Smith carbine

The Smith carbine is a .50 caliber breech-loading percussion carbine designed by Gilbert Smith of the United States and patented on June 23, 1857, built by the Massachusetts Arms Company, the American Machine Works, and the American Arms Company, with about 30,062 units manufactured at a unit cost of 32.50 to 35 dollars between 1859 and 1861. It weighs 7.5 pounds, measures 39.5 inches overall with a 21.6 inch barrel, and opens with a distinctive break-action mechanism, using rubber or paper-and-brass-foil cartridges to seal breech gases, though the rubber cartridges could be difficult to remove from a hot breech. It was used extensively by Union cavalry during the American Civil War, and Argentina later adopted it for frontier operations and internal conflicts through the 1880s. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/