Grayrock Volunteer
36 Cl.
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2016
- Messages
- 56
- Reaction score
- 68
I own 6 Model 1819 Hall's Rifles, so I guess I am a bit of a fan. I don't really shoot them much, since the majority of them are Confederate percussion altered examples, but I have on occasion and have found no real issues with fouling and minimal (for the design) gas leakage when the block is adjusted properly. Hall's design was probably a little too complicated for the majority of soldiers in the period it was used in.
The rifle's breechblock can be adjusted forward to compensate for breech wear, and the chocks on either side of the block must also be adjusted to assure a tight fit. When you know what you are doing and get everything in order they seem to shoot well enough. Percussion converted M1819 Rifles, the various percussion carbines, and the made as percussion Model 1841 Hall's rifles are easier to shoot than the flintlocks, in my opinion, since there is a huge reduction in flash.
Continual improvements were made in the design throughout production, including recontouring the lower portion of the breech block, the addition of recoil absorbing "protectors" on the sides of the frame, and enlarging the gas escape slits below the sides of the frame.
Historically the guns were well enough thought of. Over 25,000 flintlock rifles were produced for the US military between 1824 and 1840, with several thousand more percussion rifles delivered in 1841 and 1842, plus an excess of 27,000 percussion carbines between 1836 and 1853. The possibility of rearming the whole of the US Army with them was even discussed in the 1830s.
Conservatism in the Ordnance Department and Army was always a roadblock to more general adoption of them. By the time they were condemned and ordered to be sold as surplus in 1858 more sophisticated breechloaders had dulled their star, but the Chief of Ordnance Henry K. Craig commented that if his life depended on it he would rather trust a Hall carbine than any other firearm. IMHO, that's a pretty good review.
The rifle's breechblock can be adjusted forward to compensate for breech wear, and the chocks on either side of the block must also be adjusted to assure a tight fit. When you know what you are doing and get everything in order they seem to shoot well enough. Percussion converted M1819 Rifles, the various percussion carbines, and the made as percussion Model 1841 Hall's rifles are easier to shoot than the flintlocks, in my opinion, since there is a huge reduction in flash.
Continual improvements were made in the design throughout production, including recontouring the lower portion of the breech block, the addition of recoil absorbing "protectors" on the sides of the frame, and enlarging the gas escape slits below the sides of the frame.
Historically the guns were well enough thought of. Over 25,000 flintlock rifles were produced for the US military between 1824 and 1840, with several thousand more percussion rifles delivered in 1841 and 1842, plus an excess of 27,000 percussion carbines between 1836 and 1853. The possibility of rearming the whole of the US Army with them was even discussed in the 1830s.
Conservatism in the Ordnance Department and Army was always a roadblock to more general adoption of them. By the time they were condemned and ordered to be sold as surplus in 1858 more sophisticated breechloaders had dulled their star, but the Chief of Ordnance Henry K. Craig commented that if his life depended on it he would rather trust a Hall carbine than any other firearm. IMHO, that's a pretty good review.
