Welcome to immediately’s Photo of the Day! This Lee Hearth Arms Co. saddle ring carbine represents the primary manufacturing firearm designed by James Paris Lee – a person who would later obtain fame because the inventor of the removable field journal and whose title lives on within the legendary Lee-Enfield rifle system. Manufactured in Milwaukee in 1866, these single-shot carbines have been Lee’s preliminary foray into firearms manufacturing, and it proved a rocky begin. Lee secured a U.S. Military contract for 1,000 carbines at $18 every in April 1865, simply because the Civil Conflict was ending. He established the Lee Hearth Arms Firm and commenced manufacturing, subcontracting the barrels to Remington. The navy contract shortly went sideways. Lee delivered his first samples in January 1866 chambered in .42 rimfire, however the authorities claimed the contract specified .44 caliber and rejected the complete order. Solely 255 carbines have been accomplished by November 1866, with one other 200 almost completed when the contract was canceled. Left with components and no navy buyer, the corporate briefly pivoted to civilian gross sales in 1867, promoting sporting rifles and carbines in Milwaukee newspapers. The corporate dissolved by 1868, and Lee quickly returned to watchmaking earlier than resuming his firearms profession with Remington in 1872. This explicit instance options the corporate’s sporting mannequin body – identifiable by its greater high part with an built-in sight notch – suggesting it might have been assembled from leftover components for industrial sale. The carbine employs Lee’s distinctive side-swing barrel design, which opens for loading from the appropriate when the hammer is at half-cock. Different options embrace a “pinched” blade entrance sight, two-leaf 500-yard rear sight, and clean walnut buttstock with casehardened buttplate. The saddle ring is a contemporary copy, widespread with these uncommon survivors. These carbines stand as artifacts of the transitional post-Civil Conflict interval when producers struggled to adapt to quickly altering navy necessities and the sudden evaporation of wartime contracts.
“Civil Conflict Period Lee Hearth Arms Co. Saddle Ring Carbine.” Rock Island Public sale Firm, https://www.rockislandauction.com/element/4090/287/civil-war-era-lee-fire-arms-co-saddle-ring-carbine. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
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