Massachusetts Arms Greene Carbine

History

The American Civil War (1861-1865) saw multiple weapon technologies in action, but there was a clear trend towards strike-based, rifled, all-wheel breech loaders replacing the old flintlock, ball and Smooth-caliber ammo. loader. Some trailed breech loaders managed to see widespread production and service, while others suffered from limited numbers and correspondingly limited range. The Green Carbine was one of the latter, a caliber from the .54 developed before the war in the early 1850s. When the carbine failed to impress U.S.

Army authorities, it was sold to the British government, although some are believed to have been resold back to the U.S. through other parties. These guns are known to have been used by the Union Army's 6th Ohio Cavalry, but their wartime numbers remained limited.

Operation Green was patented and developed by Lieutenant Colonel James D. Green of Cambridge, Massachusetts (it is not known if the rank was an official military title or self-imposed). Using a hinged locking system, it is locked by a rotating barrel with two lugs. The unit is equipped with two triggers - the first works properly (fires), and the second most important trigger is used to retract the locking pin of the shutter.

This allows access to the breech as the barrel can be moved 90 degrees to the right to reload the gun. The carbine used Maynard's mechanical firing system, adopted by other firearms of the time, and gave the operator a tactical advantage when reloading.

This weapon was tried before the U.S. Army in December 1854 and proved sufficient to order 200 carbines in May 1855. Evaluation continued until 1858, but emerging flaws, now with better competing types, soon led to less interest in the design. This prompted Green to market the carbine to foreign countries and to get a contract from the British government for 2,000 carbines (as Britain was facing its own war in Crimea at the time). However, these guns were not exported until after the war, defeating their original purpose.

Delivered in 1858, but stocks have been in stock for some time as the British try to find more suitable cartridges for them.

Some of these are thought to have returned to the United States during the Civil War, and some are known for their use in the conflictmost likely obtained through middlemen who were sold to the U.S. government, and possibly one of Part of the mixed order.

The British version features its 18" barrel length and repositioned sling mounted in the middle of the stock. The original American model used a 22" barrel length.

Specification

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