It was the first military breechloader and first percussion firearm adopted for general issue by any country. It was the first military rifle that featured truly interchangeable parts manufactured entirely by machine tools at both government and private armories. Patented by John Hancock Hall of Maine in 1811, Hall’s flintlock and percussion rifles and percussion carbines soldiered on successfully for decades, at least until the end of the Civil War. And by chance, the Hall was also to be the center of one of the great “surplus arms” scandals of the period. In short, the Hall story is simply remarkable.

Apparently, like a Samuel Colt, a Charles Newton or an Arthur Savage, John Hall invented his successful breechloader without having any prior gunmaking experience. Persistence was his forte. After obtaining his patent in 1811, he tapped into his own bank account, his inheritance, his wife’s family finances and those of his friends for the next eight years just to keep his invention alive, hopefully until the government would grant him a sizable military contract.

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