Comparison shoots

So I decided to compare old military rifles from the same time frame to see which one was best. First I compared a Remington Rolling Block carbine from the 1870s to a Sharps .50 carbine from the same time frame.



My conclusion was the Sharps was a superior rifle. This is because A) Remington Rolling Block must be cocked to be loaded which creates a potentially unsafe condition (which historically did cause a few unintentional discharges around the world). B) The ejection of the fired case from the Sharps is very snappy and postitive. The ejection from the Remington is best described as sluggish, and as shown in the video, occasionally problematic.

I next did a comparison of an 1855 Trapdoor Springfield in .50-70 to an English .577 Snider Action. Sadly the video of the Snider didn't survive, but here is the Trapdoor Springfield version of the test.



I found reloading the American Trapdoor to be a little bit faster than was reloading the English Snider rifle. This is because the Trapdoor ejects the fired case automatically as soon as the breech is opened. However in the Snider action one first opens the breech, then manually slides the breech backwards to eject the fired case (with the speed of ejection being proportionate to the force exerted), then manually slides the breech back forwards. This adds a quarter second to the reload time for the Snider action. Otherwise they were about equal. Both are heavy full size rifles that you would not enjoy carrying on a march. Both have bayonets. Both are contermporary Infantry rifles

In a few days I will receive an English Martini Henry of 1871 manufacture (caliber .577-450 of course) carbine. It is a falling block action like the Sharps .50-70 carbine. I look forward to finding out which of the two designs was superior from a user perspective. Best to know which rifle to seek out should you suddenly find yourself stuck in the 19th century. :)