edw3054]

Saw one of these today in the NYC natural history museum with some other items belonging to Teddy Roosevelt

[@crabmansteve6844]

That's the most dangerous ice-cream cone I've ever seen.

[@Joebonjoe]

20000 in 1863, and another 21000 in 1864 plus all the spencer, sharp, henrys, damn how were the CSR able to wage war for so long?

[@exlibris3776]

wow what a coincidence. I learned about this gun only yesterday, did a google search to see if Ian did a video and discovered that he had not. So I thought, "I bet he will make one eventually, I can wait"

[@jannepetersson2097]

Nice ! Have bought me one serie 5 shall be great fun to take this to shooting range :-)

[@sethy5136]

Very unique cartridge

[@christopherblakeley]

Another interesting "feature" of these carbines was the use of "gain twist rifling"....the twist rate starts slow @ the breech and increases toward the muzzle. Something usually found only in naval rifled cannon. Today there is a company (Schuemann Barrels) producing Colt 1911 replacement barrels with gain twist rifling.

[@matthayward7889]

Christopher Blakeley interesting! I didn’t know that. What’s supposed to be the advantage of that? X

[@allangibson8494]

It is also found as standard on Italian 6.5mm Carcano rifles - because they were shredding the bullets due to rapid acceleration.

[@zakofrx]

I wonder if they had used the cone shape so as to allow a large charge without worrying about a problem with chamber tolerances. The act of chambering would help shape the cartridge to the chamber. The olive like end of the cartridge would expand our sealing the barrel and action. Add primers to the end of the cartridges and you would have great rifles and revolvers.

[@gus.smedstad]

After watching this, and watching the Gibbs carbine video, I have to ask - why did the US army have any interest in the Gibbs carbine if they had this? This looks like a much better weapon.

[@Hammerli280]

For what it's worth, the reports from North-South Skirmish Association shooters are that the Burnside carbines are pretty good shooters...with a round ball.

[@draug2009]

Interesting carbine, although I wonder if it was a misstep to arm the Union cavalry with them. Afaik Forrest, the Confederate general, had no use for carbines or sabers and required his men be armed with two revolvers each. The effectiveness of his tactics helped in overwhelming the Union cavalry forces, although the longer range of the carbine was most likely much more effective on the western frontier.

[@ej732]

Very cool.

[@grendelgrendelsson5493]

Yet another fantastic firearm. I would love to own one. Oh well..........

[@CommaV9414]

Damn imagine if this style of ammunition became the standard and we used it til today

[@Reactordrone]

You might still find some R-23 ammunition in Libya today. I can't think of any other front loading ammo though.

[@zakofrx]

Before I saw your comment I was wondering how you could feed these in a semi auto or even a bolt action. If they had fitted primers on the back then should be good in a revolver.

[@gabecartmill3487]

Edgar Valencia more like this one cause they sound stupid enough as it is i dont doubt if they read your comment they try doing that... they want power and all of it if no one has guns but them wed have no way to fight back or at least a veey slim chance but its not always about how big your guns are that wins wars

[@Braun30]

Not really, A Swiss bloke had an idea of a cased ammo in 1812. It was the first such cartridge with a Brass base, paper pipe holding the powder and bullet, the base had a primer. Was the direct predecessor of all side pin rounds. Guy's name was Pauly.

[@shooter575]

There are a few N-SSA members still shooting these today. Main problem being the expense of repop cases and loading the heel base bullet. They reload fast as long the case does not stick.

[@therugburnz]

Well, it rotates a bit and cams? Love rotary firearms and other meatal items but weapons are facinating.

[@lonewolf2364]

That thang is beautiful.

[@jeremypaluck4246]

He was so close with this design!

[@bdh985]

Wow. That carbine looks in good enough condition to safely fire it!

[@theluftwaffle1]

I find it funny how well some of these wood and metal rifles last. Like 100+ years. I doubt our modern polymer rifles would last even half that.

[@notsid3]

I've always wondered where we'd be if self-contained cartidging was developed earlier, still though, this is an interesting gun

[@ml.2770]

The cartridge was invented back in 1812 or so by a Swiss guy. Pauly I think.

[@ralphe5842]

Better inventor than general

[@Ozark-nq9uu]

I've always bean a Burnside fan.

[@xavierh.5102]

this thing's pretty interesting, I love breach loaders.

[@crazyfvck]

That's a sweet carbine :)

[@viru52000]

That lever latch design was really an elegant solution.

[@oldgysgt]

There are a lot of Burnside carbines out their, but most are nowhere in as good a shape as this one. If you have a Burnside, you can get cartridges and bullet molds from Dixie Arms, and the cases are reusable without resizing.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

It even has primary extraction, a shame no one replaced the hole with a primer .

[@mikee5208]

No doubt, it seems like that would have been an easy conversion, and extremely practical for the time

[@GiveMeYourNachosButthead]

Damnnn!! I want one.

[@anangryhessian]

Ayy Providence Rhode island mention!!

[@JK-dn4pu]

And from him is where we get the term sideburns.

[@Ralph-yn3gr]

Well, here we go again. Yet another Civil War single shot breach loading cavalry carbi-OOO HEY! That's cool! Side note: that's my reaction to every Civil War single shot breach loading cavalry carbine.

[@randythomet2385]

Does that picture of what looked liked new brass imply you can at lease reload cartridges for the gun?

[@slowpokebr549]

How many grains of powder did the cartridge hold? Given a sufficient charge, I'm sure that the a 400 grain bullet would pack a wallop. With that taper and the upward tilted block, I bet it was fast to load and handy.

[@christopherblakeley]

Got one! Unfortunately not in this condition.....

[@williamhart4896]

Capandball KZbin channel has video of reloading and firing of the Burnside carbine

[@charlesinglin]

It's interesting that there were so many designs for breech loading carbines that were tried out and quite a few bought, but so few replacements for the rifle-musket. The Sharps, of course, and I think the Spencer came out as a rifle as well as a carbine, but with a comparatively weak cartridge. You'd think the Burnside action could have been enlarged slightly for .58 caliber and used for a full size rifle-musket.

[@heroinboblivesagain5478]

You know man, it's wild to think about how far we've come in terms of firearms and what is deemed an acceptable caliber for fighting. People used think the .50 caliber bore of a Kentucky rifle was "puny and weak" for combat. I think that entire notion severely stunted firearms development.

[@citizen1114]

It's ingenious in a rather Rube Goldberg kind of way. I have to wonder just what our firearms actions and ammunition would look like had other conceptions taken root in the infancy of the industry.

[@aaronbuckmaster7063]

PLEASE READ. I helped a man with an advised German made large bore, 60 something caliber I believe, breaking slide action carbine, the barrel moves forward and the barrel breech lifts upward, used by the South. It used a similar brass case that was straight walled with a round case head and centered flash hole and extraction grove. It also used musket caps instead of the smaller percussion caps. It was a reproduction and hade a 14 grove barrel. I don’t know if that was how the original barrel was, but it worked amazingly and was extremely accurate. If you know what that carbine was called and who made it or any information, I’d really like to know. Thank you.

[@derekstocker6661]

Sounds something like a Gallager carbine???

[@aaronbuckmaster7063]

Ok I’ll try to look that up. Thank you.

[@yesimhuman]

man that's cool

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Gun Jesus tells the tale of Saint Burnside!

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

Burnside was a lousy General. Your channel title tells me you're not big on history.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

​@@Rutherford_Inchworm_IIIBut he was a decent gun creator & wonderful beard trend setter. "Sideburns"

[@andyrihn1]

So it appeared Jackson was going to have the same bad luck as Burnside untill...war were declared

[@TheTsarsTailor1910]

My great great and I think one or two more greats I forget but my great great grandfather was from Italy and he came over to America and he found a burnside carbine I forget where but we still have it today above our fireplace

[@trekaddict]

Burnside should've stuck to designing guns because he was seriously crap as a General.

[@keelanmurphy9941]

That's harsh. He was a competent if unexceptional tactical commander who was thrust into a much higher command than he was capable of out of necessity, against his wishes.

[@JP-rf8rr]

According to the wiki, he even admits to being a bad general and refused multiple times when higher ups tried to make him a general.

[@aridicaexmontaudon1296]

He was also fucked over by his supply chain