Imagine the year is 1863 and the states are embroiled in a total bloody war. Then comes this, "Per the United States Army we are requesting for submissions for a new short infantry rifle. Specifications are single load, 50 to 52 caliber using a self contained metallic case, with self contained primer either rim or center fire."
Well of course that was made up by me and I wanted to design a gun that would meet those specifications. Below are the pictures of my design and the gun I built. I built this actually many years ago such that I don't remember when. Probably this century. It is a single shot bolt type action (BTW bolt action rifles were known in the 1860's ak: Palmer) It shoots what I call a 50-50 cartridge. It has an automatic case ejector and a number of safety features, like it can not fire unless the bolt is closed and can not be opened after firing unless it is placed on 1/2 cock. It was fun to design and built with a number of machining challenges that I enjoyed very much.
Well enough here it is:

And last the reason I dug it out was because I am finally going to rust blue it as soon as winter breaks

LRF wrote on Feb 10^th, 2024 at 4:21pm:


BTW I also earlier built a Palmer carbine but unfortunately it was stolen from my house in 1993 as I remember. It was pretty cool and the only real difference from the original was mine was center fire and used the same cartridge as the one shown in this thread. I laugh sometime when I think of the thief going it to his locale gun store trying to buy ammo. LOL
 

Neat rifle and very nice inletting!
Bob

Very neat Lynn! Thanks for all the pictures!
A very unusual and beautiful design, but well thought out, and would certainly have made a great rifle for the Army had someone designed it back then!

gnoahhh wrote on Feb 11^th, 2024 at 10:21am:

Thanks

Very impressive work and design. Would really like to rummage around in your brain for a time.
Cheers Richard

Boy Howdy!   Can you imagine facing that in 1863.   Terrific work!