.50-70 Government
| .50-70 Government | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Type | Rifle | |||||||||||||||
| Place of origin | United States | |||||||||||||||
| Service history | ||||||||||||||||
| In service | 1866–1873 | |||||||||||||||
| Used by | United States | |||||||||||||||
| Production history | ||||||||||||||||
| Designed | 1866 | |||||||||||||||
| Produced | 1866–present | |||||||||||||||
| Specifications | ||||||||||||||||
| Case type | Rimmed, straight | |||||||||||||||
| Bullet diameter | .515 in (13.1 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Neck diameter | .535 in (13.6 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Base diameter | .565 in (14.4 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Rim diameter | .660 in (16.8 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Rim thickness | .065 in (1.7 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Case length | 1.75 in (44 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Overall length | 2.25 in (57 mm) | |||||||||||||||
| Primer type | Large rifle | |||||||||||||||
| Maximum pressure | 22,500 psi (155 MPa) | |||||||||||||||
| Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||||||
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| Test barrel length: 28" Source(s): Accurate Powder [1] | ||||||||||||||||
The .50-70 Government, also known as the .50-70 Musket, .50-70 Springfield, and .50-13⁄4" Sharps[2][3]) is a black powder cartridge adopted in 1866 for the Springfield Model 1866 trapdoor rifle.
Description
Derived from the .50-60-400 Joslyn, the cartridge was developed after the unsatisfactory results of the .58 rimfire cartridge for the Springfield Model 1865 rifle. The .50-70 Government cartridge became the official cartridge of the U.S. military in 1866 until being replaced by the .45-70 Government in 1873. The .50-70 cartridge has a pressure limit of 22,500 psi (155 MPa)[1]
The official designation of this cartridge at the time of introduction was "US center-fire metallic cartridge", and the commercial designation .50-70-450, standing for :
- Caliber: .50 inches (13 mm)
- Powder charge: 70 grains (4.5 g) of black powder
- Bullet weight: 450 grains (29 g)[4]
The U.S. Navy purchased Remington Rolling Block rifles chambered for the .50-70 cartridge. The U.S. Navy also contracted with Remington to produce several thousand rolling-block carbines chambered for a reduced load version which was officially produced for use only in carbines, using a shortened .50-70 with a 430-grain (28 g) bullet and 45 grains (2.9 g) of black powder.
The U.S. Army ordered both rolling-block rifles and carbines in .50-70 and made some rolling blocks at their Springfield Armory facility in this caliber.[5] The U.S. Army also had a large supply of percussion-fired Sharps carbines at the close of the Civil War and had the Sharps Rifle Company convert about 31,000 of the rolling-block rifles and carbines in .50-70 for cavalry use. Meanwhile, the Army, which had exited the Civil War with an inventory of almost a million percussion-fired muzzleloaders, converted Springfield Model 1863 and Model 1864 muskets to metallic cartridge ammunition using the Allin conversion (trapdoor) method, as well as cadet rifles. The first of the .50-70 conversions was the Springfield Model 1866. Newer improved versions were made and used by the Army until 1873. After 1873, with the advent of the .45-70 cartridge, the Army declared the .50-70 to be surplus, and while some rifles and carbines in .50-70 were issued to Indian Scouts, the bulk were simply sold off as surplus. In the U.S. Navy, however, the .50-70 cartridge and the guns associated with it remained in use until the late 1880s.
Buffalo Bill used a Springfield Model 1866 in .50-70, while buffalo hunting to feed the track workers of the Kansas Pacific Railway. General George Custer was known to have had and used a sporterized rolling block in .50-70 and was believed to have had it with him at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
As Army General Philip Sheridan had embarked on a plan to eliminate the bison during the course of the American Indian Wars, the .50-70 rifles were also issued or purchased by buffalo hunters for use in eliminating the vast bison herds. Sharps began manufacturing sporterized rifles in .50-70 (including .50-90 Sharps, .50-110 Sharps, etc.), with improved sights for longer range shots for use by the buffalo hunters. In 1867, the .50-70 cartridge in U.S. Army Model of 1866 Springfield rifles played a pivotal role in holding off an attacking force of 300-1,000 Lakota Sioux Indians during the Wagon Box Fight.[6]
Modern-made functional replicas of caliber .50-70 historical rifles have been imported into the US by such firms as Davide Pedersoli and A. Uberti, Srl. (a Beretta subsidiary). The .50-70 cartridge, still enjoys some use and popularity with sportsmen and cowboy action shooters. Reloaders have experimented with a variety of bullet weights from 425 grains (27.5 g) to 600 grains (39 g).
See also
References
- ^ a b .50-70 Govt data from Accurate Powder at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-09-30)
- ^ jestertoogmailcom, A. (2018b, April 11). (157) .50″-70 Springfield. Military Cartridges. https://militarycartridges.com/category/157-50-70-springfield/
- ^ Barnes, Frank C., and Amber, John. Cartridges of the World (Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972), p.115, ".50-70 Musket (.50 Gov't)"
- ^ Col. J.G Benton, "Springfield Breech Loading Rifle Musket, Model of 1868", United States Army, 1868
- ^ Remington Rolling Block Military Rifles, by George Layman
- ^ Keenan, Jerry. The Wagon Box Fight, Boulder, CO: Lightning Tree Press, 1990, p. 22