Peabody action
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The Peabody action was an early form of breechloading firearm action, where the heavy breechblock tilted downwards across a bolt mounted in the rear of the breechblock, operated by a lever under the rifle. The Peabody action most often used an external hammer to fire the cartridge.
The Peabody action was developed by Henry O. Peabody from Boston, Massachusetts, and was first patented in 1862. The Peabody was not perfected in time for the American Civil War, but Peabody rifles were adopted by the militaries of Canada, Switzerland, Romania and Spain during the later 1860's.
The Swiss gunsmith Friedrich von Martini modified Peabody's design to incorporate a hammerless internal striker. Mated to a barrel with rifling designed by Alexander Henry, the 1871 Martini-Henry would become the British Army's standard rifle for thirty years.
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