Confederate Morse Carbine: Centerfire Cartridges Ahead of Their Time
531,051
Published 2017-10-23
After positive trials by the Army and Navy, Morse received a contract to make first complete guns and then a royalty contract for the conversion of existing muskets to his system. Work began at the Harper’s Ferry Arsenal, but money ran out with only 60 conversion completed. When the Civil War broke out, Morse chose to side with the Confederacy, and the tooling for his conversions was taken from the captured Armory to be put to use. He initially set up in Nashville, but the city fell to the Union in 1862, and he was forced to relocate to Atlanta and the Greenville South Carolina. It was in Greenville that Morse was finally able to manufacture guns in quantity, and he built approximately a thousand brass-framed single shot cartridge carbines for the South Carolina state militia.
Unfortunately for the Confederacy, the infrastructure to supply a modern type of cartridge ammunition really did not exist in the South, and this crippled any chance of Morse’s carbines becoming a significant factor in the war. The best technology in the world is still of no use if ammunition cannot be provided!
This Morse carbine is of the third type, using a sliding latch on the breechblock to hold the action closed when firing. Two previous versions used different and less secure systems, but this third type was introduced around serial number 350 and would comprise the remaining 2/3rds of the production run.
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All Comments (21)
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Is anyone else amazed that Ian is so learned that he can produce a new video almost daily about a different gun?
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i love how crude and simple it looks. would love to own one
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What is even stranger than this innovation fading into obscurity is that Morse did not take it to Europe and tried to have it made there after the war. This rifle is far ahead of any rifles the Europeans had at the time.
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As some have already pointed out, this rifle was designed by George Washington Morse not Samuel Morse. It's an understandable slip and you got it correct in your comments. Morse's real innovation was his centerfire cartridge design that incorporated the anvil for igniting the priming compound that can be found in nearly all boxer primed ammunition today. In fact, the anvil did not come into widespread use until a couple of decades after the US civil war and then a British army officer with the last name Boxer was credited with inventing it and now his name is on Morse's cartridge ignition system.
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I have been to the place where the factory was in South Carolina. There is nothing left but a plaque now. They do have one at the Greenville civil war museum which is pretty cool to see in person.
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It's a shame (from an innovative standpoint) he was never able to produce these or the cartridges in large numbers.
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I own a Martini Henry manufactured in England in 1876! My favorite rifle. This one is even more ahead of its time. I'm truly amazed.
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That is a remarkably advanced carbine for 1860. Shame the story ended the way it did.
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From what I'm reading elsewhere this was actually developed by George Morse, Samuel Morse's nephew
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The question is, "Is there any cheapish modern brass that can be converted to fit?"
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Fascinating Ian! I wondered how potent an early cartridge like that would be: turns out it was pretty good!
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What a slick little carbine, certainly ahead of it's time. As Ian has mentioned before, so many times the success or failure of a gun design has nothing to do with the merits of the design but with timing and circumstance of it's introduction and the business acumen of the designer. With that said, turn that finger rest into a functioning lever to work the action and cock the hammer, add a tubular magazine....oh yeah..the Henry.
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I have to wonder if the thin stock was due to preference, or a material expedient. It occurs to me that you may be able to get that stock out of a regular flooring plank (not that Tennessee has a shortage of trees, but one would much rather use seasoned wood).
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Love to see A Uberti or Pieta reproduce some of these in a modern available centerfire cartridge.... Maybe 45 LC or .44-40. Nice gun for folks who like historical shooting (NS-SA) or reenactment... And would likely be handy as a farm or ranch gun.
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Every morning starts with a cup of coffee and the latest video from Forgotten Weapons. Excellent, as always!
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Only 1860’s Kids Will Remember Shooting These
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Cheese grits, smoked sausage, eggs , hot strong coffee and history lesson from Ian. Gonna be a good day in Lexington SC. Ya'll have a good one too. Shout out to all the vets out there. Thank you very much.
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Ian, or anyone who knows, I would like to pick your brain for a minute. Years ago I helped a fellow by cleaning up and sizing the cases of a sliding break action Carbine. I was told it was a German made cavalry Carbine that was sent to and used by the Confederate cavalry. It had brass cases with a small flash hole at the base. The base was rounded with an extraction grove. It was a large caliber and the short 16 inch or so barrel had micro grove type riflings. There were about 14 small lands if memory serves. I loaded it with FF I believe because of the center flash hole in the case head, it could have been FFF. The action used a large musket cap for ignition not a percussion cap. The lever action would push the barrel forward out of the breech and extracted the fired case from the chamber. The barrel would tilt down like a break action for reloading. If anyone knows what this civil war carbine was, I’d like to know because I would like to find one. This was 25 years ago or so and I don’t remember what it was. I thank you much.
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This would be a neat gun to be made as a reproduction in a caliber like .45 Schofield or .45 Colt
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That rifle is way ahead of it’s time! Pretty cool.
