Civil War Repeating Rifles & Carbines - 1861 to 1865 - A Short History

[@ScoutSniper3124]

I was attached to the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry (NY-ARNG) for the Iraq war in early 2004. Their armory is on Lexington Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City. Shortly thereafter I was informed that I would attend the U.S. Army Sniper School. That put me in something of a situation, as I was a competitive NRA shooter, but had zero access to arms nor a range at the time. I bought a 10x fixed rifle scope, a decent laser rangefinder, and a spotting scope. I took them to the south end of Central Park where I practiced the skills of range estimation, target detection, and the making of both range cards, and range sketches. I drew more than a few spectators and interested folks, several of whom I invited to try their hand at the skills. I then attended and graduated U.S. Army Sniper School and went on to serve as a sniper with the battalion in Iraq. I like to think Colonel Berdan would have approved. SSG. U.S. Army (Medically Retired) Infantry / Sniper / SOF Intel (SOT-A), multiple tours

[@Verdunveteran]

Very interesting! However Chamberlain was only a colonel when he led the 20th Main at Gettysburg.

[@michaelhowell2326]

Not being a spelling nazi, but I'm pretty sure you meant "Maine". I only point it out so other people don't clown on you.

[@oneloveal]

Was just about to say this... also his commission to brg. Gen was honorary

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

Not true

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

@@michaelhowell2326 no

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

@Java Junkie no

[@catachandevilfang]

At Gettysburg, union soldiers detailed to bury the dead after the battle would heat extra bayonets taken off the field in campfires and bend them into hooks. Then they’d take pairs of hooks and loop them under the armpits of the dead to move them.

[@beastbee0118]

Nooo! 🤮🤢

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

Not true

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

@@beastbee0118 no

[@SStupendous]

@@godzpeedx7ii75 Thanks God, for showing us you know everything. Totally convinced. Just saying no to everything with no back-up.

[@timd729]

Gaffing soldiers like a fish, lovely.

[@garyK.45ACP]

The Sharp's is not a "repeating rifle". It is a breechloading single shot. The Spencer cartridge was called a .56-56...NOT 56 "by" 56. The term "by" was used with European metric cartridges to indicate bullet diameter and case length. Such as 7x57mm which indicates a bullet diameter of 7mm (.284") and a case length of 57mm. The Spencer cartridge had a bullet diameter of .56" and the case shoulder was .56" in diameter. The bullet was a "heeled" design that had a reduce diameter base to fit inside the case, the majority of the bullet being .56 caliber, the same as the case. Modern .22 rimfire cartridges are made along the same lines. Another Spencer cartridge used a bullet of .50" in a "bottlenecked case" with a shoulder diameter of .56" and was called the .56-50. Both used approximately 45 grains of blackpowder.

[@Gunsforfreedom]

@5:07 The Henry was not a breech loader. The rounds were loaded at the muzzle end of the magazine tube... once the follower was pulled up and out of the way.

[@SStupendous]

And? In that case an AR-57 with a mag even closer to the muzzle is a muzzleloader then.

[@Gunsforfreedom]

@@SStupendous "muzzle end of the magazine tube." Never said the henry was a muzzle loader. But it certainly was not a breech loader. If anything, it was a magazine tube fed rifle.

[@SStupendous]

@@Gunsforfreedom But my point is that I can think of many guns today that reload way closer to the muzzle than the breech. What should we call these things?

[@theluiginoidperson1097]

@@SStupendous Reciever Loaders.

[@SStupendous]

@@theluiginoidperson1097 Reciever is literally right at the breech..

[@1989gibbi]

Chamberlain was not a brigadier general at the Battle of Little round top. He was the colonel commanding for the 20th Maine. He did not receive the brevet rank of brigadier general until Petersburg

[@haydenharrison1873]

Great job keep up the good work

[@josephgonzales4802]

Good video, however it forgot to mention the Colt revolving rifle which is a repeater not the Sharps or the bayonet.

[@godzpeedx7ii75]

Not true. The sharps is the repeating rifle

[@josephgonzales4802]

To be a repeater it should be reloaded from a type of magazine or clip within the weapon. The Sharps is loaded by physical placing a single cartridge by the shooter into the breach.

[@SStupendous]

@@godzpeedx7ii75 A Sharps is a single-shot gun you donghead..

[@SStupendous]

@@josephgonzales4802 TO Be a repeater it simply repeatedly shoots before reloading is required... smh?

[@1stminnsharpshooters341]

Great production LionHeart -- *LIKED* the video our group uses sharps, henry, spencer, and of course muzzle loading Springfields and Enfields our our channel - lot of fun at the range pards.

[@MaryAnnAngros-fq9yy]

My husband bought a Henry rifle about 15 years ago. i said, "What's so special about it? His answer was " look at it! It was not an antique, but a new model

[@michaelhowell2326]

I wonder if sharpshooters get that name from the marksmen who shot Sharps in the Civil War?

[@SlickSixguns]

michael howell I had never considered that idea but I do know that snipers get there original name from men who could shoot and successfully kill the snipe bird and were referred to as snipers. So your guess is a sound one

[@michaelhowell2326]

@@SlickSixguns it truly blows some people away that the snipe is really a bird, and some never will believe it. I've actually made a few dollars betting on the fact.

[@oneloveal]

I believe this is accurate

[@scottfunkhouser7491]

i heard that during shooting competitions so many men with sharps won that anyone who could shoot really was known as a sharps shooter

[@SStupendous]

It actually is.

[@ReconstructedYankee1882]

For me as a union soldier I go for the Henry rifle and a Colt 1860 Army revolver is the way to go for me

[@SStupendous]

For me, I'd say a Spencer rifle and a double-action Remington New Army Model 1858

[@ReconstructedYankee1882]

@@SStupendous well u meant single action remington m1858 but sounds like a great load out though

[@SStupendous]

@@ReconstructedYankee1882 No, I meant double-action Remington. They exist. Double-action revolvers had existed more than a decade before the civil war.

[@ReconstructedYankee1882]

@@SStupendous r u talkin about the adams self cockin Revolver

[@SStupendous]

@@ReconstructedYankee1882 It's the Beaumont-Addams Model 1851 double-action revolver, actually. And it is just one of many revolvers around in the civil war period. What about it

[@thunderkatz4219]

finally a video without any ww2 or ww1 rifles

[@Trolleyatthestation]

ikr

[@theluiginoidperson1097]

Winchester 1895

[@firecowboy3613]

chamberlain was made a bg in 1864 while at ptersburg

[@freedomloverusa3030]

Poor man, nobody deserves that, the worse wound for a man.

[@tomservo5347]

I've wondered-even if the Confederates were able to capture a Henry or Spencer rifle how did they keep a supply of metallic cartridges for them? It was something the South simply couldn't do in manufacturing metallic cartridges. Bayonets were also used as handy ramrod holders in trenches, as shown at Petersburg. With so many wrecked rifles laying around during the siege of Petersburg, bored soldiers took to firing ramrods taking great delight in the bizarre whirring noises and completely unpredictable flight.

[@joehackney1376]

The U.S. Veteran Volunteer Infantry was formed from men from State units and trained in the use of Henry Rifles. It was not formed until late '64 or early '65, and by the time they finished training, the war was over.

[@rocksandoil2241]

The Colt revolving rifle were used as well. At Pea Ridge Pike's Indians were thrown back by a unit armed with the Colt

[@JnEricsonx]

I think I saw R Lee Ermy refuse to use something like that on one of his episodes. I think it was due to concern over how long the chambers were and using a black powder charge vs a actual cartridge.

[@col.mustard1233]

Don't forget about the Evens rifle and Colt's root.

[@johnryder1713]

Changes your mind on how the war was fought

[@SStupendous]

There were hundreds of thousands of repeaters in that war, and guns we think weren't used often, for instance 140,000 Spencer rifles and carbines, and 134,000 10-round Lefauchex cartridge revolvers.

[@johnryder1713]

@@SStupendous Was it physically possible to have a repeater weapon that used the Minie ball?

[@SStupendous]

@@johnryder1713 What do you mean? Gatling gun, almost all manual machine guns, and the Spencer rifle, literally all the repeaters in the civil war used minie bullets. Minie ball's pretty similar to the common .38 rimfire cartridge, and a normal pistol or hunting rifle cartridge today.

[@johnryder1713]

@@SStupendous Thanks you never really think that way

[@db4075]

Love your all videos but the pop-up ad in the middle of the video is absolutely annoying and unneeded

[@SStupendous]

Turn off ads then. I got none

Do they join the Lemoyne Raiders after the war ended?

[@coonus1]

I'd want Winchester or henry and a a12 with bayonet lugg colt army revolver if I had to fight. Ofcourse a Bowie knife taken off a southern soldier.

[@wiegl8596]

Winchesters weren't around back then and what do you mean by "a12"

[@SStupendous]

​@@wiegl8596 Lok exactly By Winchester likely meant Henry rifle. Saying "They weren't around back then" makes it sound far apart when the first Winchesters were made weeks away from the last battle of the Civil War.

[@gilgamesh310]

So if rifles were deemed too fast back then, what possible purpose does full auto serve on modern assault rifles?

[@floydkeimiii303]

Soldiers don’t use full auto on their rifles and carbines. That’s pretty much reserved for 249s and 240s

[@Aqueox]

What purpose? Suppressive fire and the odd chance that you can mow down a blob of infantry with one man.

[@godzilladude1231]

Since when did a Sharps rifle became a “repeating rifle?” LMAO

[@JDMatthias]

You must not know your weapon history

[@godzilladude1231]

J.D. Matthias You obviously never heard of a “single-shot weapon” huh?

[@underpaidmook]

@@godzilladude1231 This is kinda late but you could argue that it was faster to reload than a Springfield Rifled Musket so...maybe a repeating rifle because it was faster?

[@SStupendous]

@@underpaidmook That's ridiculous given ACTUAL repeaters were used.

[@bradmetcalf7832]

@@JDMatthias Apparently you don't. Sharps is a single shot breechloading firearm, it is not a repeater.

[@bradmetcalf7832]

Piss's me off when these gun exspurts can't even get the terminology correct in the title! SAD