GUNS Magazine Historical Guns

A rainy day in March 2008 found Duke on the black sand beaches of
Iwo Jima with Mount Suribachi looming in the background.

Along the way, I’ve received letters/emails from readers saying things like, “Why have you given up on cowboy guns?” Or, “What caused you to go to the dark side and buy full autos?” The answer is I’m not particularly focused on cowboy guns, or full autos or any other specific genre of firearms.

My focus is historical guns, especially American historical guns. Take my modest assortment of full autos. Does it contain any Uzis, ARs, H&Ks? Nay! What I invested my hard-earned gun’riter bucks in were World War II full autos such as a .45 Thompson, a German 9mm MP40, a Japanese Type 99 7.7mm and so forth. I do admit to fudging just a mite with my M2 .30 Carbine. It’s more a Korean War weapon although for sure it was developed at the tail end of World War II.

Duke’s interest in the Battle of The Little Bighorn not only led him
to Montana but also caused him to buy and learn to shoot — accurately
— this Model 1873 .45-70 “trapdoor” carbine.

A Driven Nation

As for guns of the Old West, my strongest interest is in the Plains Indian Wars of the post-Civil War era. It was a fascinating time in American history, the collective energy of the nation directed westward. Railroads grew daily, cattle drives north from Texas began in earnest. Outlaw gangs such as the James/Younger bunch were rampant in the Midwest.

The post-Civil War decades were also a time of amazing progression in firearms development. When the immense conflagration ended in 1865 the vast majority of infantrymen on either side were armed with muzzleloading rifle-muskets. Cavalrymen mostly carried Sharps or Spencer breech-loading carbines; the first used paper cartridges but the latter actually fired new-fangled metallic cartridges. Civil War horse soldiers were also armed with revolvers. Again they were front loaders, mostly made by Colt but with Remington being a major player too.

Fast forward 10 years. Muzzleloading military rifles and revolvers were considered archaic. The new firearms still relied on black powder for propellant but all shot metallic cartridges. Repeating rifles were common. The forend-less Henry .44 Rimfires actually appeared during the Civil War in modest numbers but by 1875, Winchester had put out thousands of their new Model 1873. Not only was it a repeater but it fired a .44 centerfire cartridge denoted on their barrels as .44 WCF (.44 Winchester Centerfire). Not only was it more powerful than the .44 Henry Rimfire but it was also reloadable.

The same was true in spades with revolvers. Front loaders were out. By 1875 Smith & Wesson was selling their top break No. 3 revolvers chambered for .44 American, .44 Russian and a newly introduced .45 S&W; today better known as .45 S&W “Schofield.” Colt dragged their feet a mite because S&W owned a patent for bored-through chambers but with the new .45 Colt Single Action Army, they hit a 150-year home-run.

And let’s not forget the big bore single shot “buffalo rifles.” Without the Sharps Model 1874 and the Remington No. 1 firing huge .44, .45 and .50 caliber cartridges, slaughtering vast herds of plains bison would not have been possible. With the free roaming bison serving as the warring Indians’ mobile grocery supply, settlement of the plains might not have been stopped entirely but it would certainly have been delayed significantly. Such ideas aren’t considered PC today but it was back then.

These six cartridges have all served as standard issue to the U.S. Army
at one time or another. Duke has shooting and handloading experience with
all. Left to right: the .50-70, .45-70, .30 Krag, .30-06, 7.62mm NATO and 5.56mm.

History At High Speed

Consider all this as evidence of rapid change during this historical period. In 1911 the U.S. Army adopted the much-beloved .45 Auto pistol. Fifty years prior the U.S. Army adopted the Model 1860 .44 cap and ball revolver. The most used rifle-musket in the Civil War was the .58 Model 1861 Springfield. Only 42 years later the U.S. Army adopted a .30 caliber bolt-action rifle still popular today among gun folks as the U.S. Model 1903 .30 Springfield. Compare this — the standard load for a Model 1861 rifle-musket was a 450-grain pure lead Minie ball with a muzzle velocity of about 950 fps. The .30-06 military ball load fired a 150-grain bullet at 2,700 fps.

Circling The Globe For Guns

Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming, the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, Adobe Walls in Texas, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Omaha Beach in Normandy, the town of Bastogne in Belgium and the island of Iwo Jima (now again a Japanese possession) — I’ve spent considerable treasure to visit those sites because of my desire to understand American history. Also long ago I set a goal to shoot as many as possible of the small arms American fighting men used in those battles. As things turned out, I’ve been able to also become familiar with a considerable assortment of the small arms turned against those men.

My writing interests don’t bounce around. They follow the historical events I’m studying at the time. Of course, I’ve also written here and there about modern guns — editors must be kept happy too!

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Historical Guns

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A Driven Nation

History At High Speed

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