| Smith Carbine | |
|---|---|
 Smith Carbine | |
| Type | Carbine |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| Used by | United States, Argentina |
| Wars | American Civil War Argentine Civil Wars |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Gilbert Smith |
| Designed | 1857 |
| Manufacturer | Massachusetts Arms Company |
| Unit cost | $35 (1859), $32,5 (1861)[1] |
| No. built | 30,062 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) |
| Length | 39.5 in (1,000 mm) |
| Barrel length | 21.6 in (550 mm) |
| Caliber | .50 |
| Action | Break-action |
| Sights | Blade (front); Block and single Leaf sight (rear) |
The Smith Carbine was a .50 caliber breech-loading black powder percussion rifle patented by Gilbert Smith on June 23, 1857 and successfully completed the military trials of the late 1850s. It was used by various cavalry units during the American Civil War.
The Smith Carbine was unique in that it broke apart in the middle for loading and it used rubber and paper/brass foil cartridges which sealed the gases in the breech. The downside was that these rubber cartridges were sometimes difficult to remove from a hot breech.[2]
The carbines were built by Massachusetts Arms Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; the American Machine Works in Springfield, Massachusetts; or the American Arms Company in Chicopee Falls. The name of the distributor for the manufacturer, Poultney & Trimble of Baltimore, Maryland, is often stamped on the carbine's receivers.[3][4]
- ^ Purchase of arms, House Documents, 1861, P. 180.
- ^ Field, Ron; Smith, Robin (2005). Uniforms of the Civil War: An Illustrated Guide for Historians, Collectors, and Reenactors. Globe Pequot Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-59228-525-9.
- ^ James, Garry (October 2010). "The Hated Smith Carbine" Archived 2012-07-23 at the Wayback Machine. Guns & Ammo.
- ^ Graf, John F. (2009). Standard Catalog of Civil War Firearms. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4402-2696-0.