In his day, Gen. Benjamin S. Roberts was better known as a U.S. Army combat commander than as a firearms inventor. Yet as an inventor he saw commercial success with his idea for converting muzzle-loading muskets into efficient breechloaders. This is the story of his efforts, beginning in 1859, to develop the ultimate breechloader - efforts that would lead to his successful design in 1866. He also achieved success with his patented design for cartridges. This book provides collectors and arms historians with extensive new information on the production and international use of the Roberts breechloader and its cartridges. "I highly recommend Roberts Breechloading Firearms as a significant work on a little-known weapons system of the Civil War and post-war years. This book is well researched, well written and well illustrated, and can be appreciated by those who enjoy reading about the history and development of American weaponry...The author is a recognized authority on the development of American firearms during the mid-19th Century, having researched and written several important books and numerous articles." Roy Marcot, Arms Historian and author of Spencer Repeating Firearms and Remington: America's Oldest Gunmaker "This new monograph from Ed Hull is a masterful description....Ed Hull is known for his painstaking and extensive research in obscure and hard to find sources to piece together the story of various small arms systems that have passed into history. He has certainly accomplished it again with Robert's Breechloading Firearms." Joe Poyer, author of The American Krag Rifle and Carbine and The .45-70 Springfield "Prominent and provably diligent researcher Edward Hull has once again written a good book...(on) breechloading cartridge arms. Author Hull has been researching this topic for over 10 years and...his research is first rate and his documentation rock solid. This book is very well footnoted and will probably be considered the final word on Benjamin Roberts and his inventions. It would make for a wonderful addition to the library of the arms collector...." Frank Graves, Arms Heritage magazine "Drawing on a variety of historical sources, Hull weaves a compelling history of the process and fully documents the developmental sequencing of General Roberts' design...The end result has been the creation of a truly excellent monograph about the inventor, his work and the structural brilliance of his design. "Through clearly written technical descriptions of the various designs...and most especially by the incorporation of illusgrations showing their salient features, collectors are well served b Hull's work. As such it must be recommended to anyone interested in the American firearms industry of the technical development of arms in general." Herb Houze, Man-At-Arms magazine

Ambrose Everett Burnside made his mark in history as a famous battlefield commander during the American Civil War. Today, collectors of antique firearms better remember him for the handy cavalry carbine that he invented and had manufactured, a carbine that played a large part in arming Federal cavalrymen during that war. Getting the first 300 of those carbines fabricated drove Burnside into bankruptcy in 1857, and he then changed careers. The demand for good arms with the coming of the war quickly changed penury to profit: nearly 59,000 of the carbines of his design were ultimately produced, garnering over $2 million dollars for the two companies which made them. This book is the story of the design and production of the five different variations of the Burnside carbine, and the cartridges, tools and accouterments furnished with them. "Noted arms historian Ed Hull has produced his latest 'Collector's Guide to Firearms, ' and it is a most compelling and complete study of Civil War era Burnside Carbines and Rifles. This author has studied these unique breechloading firearms for many decades now, and this 173-page book covers all prototypes and production models, related Burnside ammunition and associated accoutrements. Students and collectors of Civil War weaponry will appreciate how complete and reliable this work is." Roy Marcot, author of "Spencer repeating Firearms" "Once again, longtime firearms student and writer Edward Hull has written a fine book that expands upon the one he originally wrote in 1986 on the same subject...It would make for a wonderful addition to the library of the arms collector...." Frank Graves, ARMS HERITAGE MAGAZINE

A history of breechloading cartridge pistols and revolvers used by the British services from 1867 through 1967.

A thoroughly researched account of weapons innovation and industrialization in South Carolina during the Civil War and the man who made it happen. A year after seceding from the Union, South Carolina and the Confederate States government faced the daunting challenge of equipping soldiers with weapons, ammunition, and other military implements during the American Civil War. In The Best Gun in the World, Robert S. Seigler explains how South Carolina created its own armory and then enlisted the help of a weapons technology inventor to meet the demand. Seigler mined state and federal factory records, national and state archives, and US patents for detailed information on weapons production, the salaries and status of free and enslaved employees, and other financial records to reveal an interesting, distinctive story of technological innovation and industrialization in South Carolina. George Woodward Morse, originally from New Hampshire, was a machinist and firearms innovator, who settled in Louisiana in the 1840s. He invented a reliable breechloading firearm in the mid-1850s to replace muzzleloaders that were ubiquitous throughout the world. Essential to the successful operation of any breechloader was its ammunition, and Morse perfected the first metallic, center-fire, pre-primed cartridge, his most notable contribution to the development of modern firearms. The US War Department tested Morse rifles and cartridges prior to the beginning of the Civil War and contracted with the inventor to produce the weapons at Harpers Ferry Armory. However, when the war began, Morse, a slave-holding plantation owner, determined that he could sell more of his guns in the South. The South Carolina State Military Works originally designed to cast cannon, produced Morse’s carbine and modified muskets, brass cartridges, cartridge boxes, and other military accoutrements. The armory ultimately produced only about 1,350 Morse firearms. For the next twenty years, Morse sought to regain his legacy as the inventor of the center-fire brass cartridges that are today standard ammunition for military and sporting firearms. “Does justice to one of the greatest stories in American firearms history. If George Woodward Morse had not sided with the Confederacy, his name might be as famous today as Colt or Winchester.” —Gordon L. Jones, Atlanta History Center “Excellent and well-researched.” —Patrick McCawley, South Carolina Department of Archives and History “For connoisseurs and scholars of military history (especially Civil War), history of technology, or Southern/South Carolina history, this is a must-read and reference volume pertaining to a previously little-known aspect of the nineteenth century that had a far-reaching impact in the manner wars would be fought by soldiers decades later.” —Barry L. Stiefel, College of Charleston

The firearms manufactured on the patents of Henry Oliver Peabody spanned 18 general types or models and totaled over 853,000 arms. In the 1870s the armory of the manufacturer, the Providence Tool Co., was one of the largest in the world. Peabody arms were used by 15 foreign countries and three U.S. states, and saw service in five different foreign wars. Yet the breadth of this history has been little recognized, primarily because the time span of manufacture was only 15 years, and the Providence Tool Co. went bankrupt in 1882, with most of its records lost. This study now provides the historian and arms collector with a more comprehensive history and a better understanding of Henry Peabody's contribution to the American armaments industry.Contained herein are descriptions and histories of all of the Peabody military and sporting arms: the side-hammer rifles and carbines; the muskets converted to breechloading; the Peabody-Martini rifles and carbines, the European made Peabody-Martini copies. Also included are the bayonets for the above military arms. Further, a comprehensive history of the Providence Tool Co. is included, with the arms they produced during the American Civil War: Springfield Model 1861 rifle muskets and Light Cavalry (Model 1860) sabers."Fantastic - will be the world standard for years to come." Michael Carrick, Arms Heritage Magazine