The original Gun that won the West

The Hall Rifle was basically a muzzle-loading pocket pistol attached to a rifle barrel. Originally a flintlock, by the time of the Mexican War a percussion version was in widespread use. It is notable for being the first gun with interchangeable parts.
The Hall rifle had a long production run, from 1811 until the 1850s and was adopted by the US army in 1819. It gave the cavalry an overwhelming advantage during the Mexican War and was still being issued to the green-jacketed US sharpshooters in the Civil War. By this time, however, many of these guns were worn out. When the quartermaster attempted to replace them with the notoriously-unreliable Colt Revolving Rifles rather than the promised Sharps, the men almost mutinied

Hall's breechloader probably influenced the design of better-known rifles like the Sharps, Remington and (especially) the Trapdoor Springfield which used the newer brass cartridges


Edited by Nick1986 - 13-Dec-2011 at 19:15

It an excellent piece for it's era but that's not really what won the west. Scouts, Mountain Men, trappers and earlier Military explorations did. Carrying all sorts of goodies. Without their presence and reconn and commercial activities....any later force carrying anything.... would have been hard pressed to follow behind them and follow up their initial foray's. Which is what occurred anyway. That they did it is as much a matter of superior tech advantage to include development and use of natural resources ... production capabilities...numbers...and a desire for expansionism in the development of the national identity. And social desires of an expanding population.

Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 16-Jul-2012 at 11:36

I thought the the illegal invasion of foreign soil, genocide, ethnic cleansing, manufactured famines and then extermination of women and children was what won the west.

And the winners write the history books, or should I say movie scripts

Indians were peace loving, wise and philosophical noble savages living in harmony with nature and cowboys brave, moral and chivalrous classical hero always standing up for the underdog.

Edited by Toltec - 17-Jul-2012 at 13:09

Originally posted by Toltec I thought the the illegal invasion of foreign soil, genocide, ethnic cleansing, manufactured famines and then extermination of women and children was what won the west.

Which wouldn't have been possible if the Yankees didn't have a well trained army with advanced weapons

It was the blue-coated US army that won the Civil War (again with superior weapons and resources), although both Northern and Southern ex-soldiers could be found heading west to start a new life

By Wild Bill's time, some were still favored from outstanding companies found on the continent. Such a one was WW Greener.

Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis By Wild Bill's time, some were still favored from outstanding companies found on the continent. Such a one was WW Greener.   http://www.wwgreener.com/

Greener converted a lot of old Martini-Henry rifles to fire 12 gauge shotgun shells. You can still get these reasonably cheaply from certain gun dealers