Harpers Ferry Model 1841 (Hall Rifle)

History

John Hancock Hall (1781-1841) and Dr. William Thornton (1759-1828) (architect of the United States Capital Building) developed a new, eventually patented, breech-loading flintlock.

In this arrangement, both the breech lock and the chamber are a separate component, so flipping the breech up gives clear access to the chamber for reloading. Since most guns at the time were breech-loading - a rather time-consuming process in the heat of battle - the breech-loading method was highly sought after by the infantry, as reloading time was significantly reduced through improved access.

Hall was born in Maine and became a weapons engineer after being discharged from the military. The patent was granted in 1811 and eventually led to the Model 1819 Hall Rifle (detailed elsewhere on this site) being used in U.S. Army service. Much of the work was done at the famed Harpers Ferry Arsenal in Virginia (now West Virginia), where Hall himself spent no less than five years fulfilling military orders.

His Model 1819 was the first breech-loading firearm to be adopted as a standard worldwide.

Like most flintlock-based weapons used during the Civil War, the Model 1819 Hall rifle emerged as a viable candidate for conversion to a thunder hat system. Flintlock has dominated the battlefield for 200 years, but is susceptible to environmental factors and difficult to reload.

The impact cap system works much like a child's cap pistol, a cap driven by a falling weight that causes the propellant to ignite - the resulting force then pushes the bullet down the barrel and out of the muzzle.

The Model 1841 Hall Rifle was the result of the US Army's replication of the Hall Rifle as a strike weapon. Thousands of them eventually circulated in this form during the war, and early models were virtually indistinguishable from their flintlock counterparts. The long gun was not modified until later, using a different bolt release (similar to a rearward curved claw protrusion) and placing it in front of the trigger guard.

The stock is still fixed in the channel under the barrel, and the long barrel is involved. For rigidity, the gun is strapped in two places along its length, and the available sights are iron (front and rear).

The Model 1843 is a shorter shock-cap based carbine version of the original Hall Model 1819 carbine.

Specification

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