Now for something different. I want to have some fun with this article and imagine we saw this gun on a table and had to identify it ourselves. These guns crossed the continent over 150 years ago, and nobody really knew their story until a few years ago.
The Springfield Republican, hometown paper to Springfield Armory, published an editorial criticizing the Evening Post’s missive. It’s titled “Arms for Infantry”. I find it makes a pretty compelling argument.
Under Major General Schofield’s board, there were 34 distinct rifles submitted for review. This list would serve as a fine collection today by any measure.
Reprinted here is an editorial from The Evening Post on September 22, 1870, in which they criticize the government’s lack of progress on selecting a new breechloading design for the military. Enjoy!
The Government needed a new battle rifle — a standard design — and you were welcome to throw your hat in the ring. And not just you, but you, me, and our grandma in a tree: “all persons”, “from any quarter whatever”.
I brought the book with me on a family trip to Maui to read in the idle moments. The book raises a few eyebrows because it’s such an esoteric subject. For a gun nerd it’s also a great conversation starter.
The only thing missing is a sub-sub title like “In which it is revealed how awesome Mr. Allen’s contribution to firearms history really was.”
Hey cool, thanks for the comment, Mike! Congrats on finding one. I would also assume no patch box in the…
This was a great source of information. I obtained a Navy Sharps in the 44k range, with both EF and…