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Jan. 23rd, 2021 08:05 pmBreech-loading provides the advantage of reduced reloading time, because it is far quicker to load the projectile and propellant into the chamber of a gun/cannon than to reach all the way over to the front end to load ammunition and then push them back down a long tube – especially when the projectile fits tightly and the tube has spiral ridges from rifling. In field artillery, the advantages were similar – crews no longer had to get in front of the gun and force things down a long barrel with a ramrod, and the shot could now tightly fit the bore, increasing accuracy. It also made it easier to load a previously fired weapon with a fouled barrel. Gun turrets and emplacements for breechloaders can be smaller, since crews don't need to retract the gun for frontal loading.
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The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech. This was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breechloader#Firearms
Colt carved a wooden gun with multiple chambers in a cylinder that revolved. When Colt got back to Boston, with some financial help from his father, he hired a gunsmith to build a metal prototype. The prototype exploded upon firing. Powder leaked between the chambers, so instead of firing one at a time, several exploded at once.
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When Colt had enough money, he gave this design to a different gunsmith in 1835. This prototype worked.
The Colt revolver had a revolving cylinder with six openings or chambers. Each chamber was loaded with gunpowder followed by a lead bullet. The bullet was pushed into a chamber by a rod under the barrel. Pulling the gun’s hammer rotated the cylinder. As a chamber lined up with the barrel, it locked in place. The hammer released when the trigger was pulled.
--- Welch, Lamphier. Tech Innovation in American History. 2019
...
The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech. This was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breechloader#Firearms
Colt carved a wooden gun with multiple chambers in a cylinder that revolved. When Colt got back to Boston, with some financial help from his father, he hired a gunsmith to build a metal prototype. The prototype exploded upon firing. Powder leaked between the chambers, so instead of firing one at a time, several exploded at once.
...
When Colt had enough money, he gave this design to a different gunsmith in 1835. This prototype worked.
The Colt revolver had a revolving cylinder with six openings or chambers. Each chamber was loaded with gunpowder followed by a lead bullet. The bullet was pushed into a chamber by a rod under the barrel. Pulling the gun’s hammer rotated the cylinder. As a chamber lined up with the barrel, it locked in place. The hammer released when the trigger was pulled.
--- Welch, Lamphier. Tech Innovation in American History. 2019
