Symmes Carbine
U.S. Ordnance Department · Carbine · Out Of Production · 1857
Also known as: Symmes Breech-Loading Carbine, Symmes Percussion Carbine
Overview
The Symmes Carbine is an exceptionally rare American single-shot, breech-loading percussion carbine designed in the 1850s by Lieutenant John Cleves Symmes of the United States Ordnance Corps. Chambered for the .54 caliber percussion ball, it used a tipping breech block operated by an external lever, an outside-mounted hammer, and a Maynard tape priming system. A small number were produced for U.S. Army cavalry trials around 1857, where it competed against rival breechloaders such as the Sharps, Burnside, and Smith carbines. It never reached volume production and survives today only in a handful of examples.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 3400 g (119.9 oz) |
| Overall Length | 940 mm (37.01") |
| Barrel Length | 533 mm (20.98") |
| Action Type | Breech Loading |
| Firing Mechanism | Percussion |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Muzzle Velocity | 300 m/s (984 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 990 J (730 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 200 m (219 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 600 m (656 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Walnut |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .54 Caliber Percussion · primary — also known as .54 caliber, .53 caliber, 54 ball
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Single Shot Breech
- Safety mechanisms: Half Cock Notch
- Features: Tipping Breech Block, Saddle Ring, External Hammer, Maynard Tape Primer
Service history
Operators
- United States Army · adopted 1857
Production
Estimated total produced: 200 · Production years: 1857-1858
Only a small trial quantity is believed to have been produced; exact figures are uncertain and surviving examples are very rare.
Origin
Country of origin: United States
Designer: John Cleves Symmes
Discontinued: 1858
Notes
Covered by U.S. patents No. 3,946 and No. 22,094. Surviving specimens are sometimes recorded as .53 caliber. One of the rarest of the pre-Civil War U.S. cavalry trial carbines.
Background
Lieutenant John Cleves Symmes shared his name with the Symmes family famous for the 19th-century Hollow Earth theory; his breech-loading carbine was one of many competing single-shot designs submitted to the U.S. Ordnance Department's mid-1850s cavalry carbine trials, most of which lost out to the Sharps.