A Think Quest 99' Project

Weapons

The Starr Carbine

The Starr carbine rifle, equipped with a 21 inch, .54 caliber barrel, was the 4th most popular rifle used by the Union soldiers. It incorporated many features from the Sharps, Smith, and Burnside rifles, but its most remarkable feature was its zero misfire rate and its high degree of accuracy.

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Spencer rifles contributed substantially to the ultimate success of the Union. The weapon used an all metallic cartridge with a built in primer, by itself a great advancement. Additionally, the magazine on the Spencers allowed soldiers rapid fire by means of moving a lever and cocking the trigger. This allowed Northern troops to fire about 14 rounds per minute to the 3 rounds per minute allowed by a muzzle-loader. The South was unable to use any captured Spencers due to the lack of available ammunition. About 200,000 Spencer rifles and carbines were sold to the Federals during the course of the war but a large quantity of those never saw service (Burnsides and Model 1865 Spencers, roughly 60,000 of which were produced in 1865 and never saw action.) There were two types of Spencer Rifles, Model 1860 Navy (about 1000 produced in 1862 and the Model 1860 Army (1862-1864).

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