The first Rifle Muskets: Chambers and Sabots and Pillars (oh my!) 

I was an artillery cannoneer myself in OEF. My wife finds this stuff so boring, but I can spend hours watching people talk about historical weapons technology. Tanks, howitzers, and rifles. I love the material science, mechanical engineering, and chemistry of it all. Spiral tubes and spinny boys!

We cannot forget about other ideas for an easy-loading rifle - when French experimented with their chambers and pillars the British adopted "Brunswick Rifle" with "belted" bullet, the same concept was adopted by Russians as "short rifle for marksman battalions model 1843", so called "short rifle from Liege"("Литтихский штуцер") and widely used during the Crimean War. Of course, the idea of a "bullet with ears" turned out to be more difficult to load than French pillar rifles. Ultimately, however, throughout Europe it was still a specialized weapon for light infantry and sometimes NCO's, therefore they are forgotten. And the funniest thing that the French, inventors of Minie bullet, adopted they themselves last in Europe, in 1860s... Greetings from Poland!

So I am currently looking into buying a French model 1822 light infantry musket and when reading about it. They say that those guns were built so well that whenever the hollow based projectiles came out. They would bore the guns out from 68 caliber to 70 caliber and rifle them Pretty cool stuff

I love your presentations. Always interesting, considered and never to dry. There is always a kernel of humour and fun. Keep them coming.

I’ve got an 1861 Springfield rifle musket that I do demonstrations for 8th graders learning about the civil war. As a former history teacher now middle school principal I enjoy firearms from this era. When the 8th grade history class at my school is learning about the civil war I will arrange a field trip to my property to demonstrate my 1861 Springfield to the students and allow the students to load and shoot under supervision.

I have read the books, but the video is excellent! Thank you.

Fascinating- thank you Brett.

Thank you! My absolute favorite topic in gun history

As you answer many of my questions with each new video, a dozen more pop up and I eagerly await the next installment. Thank you, Brett.

Fascinating historical information. Who knew that the path was so complex

Thank you very much Brett. I know all these things but it was good to see them so well presented. You will get the hang of pronouncing a civilised language eventually. If you want to do something more I would suggest the Wilde system with its water dropper. I have a file I put together on it if you want it sent on to you. Even better the surviving first hand sources will be in German. Well Swiss and Bavarian German anyway.

A great history lesson. Thank you. I have a desire for more information on the Lindner Carbine. I have Edward Hull’s book on the “Lindner Carbines and Rifles”, but there is no mention of the cartridge construction.

When you talk about the American developments, the Hall wasn’t the only breechloader rifle adopted by the American military. The US Navy adopted the Jenks “mule ear” carbine! .52 caliber, like the Hall

Thank you for this perfect video, greetings from austria.

Great as always! Thank you!

Well done as always Brett, very interesting......

Another great video.

Really interesting stuff, thank you!

Super informative, thanks.

Once again I thank you Brett for another fascinating and informative lecture, I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. Your cutaway loading and firing sequence animations are also very good and easy to understand! ✌️🙂

As a reenactor I love these nerdy presentation. They are very informative. 👍😊

You might have heard the story before, you might have read it before, but if you listen to Brett telling it it's like a whole new story. Completely fascinating and definitely more thrilling than any "thriller". To cite Balázs: I love it, I love it!

fantastic discussion.

Excellent video with outstanding research into the topic. I always wondered how the mini ball was figured out.

Very Nice - Thanks 👍

Thank you.

you what, mate!?!?!?!?!? you dare lay hands on our beloved baker rifle of talavera fame ? whoa, I´m gonna tell that to Rob, brace for impact, mate !!!!🤣

You know I was worried subscribing this was going to be another flag waving usa usa channel. But instead I'm happily surprised to find a knowledgeable and seemingly impartial fellow in love with the subject and very widened to it and able to expediently communicate all his accumulated learning in a very enjoyable fashion Thoroughly engaging, entertaining and insightful. 10/10

The kingdom of two Sicilies adopted a pillar-breech rifle in 1848 but changed to a chamber design a year later. I don’t know why but I assume they learned just how hard a pillar-breech barrel is to keep clean...

Thanks Brett, that was informative and enjoyable. I would also like to see more of Rob's Baker Rifle, if he can tear himself away form the temptations of all those breech loading arms.

The Hall may not have been the best by the 1840s, but it's still #1 in my heart

Wonderful stuff! I really appreciate that someone is able to dive into the details and intermediate developments between say a flintlock smoothbore and percussion cap rifled musket. I must say I am quite interested in reading or hearing a bit about the development of the Paixhans shell firing gun. From my reading of naval history I always knew him as the guy who adapted shells previously fired indirectly (low velocity curving trajectories) to direct fire (high velocity flat trajectory) as in the manner of cannons firing solid shot. I always reckoned there was a bit more to the story. Could you direct me to the sources you consulted on Paixhans? Hell, might be worth making a brief video on interesting primary and secondary sources for interested viewers.

What a great and informative video. Was that Glenmorangie in that glass ? :)

That was very informative and interesting. Thank you! What are the pistols on your mantle? Colt 1903 pocket hammerless?

I have a carbine version of the 1849 rifle. Its a smooth bore of around .665 caliber. The gun measures 29 and 3/4 inches OAL with a 14 and 1/2 inch barrel. I would love to learn more about this gun, if you have any more information. I have heard it referred to as the Austrian M1842 Percussion conversion saddle ring carbine.

Did you ever notice that the ordnance departments of various militaries are the first to object to and dismiss any advancements in technology?

Not a rifle musket, but the Model 1841 "Mississippi" rifle originally used a patched round ball.

I am totally surprised that the US Army didn't use a modernized Hall chamber rifle firing a Burton style cartridge. Loading would be faster and allow reloading in the prone position

Mahlzeit Brett Little hint: usually, a lone e at the end of a french word is not pronounced until it has some accent sign like "aigu" (é), grave (à, è, ù), circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û) and a few others. They call it the "e muet" or "silent e". Sometimes - as in the instance of the word "muet" for example, The "e" has to be supported by another letter behind it that stays silent in order for the "e" itself to become vocal - like "mue(t)" In other words: stick with german - or try italian, or spanish - or croatian! You can also go with serbian, but then you need to learn another alphabet 😄 Polish, cech, slovak I would avoid as they not only use "r"s as vowels as is typical in all slavic languages, but even "v" - russian has similar issues with a weird alphabet on top of it and don't even try to read hungarian...😵‍💫

It's slightly misleading to say that there was no more development of the muzzleloader. More accurately, there was no more /military/ development of the muzzleloader. Although in many ways, the modern in-line muzzleloader - in spite of its breechloader-derived action, primer ignition, modern materials, etc. - is a regression to these early days of muzzleloading rifles. Most bullet styles engrave the rifling on loading, dramatically slowing the process. And there are no commercially-available paper cartridges for in-lines, with their pre-measured powder charge for consistency. The closest thing would be pellets in a speedloader, which is clunky and solely optimized for sabot shooting. Actually, now that I think about it, an interesting topic to research would be how we got from the absolute pinnacle of the muzzleloading rifle in the 1860s to the horrible thing that is a modern in-line muzzleloader.

Hey Brett @paper cartridges what I want to ask is off topic from this video but I recently purchased a pedersoli witworth rifle and was searching for ammunition for it and came across your website. Your website however states that you're off for deployment and that you'll be back in the summer of 2024, this year basically... Am I still able to purchase ammo from you and will I not get it until sometime in the summer if I place my order now. Also if you could guide me on some accessories that would be useful for this rifle I would appreciate that. Edit: I just saw the Christmas channel update and now I know for sure what's going on my two questions in regards to the ammunition and accessories for the rifle still stand though. Thank you for your service stay safe and God bless. Thanks Ray

👍👍

Do period sources indicate what woods were used for the Poncharra sabot?

a great day to drink scotch and talk about rifle muskets..... that's any day. all the days.

I too, am sick of hearing of these metallic cartridges! Made for simpletons with no motor skills.

Pls get a better mic

What do you hate about French and firearm beside the fact we created the WESTERN CHRISTIAN NATION we created the well working black powder, the one used in you muskets even today. And the artillery that goes with. And later on we created smockless powder, the one used by every one every nations for every firearm today. We are the giants, are you jealous ?