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The Story of Creedmoor: The Irish ~ American Rifle Match of 1874

Details: Category: News; Written by Research Press

The Story of Creedmoor In 1873 riflemen of Ireland challenged the riflemen of America to a long range rifle championship. The challenge was taken up by the Amateur Rifle Club of New York, and the match took place in Sept 1874 at Creedmoor. The Irish Team used their Rigby muzzle loading match rifles. The American Team used Remington Rolling Block and Sharps match rifles, both newly introduced versions in response to the conditions of the match regarding rifle weight and trigger-pull. In 2002 Research Press published a booklet on the history of this rifle match. The story has been revised and expanded and it is now available in paperback or Kindle versions via Amazon.

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The Whitworth Rifle: A Brief Introduction

Details: Parent Category: Gunmakers; Category: Joseph Whitworth, Manchester, England; Written by David Minshall

During the 1850s and 1860s the British service rifle calibre was .577, both for the muzzle-loading Enfield rifle and its breech-loading successor the Snider (a conversion of the Enfield). Early manufacture of the Enfield relied on much hand labour and consequently lead to problems of inconsistent performance, non-interchangeability of parts and slow supply. Joseph Whitworth was approached to provide assistance with regards to the design of appropriate machinery for its manufacture.

Artillery, 1862: Whitworth Guns

Details: Parent Category: British Military History; Category: Ordnance; Written by Robert Mallet, Esq., C.E., F.R.S.

Mr. Joseph Whitworth produces a large display of guns and projectiles prepared on his system, which differs in many points from that of his great competitor and rival, Sir William Armstrong. Whitworth for a considerable time rejected “built-up” guns, and formed all natures of his ordnance, however heavy, of solid masses of what is called “homogeneous metal,” a puzzle-the-vulgar phrase, for tough steely iron, without fibre, i.e., with minute saccaroid crystallization. Latterly, however, he has employed for his larger guns in many instances this material in heavy thicknesses, for an internal tube, reinforced at the breech-end with one or more plies of rings, of the same, or of other qualities of iron, shrunk on with initial tension; and in this we are quite sure he is right.

The British Army, 1855

Details: Category: British Military History; Written by Frederick Engels

The organization of the British army is soon described. Of infantry there are three regiments of guards, eighty-five regiments of the line, thirteen regiments of light infantry, two regiments of rifles. During the present war, the guards, the rifles, and a few other regiments have three battalions, the remainder have two - a dépôt being formed by one company in each. The recruiting, however, is hardly sufficient to fill up the vacancies caused by the war, and so the second battalions can scarcely be said to be in existence. The present effective total of the infantry does certainly not exceed 120,000 men.

The British Volunteer System

Details: Parent Category: British Military History; Category: Rifle Volunteers; Written by Earl Brownlow

The early years of the 19th century found England in the possession of a large body of volunteers. They were not a part of the permanent military organization of the country, but were raised in a hurry, and for a special purpose, and were only intended to meet a sudden emergency. At that period, Napoleon I had massed a great army at Boulogne in sight of the British coast; but the British cruisers held the Channel, and day after day and month after month passed, until the naval battle of Trafalgar put an end forever to his ambitious dream of the conquest of England. It was to meet this contingency that the Volunteers of 1803 were raised, and the danger having been averted, they were disbanded and never brought together again. With the organization and efficiency of this force, this article is in no way concerned, and it is only mentioned here to explain that volunteering for defense of the country is no new idea, but that the volunteers of 1803 have no relation to those of 1858. They served their purpose; they came together to the number of 463,000 men, and when the emergency ceased, they died out and disappeared.

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The Story of Creedmoor: The Irish ~ American Rifle Match of 1874

The Whitworth Rifle: A Brief Introduction

Artillery, 1862: Whitworth Guns

The British Army, 1855

The British Volunteer System

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