The Galleries
- Robert E. Petersen Collection
- Ancient Firearms - 1350 to 1700
- Road to American Liberty - 1700 to 1780
- A Prospering New Republic - 1780 to 1860
- A Nation Asunder - 1861 to 1865
- The American West - 1850 to 1900
- Innovation, Oddities and Competition
- Theodore Roosevelt and Elegant Arms - 1880s to 1920s
- World War I and Firearms Innovation
- WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beyond - 1940 to Present
- For the Fun of It
- Modern Firearms - 1950 to Present
- Hollywood Guns
U.S. Springfield Model 1871 Rolling Block Rifle
As with the Model 1870 Rolling Block U.S. Navy Rifle, Springfield Armory manufactured these guns c. 1871-1872 under a royalty agreement with the Remington Arms Co.; in fact, these two arms closely resemble one another. Remington's simple but effective rolling block action was considered to be the strongest of its day and was capable of handling any ammunition then available.
To load a rolling block firearm, the hammer is cocked, then the
breechblock is rolled backward and downward by light finger
pressure, ejecting the spent cartridge. A fresh cartridge could
then be loaded, and the breech closed by rolling the breechblock up
and forward. Later versions locked the hammer at full-cock, but
these featured a "locking action," with the hammer at half-cock
when the breechblock was closed.
The town of Springfield, Massachusetts, located on the banks of
the Connecticut River, was settled in 1636 by emigrants from
Roxbury. The town was nearly destroyed during King Philip's War in
1675, but it was quickly rebuilt. As early as 1776, Continental
Army colonel and future Secretary of War Henry Knox recommended the
establishment of public laboratories, magazines, arsenals and
foundries in secure locations for the production and repair of
arms, ammunition, and other ordnance stores.
Both George Washington and the Continental Congress concurred with
this recommendation, under which an ordnance depot was established
at Springfield in 1777. The town's access to raw materials, sources
of water power, and transportation, as well as its inland location
which provided security against seaborne attack, made Springfield
an ideal location. Over the following year, buildings were rented
or erected for use as barracks and storehouses. In addition to
ordnance stores, the depot at Springfield also handled other
aspects of army supply, including equipment, uniforms, tents, food,
and fuel.
The end of the War for Independence also brought a decline in
military activities at Springfield. In 1794, an Act of Congress
directed that national armories be established for the fabrication
of small arms. President Washington selected Springfield and
Harpers Ferry, which was then located in Virginia, as the sites for
these facilities. In addition to the advantages that contributed to
the presence of a Revolutionary War depot in the town, many skilled
armory workers were still living nearby. The government acquired
nearly 300 acres and constructed a dam to furnish power to the
armory complex, as well as shops, offices, and storehouses. The
first permanent structure to be constructed on the site was a brick
powder magazine, which was torn down in 1842. Additional buildings
have been constructed as necessary over the years since.
Production of arms at Springfield began in 1795, with 245
muskets manufactured during that year, and approximately 80,000
were turned out before production was discontinued in 1814. The
Model 1795 muskets were the first standardized U.S. martial arms to
be produced and were patterned after the French Model 1763
Charleville musket. Harpers Ferry Armory also produced a Model 1795
musket, but these were distinctly different from those manufactured
at Springfield. The first known Springfield Armory-marked specimens
were manufactured in 1799, and feature dated lockplates which bear
an eagle stamp and the word "Springfield." The Model 1816 was first
standardized U.S. martial arm to be manufactured at both
Springfield and Harpers Ferry.
These arms enjoyed the longest production run in U.S. history,
lasting until 1844, with nearly 700,000 muskets turned out during
this period. Both armories also produced the Model 1842 percussion
musket and Model 1855 percussion rifle-musket. These arms are
significant in that the Model 1842 was the last U.S. regulation .69
caliber smoothbore, as well as the first to be made at both
armories with completely interchangeable parts, while the Model
1855 rifle-musket was the first rifle-musket to be produced by the
United States, the first to be produced in the new regulation .58
caliber, and the last arm to be produced at both government
armories.
In addition to commonly produced arms, each armory was the sole
producer of certain other designs, such as the Model 1855
percussion pistol-carbine and various musketoons and cadet muskets
that were produced solely at Springfield, or the Model 1803
flintlock rifle, and the Model 1841 percussion, or "Mississippi"
rifles, both of which were produced only at Harpers Ferry. Model
1861 and 1863 rifle-muskets, which were based on a modification of
the earlier Model 1855, were produced in great quantities
throughout the Civil War. These were the last muzzle loading, paper
cartridge percussion arms to be produced by the U.S. Erskine S.
Allin, Springfield's Master Armorer, designed a method for
converting many of these into metallic cartridge breech loaders.
This conversion consisted of a modification to the breech to permit
the installation of a "trap door" breechblock with a self-contained
firing pin. The famous .45-70 government caliber "trap door"
Springfield rifles and carbines of the Plains Indian Wars were
based on Allin's work, and these accounted for much of the Armory's
production during the 1870s and 1880s.
Springfield Armory was also involved in improving the state of the
art in military rifle design, and toward this end,
limited-production long arms including the Ward-Burton, Lee
Vertical Action, Hotchkiss, and Chaffee-Reese rifles were
manufactured there. These efforts culminated in the 1890s with the
Army's adoption of the smokeless powder Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action
repeating rifle as its standard longarm. These rifles, as well as
carbine versions, were manufactured at the Armory through the turn
of the century. The Spanish-American War proved the superiority of
the German-designed Mauser, and the .30-'06 caliber U.S. Model 1903
bolt-action rifle, which was built at Springfield Armory and Rock
Island Arsenal under a license from Mauser, replaced the
Krag-Jorgensen as the Army's new standard rifle.
Over one million were manufactured before production was
discontinued in 1941, and many of these, as well as rebuilt or
contract model Ô03s, saw action in both World Wars. Prior to the
First World War, Springfield also manufactured the M1911 .45
caliber semi-automatic pistol under license from Colt, and
throughout this period, Armory workers continued to experiment
with, produce, test, and maintain various other ordnance materiel
including rifles, pistols, machine guns, and related
equipment.
During the interwar years, John Garand, a Canadian-born design
engineer and Springfield Armory employee, worked on a design for a
new gas-operated semi-automatic rifle. After overcoming several
problems, both with his designs and with Army brass, the U.S. Rifle
.30 caliber M1 was adopted by the Army in 1936. The Marine Corps
followed suit, and during the Second World War, over three and
one-half million M1s were produced at Springfield. An additional
500,000 were manufactured by Winchester Repeating Arms Co. This
rifle, which General George S. Patton called, "the greatest battle
implement ever devised," gave American troops a significant edge
over their German and Japanese enemies, most of whom were still
equipped with bolt-action arms.
After the war, Springfield ceased manufacture of the M1 and turned
its efforts to the overhaul and long-term storage of these rifles.
The outbreak of war in Korea in 1950 caused a resumption in
production at the Armory, as well as by International Harvester and
Harrington & Richardson. The return of peace brought a second
and final discontinuation of M1 production. Springfield Armory's
continuing efforts at advancing military rifle designs yielded a
series of improvements to the M1, culminating in production of the
7.62mm NATO caliber selective-fire M14 rifle, which replaced the
Garand in the Army's inventory.
In 1968, the Ordnance Department ceased operations at Springfield
Armory. The Armory grounds, buildings, and museum, with its
extensive arms and accouterments collection, have become
Springfield Armory National Historic Site and are now maintained by
the National Park Service.