Whitworth rifle

Whitworth rifle
Type	Muzzle-loading rifle
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
Used by	United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand Confederate States of America
Wars	American Civil War, Australian frontier wars, New Zealand wars
Production history
Designer	Joseph Whitworth
Designed	1854–1857
Manufacturer	Whitworth Rifle Company
Produced	1857–1865
No. built	13,400
Specifications
Length	49 in (1,200 mm)
Barrel length	33 in (840 mm)
Calibre	0.451 in (11.5 mm)
Action	Percussion lock
Rate of fire	2–3 rounds per minute
Effective firing range	800 to 1,000 yd (730 to 910 m)
Maximum firing range	1,500 yd (1,400 m)
Feed system	Muzzle-loaded
Sights	Classic iron sights, Scope

The Whitworth rifle was an English-made percussion rifle used in the latter half of the 19th century. A single-shot muzzleloader with excellent long-range accuracy for its era, especially when used with a telescopic sight, the Whitworth rifle was widely regarded as the world's first sniper rifle.^[1]

The Whitworth rifle saw extensive use with the Confederate sharpshooters in the American Civil War, claiming the lives of several Union generals, including Major General John Sedgwick, one of the highest-ranking Union officers killed during the Civil War, shot on 9 May 1864, at Spotsylvania. In October 2017, a surviving example of a Confederate Whitworth rifle was auctioned with a hammer price of $161,000.^[2]

The Whitworth rifle was considered to be the very best rifle of its time in terms of accuracy, when compared to other British, French, American rifles, or those produced elsewhere.^[3]