Richmond rifle
| Richmond rifle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Rifled musket |
| Place of origin | Confederate States |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Confederate States |
| Wars | American Civil War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1861 |
| Manufacturer | Richmond Armory |
| Produced | 1861–1865 |
| No. built | 31,000 rifles 5,400 carbines 1,350 short rifles |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 56 inches (1.4 m) |
| Barrel length | 40 inches (1.0 m) |
|
|
|
| Cartridge | .58 minie ball |
| Caliber | 0.58 |
| Action | percussion lock |
| Rate of fire | 2–3 per minute |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,000–1,200 feet per second |
| Effective firing range | 0–600 yards |
| Feed system | muzzle |
The Richmond rifle was a rifled musket produced by the Richmond Armory in Richmond, Virginia, for use by the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
At the start of the American Civil War, the Confederacy suffered from a lack of resources with the capability to produce small arms weapons. Virginia appropriated funds to modernize the Old State Armory building in Richmond with arms-making machinery manufactured in England; but the confrontation at Fort Sumter initiated the Union blockade which prevented delivery of the machinery. In 1861, the Confederacy captured the Union-held town of Harper's Ferry in western Virginia, and salvaged the machinery used to manufacture Springfield Model 1855 muskets. Confederate troops captured 33,993 black walnut with the machinery. The machinery and stocks were shipped on the Winchester and Potomac Railroad to Winchester, Virginia, where they were transferred by wagons over the Valley Pike to be reloaded onto the Manassas Gap Railroad at Strasburg, Virginia for delivery to Richmond. The rifling machinery was transferred to the Fayetteville Arsenal.
The Old State Armory building with Harpers Ferry Machinery was transferred to Confederate States control in June 1861. Production began in October 1861 retaining the general form of the Model 1855, but without the Maynard tape primer mechanism and patch box. The lock plate milling machine was modified in March 1862 to make manual capping easier by lowering the characteristic tape primer hump. Forged iron butt plates were replaced by brass butt plates concurrently with the lock modification. Most Confederate rifles also differed from the Union rifles they were based on with a different rear sight and brass nosecap.
...
Wikipedia