For page 1859...
The Model 1859 Sharps breechloading rifle, built in the standard 3-band full stocked infantry musket, a musket variant modified with a Malcolm scope mount for precision long range shooting, and a single band carbine. Standard loading is 50-60 grains of FFg or "Rifle" powder under a 300-350 grain Minie type conical with one or two grease grooves.
The 1859 breechloader is often nicknamed the "cigar cutter" due to it's unique breech mechanism. The system operates using thick layered nitrated paper cartridges that are waxed to offer a waterproof and weatherproof coating. The ends of these cartridges are often twisted into a "nub" and the overall length of the cartridge is usually slightly longer than the length of the rifle's chamber. When the triggerguard is flipped closed over the loaded chamber, the breechblock slides upward and the metal blade severs the nub from the rear of the cartridge face, thus opening the cartridge and exposing the powder charge inside. The rest of the procedure for operating the 1859 breechloader is the same as the regular muzzleloading long arms of the period. The hammer is set to half cock, a winged musket cap firmly seated onto the ignition cone, and then full cock to fire.
Despite it's revolutionary design and engineering, the 1859 Sharps suffered a number of setbacks due to it's 'cigar cutter' mechanism. The first, and most dangerous, is that the process of loading often occurs with considerable force to work with the massive springs inside the action and the severing of the rear of the loaded cartridge causes grains of powder to be scattered into the rifle's mechanism itself. Upon firing, these powder grains ignite and sometimes, enough powder accumulates inside the action without igniting and may ignite all together on the next shot, causing the breech to be enveloped by flames during the shot. Some shooters have suffered burns to their faces and hands due to this defect. The second setback suffered by this breechloading rifle that the traditional muzzleloading arms of the period were not subjected to was the atrocious gas seal capability of the breech due to the intricacy of the action mechanism. The Sharps cartridge using 60 grains of rifle powder and a 350 grain Minie ball was designed to be a VERY potent round delivering at least 2,000 foot pounds of muzzle energy and able to carry it's range up to 1,200 yards. However, the same cutting action and moving parts of the breech mechanism which made the Sharps much easier and faster to reload than other contemporary long arms does not offer an adequate seal for the chamber and upon firing, much of the gas from the burning powder is lost, blown out through the gaps in the action and triggerguard, or upwards between the sliding breechblock and chamber. Thus, the actual velocities and muzzle energies of the rounds are only about half of what they were supposed to have been. Other carbines of the time period that used a rotating or sliding breech also suffered the same setbacks when using paper or foil cartridges. Both issues documented in this post would be resolved roughly a decade later once metallic cartridges composed of powder, projectile, primer, and chamber seal all in one compact unit became universally adopted. Nonetheless, the breechloaders of the Civil War era proved to be a very important step in the continued development of practical and faster loading long arms, which until then had experienced evolutionary stasis since the wheel lock and flint lock had been developed two hundred years prior. In the same time, pistols had evolved far beyond their shoulder fired counterparts, with practical and dependable single action, double action, and cartridge revolvers already available by 1859. The Sharps 1859 carbines and rifles, despite numerous setbacks due to their design, were manufactured and distributed in tremendous numbers between 1859 and 1873. They played an important role in the War Between the States and the bloody border conflicts leading up to it, serving sharpshooters, raiders, and mounted rangers on both sides. They were also one of the key long arms which had played an instrumental role in taming the western frontier.
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