#693-694 The Rise of Smith and Wesson

 Fun Fact #693

The Needler

While forgotten today, The Needle Gun is where the base of a cartridge is pierced by a needle in place of a firing pin, which ignites the primer setting off the round. While known for wearing down faster than other systems, they were reliable until that point making the later (1857) Chassepot rifle famous for its use of them. As such they became a common weapon in eastern Europe to the point they were often referred to as “Chassepots” or “Needlers” until their maintenance issues finally pushed them out of service in WW1. Sadly most needlers were destroyed either for parts, or lost afterwards leaving few examples left (only 1 is on display in the world, currently out in Cody, Wyoming’s Firearms Museum).

Also for those of you who love Halo Games, this obscure detail from WW1 inspired the Sci-fi Needler that you know and love. For those of you who are afraid of needles however, I apologize for contributing to the problem (particularly since this makes the Needle issue long range).

As Always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day.

Chassepot Needle Gun with its Waxpaper Cartridge. This cartridge would burn up and be expelled out the front of the gun, meaning no removal of the old shell before reloading was necessary. 

Fun Fact #694

A Volcanic start.
On May 26th, 1847, Daniel B. Wesson married Cynthia Hawes against her father’s wishes because he was “A mere gunsmith” with no future since he was only an apprentice at that time. 6 Years later you might have agreed with him since he was still making target rifles as an apprentice, when in walked the most unlikely Duo. Horace Smith –A former member of the US Armoury service credited with inventing the Exploding Bullet (artillery Shell)-- and Courdlant Palmer –The man who profited from (his brother) William Palmer’s invention of the metallic Cartridge. Most interestingly, however, was the fact that they were looking specifically for Daniel Wesson.

You see they had heard of him and more importantly had seen his attempt to illegally improve upon the Jennings rifle before his Master shut it down. Not only had they heard of it, but Cortlandt thought it was promising enough to buy the patent to the Jennings rifle and were now offering to pay for him to continue his work till he either made a functional improvement, or exceeded 5 years. Wesson took them up on their offer and so began the impactful career of “Volcanic Firearms.” 

Fun Fact #695

Long Range Needles

Now with his new Master Horace Smith, Daniel Wesson continued his apprenticeship. Under funding from Courtlandt Palmer they had one goal: To Improve upon the Jennings rifle to make the world’s first truly reliable repeating Rifle. 

To aid in their goal Smith and Wesson looked at the patents they had access to. The first thing they decided they needed was a reliable cartridge since the whole firearm would live or die by its capability. They looked to what they had at the time (Walter Hunt’s Rocket balls) and decided to ditch most of the wax paper casing to be replaced by William Palmer's metallical casing with only a wax paper base. This allowed the cartridges to have a more uniform study shape to design around, and yet retained the ability to use the more reliable Needle Gun system. Released in 1854 they named this new round: The Volcanic Cartridge.