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2017-04-29 -Land of the Free

This Week in Guns, April 29th, 2017

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Posted by badanov 2017-04-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Going back in time, an interesting 1838 repeating rifle. Called a chain gun.

Epenetus A. Bennett and Frederick P. Havilland were both from Waterville, Maine and both trained to some degree as gunsmiths. Their device, dubbed the “underhammer” because of its under the gun cocking apparatus, used comprised of a series of rectangular blocks hinged together along a chain. These blocks were hollowed out to accept a powder and ball, the theory being the block would advance around the chain mechanism, lining up into the breech, and loading the weapon; the weapon fed incrementally left to right with a full stop in the breech position, fired and moved rearward toward the butt stock on the chain for the next shot.

The under hammer released the chain and was hand cocked with each shot until all 12 rounds were rotated into place, each fired courtesy of a side hammer for ignition and a conventional trigger.

The problem (and the problem really with all long rifles featuring revolving mechanisms) was the fore-end grip caught breech blowback from the cylinder meaning the shooter’s hand inevitably took abuse. Of more concern, if a chain fire did occur (which was not unheard of) the rifleman would end up, at the least, with a badly burnt wrist and fingers, at the worst, the loss of his or her life as the rifle could potentially fire backwards, forwards and to either side.

It is believed that only 10 of them were made.

Posted by Joluter Snavitch6674 2017-04-29 01:31|| 2017-04-29 01:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Credit the above info to www.guns.com.

Posted by Joluter Snavitch6674 2017-04-29 01:36|| 2017-04-29 01:36|| Front Page Top

#3 I was always of the uninformed, untested opinion that the steel shell of Wolf did not deform (or as much) to the chamber contours during ignition impulse, whereas brass did.

I further assumed arbitrary combustion gas pulse wave cancellation occurred due to energy reflections from the now deformed shell wall volume and the base of the bullet, which also may be seated some random manufacturing error distance down the shell neck and not secured by the chamber head.

I guess this all started with a compressed gas cylinder ignition model I was reviewing.

Shitz a mystery to me.

Posted by Skidmark 2017-04-29 04:14|| 2017-04-29 04:14|| Front Page Top

#4 I've heard tell the steel in steel casings is actually softer than brass casings, so that would explain deformation in the chamber.

As you say, we can only surmise.

A lot of possibilities that would explain the lack of consistency in the Wolf brand ammo. Could be an error in bullet being oversized, or the cartridge neck is too tight. Could be the powder charge.

My experience with Barnaul ammunition is that it is good ammunition for the price, but from time to time you get a cartridge that is slightly out of tolerance, which gets stuck in the chamber in the spent casing ejection phase of the firing cycle. Not every round and not even one from every box. Last fall I had two stuck casings from the same box, something that has never happened before and has not happened since, something I attribute to an out of tolerance cartridge casing.

Thanks for the expositions and the links, Joluter Snavitch6674 and Skid.

Posted by badanov 2017-04-29 06:56|| http://www.chriscovert.net 2017-04-29 06:56|| Front Page Top

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