Let's go to the UGCA gun show!

    Lots of people bring old guns or related items to our show for free appraisals or to sell.  Maybe you want to do this at the next show.
If you do not bring a gun, maybe you can leave with one.
We usually give away a great door prize. In this case it was a nice high quality replica of the famous Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver.

It's A Daisy!

      "Mac" had this amazing collection of guns that some of us remember from our childhood, and some are still being played with (safely with proper parental instruction and supervision) by kids today.

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The Gardner Rapid Fire Gun, Improved Model 1877, caliber .45-70
Ray brought a gun most of us had never heard of before, let alone seen one This was invented by William Gardner of Toledo, Ohio in 1874. Using the gravity feed system it will fire 350-400 rounds per minute our of two barrels. It functions very much like a two cylinder engine, using a crank shaft and pistons, functioning as bolts. It was also capable f continuous fire. Only 21 of these weapons were manufactured in the United States, by Pratt & Whitney. The U.S. Navy tested the gun in 1879 with good reports, but the gun was never adopted. The patent was taken to England where the British Navy tested the gun with good results and it was adopted in 1881, with the British Army following. The piece saw service in the Sudan Wars, the Burma campaign in 1885, and with the Navy in the Upper Nile in 1884 and 1885, and in the British campaigns in Africa. This attracted a big crowd, and guys love to peek at the inside of the gun to see how it operates.

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Nothin' Could be Finer- Pistols & Rifles Carolina Style (2nd Place Award Winner)
Each region of the country developed its own artistic styles and mechanical preferences in guns that were handmade to individual order, and some collectors specialize in those of a particular region. It takes quite a bit of study and experience to track down the origins of these guns. However, this is no different than those who collect guns that were mass produced in Ilion, New York, New Haven or Hartford, Connecticut, or Springfield, Massachusetts. Each collector finds something that appeals to them and there is no "right" or "wrong" field to specialize in.

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U.S. & U.K. Military Target Rifles
    Terry not only collects these, but enjoys using them in competition. Several of the people who compete in military rifle matches also were at his display, including these three young ladies with their custom AR-15 semi automatic "assault rifles". Yes, they do know how to shoot them, extremely well. No, they have not hurt anyone with them, despite the lies that some of gun grabbing extremists would like you to believe. Shooting sports are among the safest in the entire country, at the scholastic, collegiate, and open levels.

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Ferguson Flintlock Breech Loading Rifle
    Terry had this custom made for his collection, an exact replica of the earliest successful breechloading military rifles, circa 1776. In most respects this was a fairly conventional flintlock rifle of the period except for the breechloading mechanism. Ferguson designed a breech with a vertical hole about 1 inch in diameter, and a threaded plug that had the trigger guard attached as a lever or crank to turn it open or shut. Because the pitch of the breech screw threads was very rapid, it only takes about two turns to completely raise or lower the breech screw. When opened, the soldier would place a ball into the exposed breech of the barrel, and then fill the chamber with powder and close the breech screw. The pan was primed, the hammer cocked and the rifle was ready to fire. Since the ball did not have to be rammed down the barrel, it could be large enough to ensure a good fit into the rifling, and not need any sort of a patch. Ferguson served as an officer in the British Army, and was killed during the American Revolution. Only a very few (something like 3) of his original rifles are known to exist, one of which was stolen from a museum in the 1990s. Thus, the only way for most collectors to ever own an example of this historic type of gun is to own a replica like this one.

[We apologize but the digital images for this item were not readable]

.58 Caliber Springfields
    John showed us the wide variety or U.S. military arms adopted in .58 caliber between 1855 and 1865. These are very important arms, not just as the main items used in the eh Civil War, but as key steps in bridging the technology gap between the old smoothbore musket and the breechloading rifle, all in a very short time period.

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Left-: the M1855 Rifle musket with Maynard Tape Primer and a M1861 rifle musket, essentially the same but without the Maynard primer.
Right- Model 1863 Type I (top) and M1863 Type 2 (bottom), with improved location of hammers and nipples, and different band designs.

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Left- At the top, a M1863 Lindsay "Double Musket" that used two loads in the barrel, with two hammers. By pulling the trigger the first hammer would fore the forward charge, then when pulled again, the second hammer would fire the remaining charge. An innovative approach to increasing firepower, but not successful when tried in combat. Lower rifle is a Model 1865 .58 caliber "First Allin" conversion of a M1861 musket to a breechloader using a copper case .58 rimfire cartridge. Below them is a Model 1855 Pistol Carbine, which could be used as a pistol while on horseback, or after adding the detachable shoulder stock, as a carbine when fighting on foot.
Right- A better few of the M1855 Pistol Carbine.

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Left- .58 caliber ammunition, a "paper cartridge" and a .58 caliber Minie ball recovered from a Civil War battlefield, and the .58 rimfire cartridge used in the M1865 breech loading conversions.
Right- Tools used with .58 caliber Springfields

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Two views of the Maynard tape primer system, which worked much like a roll of caps in a cap gun. Each time the hammer was cocked the roll of caps was advanced so that the next would be over the nipple, ready to fire. Example at left is complete, showing the feed fingers, while the one at the right had the guts removed when the gun wad overhauled at the end of the Civil War and the Maynard primer system no longer kept in service.

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Comparison of the M1855 on the left and the M1861 on the right, showing the much less complicated rear sight and lock without the Maynard system, changes made to speed production to meet the needs of the Civil War.

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Model 1863 lock showing difference from M1861, and at right the Type I bands held in place only by clamping screws, and the Type 2 bands held in place with a band spring.

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Left- the breech of the M1863 Lindsay Double musket showing the two nipples and single barrel. (note: right hammer is missing on this example).
Right- M1865 "First Allin" conversion to .58 rimfire breech loading rifle.