#breech loader

Greene Breech-Loading Percussion Carbine

In 1854, James Durell Greene of Cambridge, Massachusetts, patented a novel hinged breech carbine design. Greene’s breech-loading percussion carbine used a self contained cartridge which could be placed into the open breech. 

In the mid-1850s the British Army took interest in Greene’s design. Following a successful trial of the weapon at the British Army’s School of Musketry at Hythe an order for 2,000 .54 calibre Greene carbines was made. This contract was reportedly to equip the Cape Mounted Riflemen - a South African colonial yeomanry battalion which was extensively involved in the late Xhosa or Cape Frontier Wars. The need for a carbine which could be quickly loaded could make the difference between life and death when fighting enemies as numerous and adept as the Xhosa. The carbines were likely ordered at just after the Eighth Xhosa War (1850–53). Other sources suggest the Cape became the carbines’ destination after the end of the Crimean War (1853-56).

The Cape Mounted Riflemen in action during the Eighth Xhosa War (source)

The carbine was a single shot, breech-loading, percussion carbine with three groove rifling and an 18 inch barrel. To load Greene’s carbine the user pulled the front trigger to release the barrel, grasped the barrel and twisted it 90 degrees counter-clockwise. This rotated the barrel lugs out of alignment with the locking shoulders and allowed the barrel to be pulled forward approximately an inch. The barrel could then pivot to the right, swinging down to allow clear access to the breech. Once the breech was open a self-contained paper cartridge, including powder and projectile, could be loaded. The barrel was then swung back up into position and the barrel sharply pulled to the rear. This would allow an ignition cone to pierce the base of the cartridge and allow the user to rotate the barrel clockwise and lock the breech. The hammer could then be cocked and Maynard’s Tape Primer system would place a primer over the carbine’s nipple ready to fire.

The operator could then pull the trigger, sending the hammer forward onto the primer tape. The ignition from the primer travelled down the ignition cone and ignited the cartridge.

Patent drawing showing Maynard’s ‘Primer Cock’ (source)

Another interesting feature of the Greene carbine was the use of Edward Maynard’s patented Tape Primer system (see image #6). Maynard’s Tape Primer included a magazine which fed a tape of mercury fulminate primers into position each time the hammer was cocked. This would certainly have been useful for a cavalryman who might potentially struggle to cap his weapon while on horseback while in action. The carbine could also be primed with traditional percussion caps circumventing the tape primer magazine The US Army universally adopted Maynard’s primer system for the Model 1855 Rifle-Musket. 

Diagram from Greene’s patent showing how the ignition cone pierces the base of the paper cartridge (source)

The carbines were produced by the Massachusetts Arms Company and shipped to Britain for proofing and testing. Their testing found that the design’s weak point was its ammunition. The rudimentary self-contained paper cartridge used by the carbine was too thick for the ignition cone to penetrate or conversely too brittle if the cartridge could be easily penetrated. As a result the Cape Mounted Riflemen never received the carbines. 

They were held in the Tower armoury while attempts were made to produce suitable ammunition and eventually sold off as parts. It appears that some were issued for troop trials with some of the carbines marked ‘RDMR’ - which some have hypothesised could be the Royal Devon Mounted Rifles or the Riversdale District Mounted Rifles - I have been unable to confirm the existence of either of these units or find another unit which fits the initials.    

The US Army, who purchased approximately 300 for testing, also lost interest in the design finding the hinged barrel difficult to manipulate on horseback. In the late 1850s Greene also developed the Greene Breech-loading rifle which used an early bolt action. He was granted a patent for this design in early 1862, several thousand were produced by the A.H. Waters Armory. During the Civil War he served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the 5th Massachusetts Militia and later commanded the 17th and 6th Infantry regiments. He was brevetted Brigadier General before retiring in 1867.  In 1869, he patented a ‘life preserving mattress’ flotation aid. 

He returned to the firearms trade filing numerous patents including a rotary magazine repeating rifle in 1885. Greene died in 1902, aged 74.

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6

‘Breech-Loading Fire-Arm’ US #11157, J.D. Greene, 22 June 1854, (source)

‘Priming Cock’, US Patent #4208, E. Maynard, 22 Sept. 1845, (source)

British Rifles: Catalogue of the Enfield Pattern Room, H. Woodend (1981)

Breech-Loading Durs Egg Carbine

My other project, The Armourer’s Bench, returns with a new video and in-depth article looking at a 18th century cavalry carbine made by Durs Egg, based on Giuseppe Crespi's breech-loading action! 

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