Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

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Correspondent Don Wiggins showed up in 1914 with a primitive-looking North and Savage revolving rifle of 1852 vintage that was a genuine Indian weapon. Harry Bennet, the rifle’s proud owner in 1914, had secured it from the Hood River Indians 10 years previously. The buck who sold it to him passed along that his father had carried the gun while fighting under Chief Joseph. A number of brass tacks, about fifty, ornamented the stock in typical red man fashion. Hood River legend had it that each tack represented the scalp of a white man.

As the metallic cartridge came into common usage in the late 1870s, the percussion system was effectively obsoleted. The cartridge revolvers replaced the cap and balls, and some of their owners neglected their old sixshooters, allowing them to decay like a pair of old shoes. Sometimes the old guns were simply discarded and considered good riddance. It was maintained that the old system was an untrustworthy and dangerous one, and there was some risk associated in shooting them. In an improperly managed cap and ball, wayward sparks at discharge would jump from cylinder to cylinder, detonating some or all of the chambers with a single pull of the trigger. If the Colt revolving rifle was said to have been particularly bad in this respect, the Remington percussion revolver was the worst offender. Modern black powder enthusiasts are aware of this threat, and take steps to prevent an occurrence. It could be that the tough frontier sorts didn’t put much stock in the danger, and tended to dismiss the phenomena as rumor – until it happened to them.