The use of this, combined with a plunger in the back of the breech block, eliminated the problem of stuck cases. The most notable feature of the Burnside is its use of a tapered cartridge. Burnside was able to address all these problems with the new carbine. The Hall suffered from gas leakage and fouling and was prone to having cases stick in the breech block. Army in 1817, with a later version being patented in 1844. This had originally been adopted in flintlock form by the U.S. At this time there was only one other breech loading weapon in service, the Hall carbine. Foster’s greatest contribution to the design was probably the form of twist rifling (gain twist, the rate of twist increases towards the muzzle) that came to be utilised in all Burnsides carbines, giving a great improvement in accuracy. He received his first Patent for the original Carbine on March 25th, 1856. Bristol Firearms produced locks and other parts for the firearms trade and this was to keep the Company solvent while Burnside perfected his carbine design. Burnside was fortunate in being able to employ Massachusetts gunsmith George P Foster to assist him in the early stages of his company’s development. A fire destroyed the premises in late 1853 and he used the insurance settlement to establish the Bristol Firearm Co in 1854.

Using this design Burnside established his fist company, Burnside and Bishop, in 1853.

This was probably for the purpose of satisfying the ‘working model’ requirement of the U.S.

His last Military posting was at Fort Adams, in Newport, Rhode Island.ĭuring this period Burnside requested permission to have the Springfield Armoury make up a model of a firearm of his design. He was posted as a Lieutenant of Artillery to Mexico and went on to serve with the Artillery in the new territories in the South Western US where he was wounded in a skirmish with the Apache Indians in 1849. Ambrose Everett Burnside was born in 1824 and graduated from the U.S Military Academy in 1847.

Burnside carbine serial numbers