America’s First Breechloader — The Hall 1819 Rifle.Invented in 1811, and produced in the

America’s First Breechloader — The Hall 1819 Rifle.Invented in 1811, and produced in the 1820’s and 1830’s, The Hall Rifle was the first American breechloading firearm, and the first to be used extensively by any military.  It also has the distinction of being the first rifle with interchangeble parts.  It utilized an upward pivoting system, in which the entire breech would pivot up, allowing the user to loading powder and ball into the chamber. At the time muzzleloading rifles were slow to reload compared to smoothbore muskets, since powder and ball had to be crammed against the rifling.  A breechloading design allowed the speed of a musket with the accuracy of a rifle.Manufactured at Harpers Ferry, they were initialy .52 caliber flintlocks.  Later they would be produced as percussion rifles in .69 caliber.  Many older flintlocks would be converted into percussion rifles.  While superior to muskets, the Hall Rifle was more expensive.  Thus smoothbore muskets would reign supreme on the battlefield until the invention of the minie ball.  23,000 - 24,000 would be produced. -- source link

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