peashooter85:The Ball Repeating Carbine,Invented by Albert Ball in 1864, the Ball Repeating Carbine
peashooter85:The Ball Repeating Carbine,Invented by Albert Ball in 1864, the Ball Repeating Carbine was one of the last government contract for arms during the American Civil War. The Ball Repeating carbine was similar to the Spencer Rifle in many respects. Like the Spencer, the Ball carbine was a repeating rifle which used self contained metallic cartridges and was a lever action. To load a cartridge from the magazine, the user worked the trigger guard like a lever. This loaded new cartridges and ejected spent casings. The hammer was a separate mechanism from the lever, so before each shot the user had to cock the hammer, which was also similar to the Spencer. Unlike the Spencer the Ball carbine featured an improved magazine. Whereas the Spencer had a magazine in the stock which was loaded from the butt, the Ball carbine featured a 7 round tubular magazine below the barrel which was directly loaded through the action. The Ball carbine was chambered for .50 rimfire.The Ball Carbine was manufactured by E.G. Lamson and Co. of Winchester, VT. 1,002 Ball carbines were produced and delivered to the US Army. Unfortunately the carbines were not delivered until May of 1865, the final month of the war. They would see little use. -- source link