Mr. Smith's carbine

[Eric Johanen]

Had my repro Smith carbine on the range yesterday. Have not had it out for around 5 years and it was time to put some rounds through it. 20 cartridges with old loads using the Lyman 515139 bullet: 515 dia. and 350 grains of pure lead, sized to .515 and lubed with SPG. 40 grains of GOEX 2 fg. 23 cartridges freshly loaded with the same bullet and 40 grains of Swiss 2 fg. only lubed with DGL. The casings had been used many times and were ready for the last round-up. Shoot & See target at 50 yards shot from the bench to see where he sights were and test for accuracy. First 4 shots landed in a horizontal line at 9:30 and I made a slight sight adjustment to the right. While not perfectly centered it was good enough for government work. The older rounds impacted high with a 6 O'clock hold on the black. Inside 8, 9 and 10 rings. Called the 7 at 6:30 and dropped the 9 @3 and 10@ 5:30 from poor sight alignment. Loading and extraction were very easy and just a bit of felt recoil. The 23 rounds of Swiss shot a bit higher landing in the 7 and 8 ring with several just off in the white at11 to 12 O'clock. Pulled the 6 @ 11 and sight picture mistakes for the others in the white. Recoil was heavy and the caps were blown but the hammer never moved off the cone. I would not recommend a heavier charge using Swiss powder. I've included a photo of the old casings with both the GOEX and Swiss powders and you can see the larger expansion ring on the casings. About twice as much. I did not have any ruptures but would not push it any farther. Also gas blow back was noticeably heavier. I need to test it with the Rapine conical copy of the original Smith bullet next time out. As with all of these CW guns always use eye protection as they do blow back some gas and bits. Very enjoyable outing and the carbine is really fun to shoot and pretty accurate.
       

[mherth]

Had my repro Smith carbine on the range yesterday. Have not had it out for around 5 years and it was time to put some rounds through it. 20 cartridges with old loads using the Lyman 515139 bullet: 515 dia. and 350 grains of pure lead, sized to .515 and lubed with SPG. 40 grains of GOEX 2 fg. 23 cartridges freshly loaded with the same bullet and 40 grains of Swiss 2 fg. only lubed with DGL. The casings had been used many times and were ready for the last round-up. Shoot & See target at 50 yards shot from the bench to see where he sights were and test for accuracy. First 4 shots landed in a horizontal line at 9:30 and I made a slight sight adjustment to the right. While not perfectly centered it was good enough for government work. The older rounds impacted high with a 6 O'clock hold on the black. Inside 8, 9 and 10 rings. Called the 7 at 6:30 and dropped the 9 @3 and 10@ 5:30 from poor sight alignment. Loading and extraction were very easy and just a bit of felt recoil. The 23 rounds of Swiss shot a bit higher landing in the 7 and 8 ring with several just off in the white at11 to 12 O'clock. Pulled the 6 @ 11 and sight picture mistakes for the others in the white. Recoil was heavy and the caps were blown but the hammer never moved off the cone. I would not recommend a heavier charge using Swiss powder. I've included a photo of the old casings with both the GOEX and Swiss powders and you can see the larger expansion ring on the casings. About twice as much. I did not have any ruptures but would not push it any farther. Also gas blow back was noticeably heavier. I need to test it with the Rapine conical copy of the original Smith bullet next time out. As with all of these CW guns always use eye protection as they do blow back some gas and bits. Very enjoyable outing and the carbine is really fun to shoot and pretty accurate.

That’s really interesting. I saw a reproduction Smith at Fort Phil Kearny a year or so ago and wondered what the troops thought of it. What do you think the effective range was for these? And did they hold up well under use?

[Eric Johanen]

Several of the CW carbines like the Spencer, Sharps and Smith have sight leaves that are marked up to rather optimistic distances. Others like the Burnside and Gallager have 3 sight settings: folded down for 50/100 yards, flipped up for 300 and 500 yards. Probably out to 150 for a man sized target. From 200 to 350 for a man on horse back, highest setting for massed formations or fortified positions where massed fire was used. Back when I was participating in NSSA events the longest practical distances shot was 100 yards. I really should test these carbines at 200 and see how accurate they can be.

[mherth]

Something I’ve always been curious about is how various weapons functioned under battlefield conditions and how effective they were considered by the troops using them. I see very little written about that. The pre-self-contained cartriidge weapons in our Civil War intrigue me, and before that, especially the Hall carbine/rifle which seemed to me to me more awkward than a muzzle loader.

[Eric Johanen]

Externally primed cartridges like the Smith, Burnside, Gallager and others did not have a extractor system and cartridges had to be removed from the chamber by hand. They were slow compared to self contained systems like the Henry and the Spencer. They were much faster than the muzzle loading muskets and carbines used the CW. I have a repro Smith, Gallager and 63 model Sharps. Just closed on the purchase of a very nice Burnside and am getting the bullet mold and cartridge cases ordered. Should be fun to shoot and test.