Introducing a quite rare British longarm: The Pattern 1841 Royal Sappers & Miners, &/or Royal Artillery Carbine. This comes from the design of George Lovell and is the ultimate smoothbore. The 30 inch barrel is in the new Reduced Bore of .733, a reduction of .020 from the Regulation .753 of the Infantry Musket but intended to still use the same cartridge loaded with a ball of .685.
Category: Firearms
Firearms history. Long range rifle fire and target rifles. British Military Longarms. Ammunition. Accessories. Gunmakers.
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Pattern 1838 Musket
The days of the flintlock action were numbered when Alexander Forsyth began experiments, in 1805 in the Tower of London, aimed at harnessing the power of exploding fulminates as a means of ignition. His work was expanded upon by others which eventually led to the “Musket, Rank and File for Foot Guards”, the first percussion musket to be issued in quantity to British soldiers. Today we usually simply call it the Pattern 1838.
John Farquharson
John Farquharson was born in Glenfernate, Perthshire in the mid-1830s. He won many prizes and is notable for shooting from the “back”, or “Farquharson,” position. His patent breech action was eventually reassigned to George Gibbs, Thomas Pitt and William Ellis Metford.
Gibbs-Farquharson-Metford
The Farquharson breech, which is attached to the Metford rifle as manufactured Mr. Geo. Gibbs, of Bristol, is one of the oldest actions we have among the rifles of the present day. The inventor – Mr John Farquharson – is a Scotchman, and we remember having seen him at Irvine, in 1871, exhibiting the action, which was then fitted to a Henry barrel. Mr Farquharson approached several Governments with the view of getting his invention adopted, but it was just a little too late. Nearly all of them had selected a breech action shortly before, and they were therefore unwilling to re-open the question and incur additional expense before giving the newly chosen weapon a fair trial. Ultimately the action was purchased by Mr Gibbs, who proceeded to perfect it and protect it by letters patent under the Great Seal.
American Primer Ignition Long Range Deluxe Rifle
Description: .45 caliber, 34″ round barrel with Rigby flats. False muzzle. Very fine banknote-style engraving on the action, pistol grip cap and the rear tang sight base. Fancy checkered walnut stock with pistol grip and engraved metal cap. Fleur-de-lis checkered forearm with engraved metal nosecap. Checkered metal buttplate. A very rare and unusual rifle that is very high quality.
Charles E. Overbaugh
C. E. OVERBAUGH & Co. Manufacturers and Dealers in Guns, Rifles, and Sporting Goods, Nos 265 and 267 Broadway. – A reliable and successful house engaged in the manufacture and sale of guns and sporting goods in the metropolis is that of Messrs. C. E. Overbaugh & Co., whose shop and salesroom are situated at Nos. 265 and 267 Broadway.
Charles E. Overbaugh, New York, USA
INDEX. Charles E. Overbaugh has been reported as at one time Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company’s chief travelling salesman and exhibition shooter. He was instrumental in the design of Sharps Model 1877 Long Range Rifle. In 1878 he established his own business, C. E. Overbaugh & Co. Manufacturers and Dealers in Guns, Rifles, and Sporting Goods.
Long Range Shooting: An Historical Perspective
An interest in shooting at long ranges is a subject which lies close to the heart of this writer. Impelled by the ancestral voices of two of his forebears who made gunpowder under the well known name of Curtis’s and Harvey and a third who bombarded Sevastopol with 13 inch mortars, he joined the Artillery and spent six years with 25 pounder guns which left him with a taste for long distance lobbing. Civilian life and a necessary reduction in the practical ranges attainable by the order of 90% left him with little choice but Bisley’s Stickledown Range and a limit of 1,200 yards. This is no treatise on ballistics, the author is neither a scientist nor an engineer and most emphatically not a mathematician. It is really an historical perspective from the earliest times down to the late 19th Century.
The Record Long Range Score
This fascinating article by Maj. C. W. Hinman first appeared in ‘Arms And The Man’ in 1915. It offers insight into long range rifle shooting in the US during the 1880s, and is a rich resource for contemporary detail on practices of the time.
.45-70 at Two Miles: The Sandy Hook Tests of 1879
The shooter at the heavy bench rest squinted as he aligned his .45-70 Allin-Springfield Model 1873 Army rifle on the distant target. The rifle fore-stock and barrel was cradled in a rest; the butt was supported by his shoulder. The rear sight was flipped up to its full height, so with no stock support for his head, the rifle tester from Springfield Armory worked carefully to align high rear and low muzzle sight on the speck that was the target – a surveyed 2,500 yards distant.
A Short History of Long Range Shooting in the USA
The history of long range shooting in the United States is fast approaching 400 years. Since European explorers and colonists first brought gunpowder to these shores the definition of long range has grown along with the nation. While the United States may have reached the extent of its physical boundaries the imagination, ingenuity, and success of those living there who seek to hit a target at further and further distances has not.
Alexander Henry Inventory
On the creation of an “inventory” of Alexander Henry’s rifles and shotguns, to gain an understanding how many are still in existence.