Just finished watching "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" with Clint Eastwood. As the scenario is during the US civil war, I noticed the main characters had cartriges on their belts for their New armys. Is this possible, as I thought they were still using Cap and Ball ...........but it is Hollywood..ya I know.
Civil war ammo
- Thread starter Ed Smurf
- Start date
Hollywood.
Colt's production, so far as I know, was cap-and-ball during the Civil War. It tried converting some of those a couple of years after the war ended, but making new breech-loaders came quite a bit after the war's end.
There was .44 Henry rimfire by the millions during the war, of course, and I guess it's possible that an officer or trooper might've got a .44 Colt specially modified by a canny gunsmith to handle them, but it's probably simpler just to focus on Clint's cigar-growing jawline and 300-yard shooting and remember that Sergio Leone was a film-maker, not an historian.
Colt's production, so far as I know, was cap-and-ball during the Civil War. It tried converting some of those a couple of years after the war ended, but making new breech-loaders came quite a bit after the war's end.
There was .44 Henry rimfire by the millions during the war, of course, and I guess it's possible that an officer or trooper might've got a .44 Colt specially modified by a canny gunsmith to handle them, but it's probably simpler just to focus on Clint's cigar-growing jawline and 300-yard shooting and remember that Sergio Leone was a film-maker, not an historian.
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According to my googling The first cartridge revolvers were produced around 1856 by Smith & Wesson.
Didnt the war end in 1865?
Didnt the war end in 1865?
according to this they were both cap and ball and cartridge
http://spaghettiwesterns.1g.fi/guns.htm
okay had to add the link to the ending shootout scene of the movie you can clearly see the cap and ball Remington with cartridges
on his belt and no caps on the revolver at 5:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP9cfQx2OZY
http://spaghettiwesterns.1g.fi/guns.htm
okay had to add the link to the ending shootout scene of the movie you can clearly see the cap and ball Remington with cartridges
on his belt and no caps on the revolver at 5:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP9cfQx2OZY
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For making the movie (and others), they used cartridge revolvers when the actors needed to be filmed shooting, because of much safer cartridge blanks; then switched to the historically correct shots of the cap and ball revolver for all other shooting.
From what I understand, there were no big bore cartridge revolvers until post-war, and then usually rimfire.
From what I understand, there were no big bore cartridge revolvers until post-war, and then usually rimfire.
Smith & Wesson acquired Rollin White’s patent of April 3, patent number 12,648.
The patent was for a bored through cylinder, suitable for cartridges, effectively blocking what we now consider a modern cartridge. White protected his patents with lawsuits which resulted in half measures such as the 1868 Colt Thuer Conversion, until the White patents ran out.
The Thuer cartridge loaded from the front of the cylinder
The patent was for a bored through cylinder, suitable for cartridges, effectively blocking what we now consider a modern cartridge. White protected his patents with lawsuits which resulted in half measures such as the 1868 Colt Thuer Conversion, until the White patents ran out.
The Thuer cartridge loaded from the front of the cylinder
