The Svelte Jenks Navy Carbine of the Mexican-American War

[@RobertoDonatti]

This is why I value your channel so much. I knew this gun existed, had seen a fuzzy B&W picture in a book and got a glimpse at a museum. But being able to inspect it through your video is almost like handling it myself. Thank you.

[@Eastwood007x]

I’m all about the Zoinks army carbine, scoob. That Jinkies carbine doesn’t look too bad.

[@bryanrhoads8058]

I'm gonna talk like that for a week and see if anybody notices

[@Eastwood007x]

Kim jung Un Like, make sandwiches, Kim. Not war!

[@healyburnham393]

Ian, wonderful presentation. To anyone who has not fired a Walker with 60 grains fffg after dark, give it a try! VERY impressive!

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

Sleek, stylish, innovative and functional. I love it! I'm always impressed by the information you manage to dig up Ian. Keep it up. I'll follow you wherever you go if KZbin shuts you down.

[@wonderoushistoryofclassicf9193]

Everyone. Be sure to check out his website and keep paying the patreon. Do not let Google control what you watch.

[@joshuaschoonyan3263]

The only thing smoother and cleaner than this firearm is the presentation/editing. Ian, ya done well.

[@davedodds5200]

I owned a Jenks carbine and virtually identical to the one shown; they were beautifully made, a joy to handle; I never shot mine but now wish that I still had it for that purpose.

[@jeffreyjenks7595]

I recently found out after researching family history that that’s my family’s rifle and would love to get my hands on one! How did you acquire one

[@bellakaldera3305]

I read somewhere that the Jenks was the first military accepted rifle to be made with a cast steel barrel, a major innovation in gun making. Another fine gun made in Massachusetts! The inventor may have been a Southerner, but he went to the Ames Company in Mass for his gun to be manufactured.

[@baron8107]

I'd love to see a reproduction of these. So slick, you'd never think these were made by hand.

[@mrnobody1958]

This thing is amazing. How much would you pay yourself?

[@arieheath7773]

For a nice reproduction by Pedersoli, I’d pay maybe a grand for it.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

@@arieheath7773 Definitely at least that.

[@ILikeToLaughAtYou]

@@arieheath7773 but I wouldn’t mind paying $200, neither haha

[@donolbers9446]

Ian, your videos are really good presentations, I have to be careful or else I will find myself binge watching for a couple of hours.

[@geshbeddin]

thank you very much for making it possible for me to see one of these rifles again it has been some 50 yrs since I last saw one at a black powder rifle range event it caught my attention because of how fast it reloaded. Again thank you for doing this video.

[@1012koko]

I love the pre 1900's weapons.

[@hillbillynick2000]

Awesome! Excellent timing for me as I'm building a mule ear carbine for myself. Nice example to follow!

[@tugboatyan]

"Tomorrow, we will check back in on one of the later Merrill-pattern Civil War alterations on this system" - And so begins the Month of Jenks, the long awaited younger-brother to the fabled Month of Bergmann!

[@stevejenkins9984]

I'm a Jenkins currently working on my machining degree. Then I'll be doing reproduction of a lot of antique and odd guns. Love this one man musta been a genius ;)

[@ST-zm3lm]

Thank you Ian, I’ve been curious about these ever since I found a reference to them in an old Smithsonian reference book

[@ST-zm3lm]

tseawell90 I’m not trying to give that impression, I’d found one in an old bookstore and was reading through it. Hadn’t ever heard of the Jenks before then.

[@monkeyship74401]

Cool. There was something similar in the little museum in Cherokee Iowa. It was a custom hunting rifle with a side hammer. The hammer apparently rocked in a similar manner to this, but the rifle was a muzzle loader.

[@royalmagnell5157]

Gosh, this is a clean and pretty little carbine. I'd love to have one.

[@KingdomOfDimensions]

Jesus Christ, 14 thousand rounds through a single shot black powder breach loader? If firing that gun was your full-time job, and you shot twice a minute, this would take you over 2 weeks of shooting. Edit: I do realize with this breach system you could potentially fire more than twice a minute. I was just estimating low because a slower, methodical pace made sense for most of the endurance test.

[@KingdomOfDimensions]

Yeah I don't know what the hearing protection of that era was like, but I don't think I'd want to use it for 14 thousand gunshots.

[@olddirtbiker5088]

KingdomOfDimensions--You would also need to factor in occaisional cleanings being a black powder rifle.

[@ferwiner2]

@@KingdomOfDimensions I don't think hearing protection was even considered in that era. The hearing of a soldier got bad enough after his training, that there wasn't really any more need to protect it in gun testing ;)

[@daviddavidson2357]

Yeah somehow I think the percussion nipple breaking wasn't due to the gun failing.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Fr though what poor bastard had to do that? That likely took months to fire that many rounds, realistically they’re not shooting it 24/7 so at most you’re getting 8-12 hours a day of shooting, at barely faster than 2 rounds per minute, and since it’s a black powder rifle you’d have to stop to clean it every once and a while. 😂

[@gunsbeersmemes]

Gun Jesus will never let KZbin shut down Forgotten Weapons. It's educational content does not promote war or violence, but shows the destructive nature of weapons used in warfare, so that we will all never forget the horrors of generations past, to better avoid war and its costly devastation, in the future.

[@pariahdog5214]

Reese Holder sadly, i dont think that KZbin cares about that. Theyr thought process is very simple: Guns=bad. Full stop. There are no exceptions. Yea, thats kinda stupid, but KZbin does not seem to care about that either.

[@cvincent2340]

unfortunately he works for auction houses and most of the rare guns he shows are up for auction, which would be considered linked to a sales web-sight /and don't forget the belt fed ones ( I just noticed the policy has changed a little since Sunday so belt fed might be safe)

[@mrnobody1958]

@@vsGoliath96 and the emphasis on safety when going live, more importantly it's purely educationam, however unless he says dis gun bahd orange man bad, despite his views and very civil no gimmicks focus on firearms in a very serious no nonsense format that would never pull any stupid stunts for views my not be taken as seriously as he respects the craft culture and effort that went into these engines.

[@angryyogbuscus1578]

What? No. It's a series that centers itself around historical and mechanical novelties. It's good, but it hasn't any kind of humanitarian asprirations.

[@johannderjager4146]

Brain-dead liberals don't know that.

[@fmbfla]

Awesome information and history of our nation and the people that have made it what we are today. And I would have never known about, I can't afford to help you monetarily, But i do appreciate what you and your team do to help keep history alive.

[@aaronbuckmaster7063]

That carbine is in exceptionally good condition.

[@alexfogg236]

Actor Hank Wolden used a Jenks carbine in the movie The Searchers.

[@Lockbar]

"Thank you, Lord, for what we are about to receive"

[@alexfogg236]

Lockbar , excellent movie quote.

[@alexfogg381]

Actor hank wolden used one of these in the 1956 movie The searchers, during the shoot out at the river scene.

[@sambaggins2798]

When they used the linen cartridge I believe the linen when punched up by the cylinder formed a bit of a seal to mitigate gas venting.

[@slaughterhound8793]

Lately I've gotten interested in the Mexican-American War, so I really enjoyed seeing this carbine, thanks.

[@jacobriddle7230]

With your statement on rifling you often had a patch for a round bullet and a skirt that expands on the ones that are mini ball shaped when muzzle loaded

[@elidennison9902]

thank you for everything you have done... i just don't understand how this is happening...

[@nate_thealbatross]

That looks wonderfully compact.

[@CanadianFisherman1]

hello, ive been a long time subscriber and i emailed you a long time ago about the m2 hyde as well as the Lewis automatic rifle. i love your channel as well as website and would love to see a lot of progression through the history of weaponry.

[@theknifeman7097]

I love the style of this rifle.

[@daveweller9579]

What a elegant beautiful gun

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

As soon as I seen that I thought that was a slick little gun.

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Sweet, slick looking gun. =)

[@hosed10]

Ian. You mentioned Aims? sold the contract to Remington. Under most modern contracts for public entities 'reassignment'/selling the contracts is not allowed by the contract. Is that still the case for modern military procurement? Or is military equipment generally different in that regard?

[@prechabahnglai103]

14,000+ rounds?! Did shooters work in shifts?

[@zacharyrollick6169]

Very nice.

[@Tom-f4d6l]

Is there a record of what ships these were deployed on? I'm wondering if these were aboard the USS Decatur during the Battle of Seattle (1856) which took place during the Yakima War.

[@alexsacco776]

This looks like the parris toy muskets that we had when we were kids

[@andymac4883]

So wait, you're saying the US army could have had a breech-loading rifle - one that could easily be converted to take paper cartridges, _substantially_ easing loading proceedure - back in the 1840s, and it's entirely possibly the only reason they didn't was because they messed up the powder load when testing it? The army gets a lot of grief sometimes, but unless there are some other mitigating circumstances in this case I think they really deserve it!

[@Jesses001]

That is a nice system. Should work great with paper cartridges. Rather slender compared to most rifles of the time.

[@iLLeag7e]

Not janky at all. Total misnomer!

[@randywatson8347]

Such a beauty, considering it's age!

[@cawpin]

This is a particularly cool gun.

[@dougdukes1039]

The Texas Army had some of the Jenks Rifles. What books did you use for research?

[@totensiebush]

I would think that the part of the hammer that overhangs the breechblock would be to keep the hammer from striking the cap with the gun out of battery, rather than being an attempt to keep it in battery when it fires.

[@BeasBotBonanza]

This is such an elegant looking rifle, shame the sights are smaller than the chances of youtube changing their tune about gun channels :(

[@nichevo1]

Did it also/instead allow use of elongated Minie ball? And, if that's not a sling swivel behind the trigger, what is it?

[@alswann2702]

Looks like a saddle ring. Someone mentioned the Texas Army purchased them, so a saddle ring seems appropriate.

[@smokeydops]

Beautiful finish, very... "futuristic" looking...

[@BigFrakkinOgre]

Thanks

[@486kyle]

Could the "54 caliber" misunderstanding possibly be from the old naval tradition of measuring barrel lengths in bore diameters?

[@unclemiguel4221]

i love the way this looks and i'm sad the army didn't like it

[@royperkins3851]

The use of Minnie balls would have necessitated the lengthening of the chamber, not sure but it would be logical to widen the access to the bore ,just a thought

[@MALICEM12]

What coating is on the barrel to give it that color?

[@longdarkrideatnight]

If you put in to much powder, and you end up with extra power around bolt, if so can you end up with escaping gasses setting of that extra powder?

[@zxggwrt]

That is sleek! I like it.

[@gunnarkvinlaug9079]

Would it not be easier to use a Minie ball in the rifle?

[@nicholas_scott]

I think the hook on the hammer is more for an out-of-battery safety, not so much as a breech lock?

[@BygdesonPar]

I have one of these. It is smooth bore, and the loading port is not converted. Still a round hole. Made in 1843. Does any one know how many of these that wasn't converted?

[@TheZinmo]

Really elegant. A dandys gun.

[@southronjr1570]

I my experience with civil war conversions and rifles in general, those with simple rear sights were generally smooth bore originally and most everything was rifled to some extent during the early war period and just before. Have you ever touched off a rifled .69 1842? An experience your not likely to forget soon with a full service charge. Funny story about a rifled 1842, a friend of my father's used one in just one relay of our N-SSA (North-South Skirmish Assoc) matches and that was our stake event which was at the time, the last event of a match. He would break out the 42 just for that relay and he called it "termite" bc it took such big chunks out of the stake. Early in my career with the N-SSA they ruled the stake event was unfair and banned it's use in National events and eventually regional events as well, however I have made my own, legal, version in the match we hold every year.

[@southronjr1570]

Forgot to mention the reason my dad's friend didn't shoot it during the rest of the match, he said it was actually the most accurate gun he shot in matches and I asked him why he didn't use it the whole match and his reply was " well son, I'd have to own a lead mine to feed it through a whole match". I have a feeling he was joking but to a 15 year old boy listening to an old timer I knew he didn't want to admit it kicked like a mule, cause I tried it and by God it kicked, but hit exactly where I aimed .

[@seanmehonoshen9440]

From what I can see, it seems like the early ancestor of the toggle lock.

[@dimplesambyal4548]

Nice

[@jwnagy]

I wonder how these compared in accuracy to the Mississippi Rifles of the same era?

[@nomad8723]

What is the finish on the barrel? Is that a form of case hardening or paint?

[@scottgoodman4776]

It looks like it is "browned".

[@admiralpercy]

Could you talk about why the Navy preferred .36 caliber revolvers?

[@PvtMartin78]

What is that ring behind the trigger guard for?

[@dwightehowell8179]

That is a really cool gun. If the muzzle loading rules were black powder rather than muzzle loading this gun would have a huge market for a reproduction. I'm sorry it wasn't a much larger financial success.

[@explosivealanli588]

wouldn't the "bolt/piston" block the spark that created by percussion cap?

[@cpcw06]

Are there any good books on this firearm?

[@thomaskwei9119]

Would these have ben used by Marines, or would they have used more conventional Army guns?

[@winstonsmith6708]

Very slick

[@mikeblair2594]

besides the mule ear they are also called a side slapper. they are better than the conventional percussion system in that they have a direct ignition. im not that fond of the back action lock though, to my way of thinking they weaken the wrist to much leading to breakage. there are two companies that make mule ear locks these days, but they are so simple to make i don't bother to buy them.

[@greybayles7955]

This gun looks like its carved out of a piece of driftwood... but like... cool.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

how long does it take to fire 14,000 shots through a single shot percussion rifle...

[@Swat_Dennis]

Ian, what do you think about Remington filing for bankruptcy?

[@alexmoore1506]

dennis Hakkie I'm not really surprised

[@_leyrd_.]

Why is the barrel brown?

[@VTPSTTU]

That's a slick little gun. I'd love to have a reproduction.

[@Qingeaton]

The Army Jinxed the Jenks.

[@DWillzJunior]

I have an idea for a video, the actual development and acceptance of .223 as a NATO standard round. There isn't a ton of info on it, and I enjoy FW's videos on the US' usually awful methods of selecting military standard armaments.

[@debbienorris2867]

Low poly percussion musket

[@karlmoles6530]

If I was an American soldier in the Mexican/American war I'd carry two Walker Colts like Josey Wales and one of these carbines.

[@mr.anderson9938]

Thank you gun Jesus

[@BobtheHobo324]

"There are no sling swivels on this gun," well what is that behind the trigger guard?

[@rb26gtr98]

Its a swivel sling

[@ZGryphon]

It _looks_ like a saddle ring, which isn't quite the same thing, although I don't know why there would be one on a Navy carbine.

[@bobbafett3050]

There is something oddly pleasing about a rifle without any extra flourishes to snag and kill you. William Jenks knew what he was about given the limitations of the time period.

[@quintinstephens2573]

Man, I wish someone made a repro of that. I want one, but, not for $5000+ - lol

[@jamestai5742]

Such a nice looking gun...what a shame that it wasn't adopted by the US army.

[@DaveLennonCopeland]

Ian, I've been watching your channel for about 2 years (even though I'm not a gun person per se) and want to say that if KZbin gives you the push (due to gun content) that would be bad. KZbin is turning into a politically correct ass. :)

[@Notjustcar]

they did just got shot you know...

[@OpenMawProductions]

@vsGoliath, what you described is literally political. Society puts pressure on shareholders and they put pressure on KZbin. KZbin is a platform for free open discussion and letting individuals have a stronger voice than ever before. If you start curtailing things because you don't "like" them you start are destroying that platform. There is nothing wrong with the gun channels on KZbin. Nothing, and you should be supporting them. Next up could be something that actually matters to you.

[@altamiradorable]

Basically, this carbine was "jinksed" from the start ! Pun intended

[@JKCDLT]

I'm something of a Svelte Jenks myself.

[@Fuddleton]

I don't believe it. I've had this idea for a single shot rifle for a long time. As in the top mounted lever

[@mikewilburn5884]

What? The U.S. Army doesn't use the recommended ammunition in a trials rifle? Surely they learned their lesson. Lmao. That tid bit of information really cracks me up.

[@chrischiampo8106]

Interesting The Side Hammer Design They Used 😮😀 It’s Kind Of Like Johnathan Browning’s Harmonica Slide Repeater Rifle With The Hammer Underneath The Action 😮😮😳😮

[@chrischiampo8106]

Vince Dibona 😲😲😲

[@pstrap1311]

Vince Dibona im pretty sure there is a setting on phones that applies the capitals automatically. However, it definitely bothers me to read such comments. Whether intentional or not, it makes the poster seem as if they were so fond of their own statements that they award their every utterance pronoun status. Your comments arent book titles. Please dont.

[@FabianMacGintyONeill]

"Rufus Chandler" is a great name for a Naval Inspector. Or anyone for that matter.

[@ThePitofSidLord]

I read that as Svelte Jenkem and almost threw up.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

I get the feeling that I am glad to not know what that is.

[@MerrimanDevonshire]

At least the NRA has not abandoned putting ads on videos (or KZbin refusing to take their money) - start and end ad as of 26MAR18.

[@TechnicolorDojo]

Is it possible to hate the nra and love this channel? Like if you do so I know I'm not alone.

[@ForgottenWeapons]

Yes, my audience spans the whole spectrum of political opinions.

[@TechnicolorDojo]

Forgotten Weapons indeed, I shudder to think that KZbin's Draconian policies will soon end all that

[@viswasubramanian4738]

4:35 I thought navy guns were susceptible to rusting

[@thompsonjerry3412]

Too small of a charge would leave an air gap with a bad result!

[@heliosdelsol]

Hey Ian, do you think you will start your own show on NRA TV?

[@ForgottenWeapons]

No, I do not think so.

[@alexmoore1506]

Helios Amphiaraus I feel like he would like to keep his content politically unbiased, regardless on how he personally feels.