The .58- and .50- Caliber Rifles & Carbines of the Springfield Armory 1865-1872

Richard A. Hosmer 275 pages, illustrated, Paperback. Published by North Cape Publications, "For Collectors Only" Series. 2006. In the immediate post-Civil War years, the U.S. Army and Navy were faced not only with the need to switch to breechloading rifles and carbines firing self-contained metallic cartridges, but to dispose of the suddenly obsolete muzzeloading, percussion rifles and carbines in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. The Ordnance Department solved both problems by using the obsolete rifle muskets to build new cartridge-firing breechloaders. This book describes the .58 and .50 caliber rifles and carbines which were developed at the Springfield Armory between 1865 & 1872 and which led ultimately to the selection of the famed Alllin "Trapdoor" breechloading system. Models of 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870 & 1871 and others, are described in detail.