Volcanic Repeating Arms
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The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company was an American company formed in 1855 by partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson to develop Walter Hunt's Rocket Ball ammunition and
lever action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Picture showing a Volcanic Pistol A lever action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated coc ...
mechanism. Volcanic made an improved version of the Rocket Ball ammunition, and a
carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...
and
pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
version of the lever action gun to fire it. While the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company was short-lived, its descendants,
Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...
and
Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American Firearms manufacturer, firearm manufacturer headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith (inventor), Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the ...
became major firearms manufactures.


History

The original 1848 Volcanic Repeating Rifle design by Hunt was revolutionary, introducing an early iteration of the lever action repeating mechanism and the tubular
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
still common today. However, Hunt's design was far from perfect, and only a couple of prototypes were developed; the only one known is currently in the Firearms Museum in
Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in and the county seat of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Buffalo Bill Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,028 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, making Cod ...
. Lewis Jennings patented an improved version of Hunt's design in 1849, and versions of the Jenning's patent design were built by Robbins & Lawrence Co. (under the direction of shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry) and sold by C. P. Dixon. Horace Smith was also hired by Courtlandt Palmer to improve the Jennings Rifle, patenting the Smith-Jennings in 1851. It is estimated that fewer than 2000 of these two models were made until 1852, when financial troubles ceased production. In 1854, partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson joined with Courtlandt Palmer, the businessman who had purchased the Jennings and Smith-Jennings patent rights, and further improved on the operating mechanism, developing the Smith & Wesson Lever pistol, and a new Volcanic cartridge. Production was in the shop of Horace Smith in
Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic River, Yantic, Shetucket River, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River f ...
. The new cartridge improved upon the Hunt Rocket Ball with the addition of a primer. Originally using the name "Smith & Wesson Company", the name was changed to "Volcanic Repeating Arms Company" in 1855, with the addition of new investors, one of which was Oliver Winchester. The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company obtained all rights for the Volcanic designs (both rifle and pistol versions were in production by this time) as well as the ammunition, from the Smith & Wesson Company. Wesson remained as plant manager for 8 months before rejoining Smith to found the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" upon obtaining the licensing of the Rollin White rear loading cylinder patent. Winchester forced the insolvency of the Volcanic Arms Company in late 1856, took over ownership and moved the plant to
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, where it was reorganized as the New Haven Arms Company in April 1857. B. Tyler Henry was hired as plant superintendent when Robbins & Lawrence suffered financial difficulties and Henry left their employ. While continuing to make the Volcanic rifle and pistol, Henry began to experiment with the new rimfire ammunition, and modified the Volcanic lever action design to use it. The result was the
Henry rifle The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action tubular magazine rifle. It is famous for having been used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and having been the basis for the iconic Winchester rifle of the American Wild West. Designed and introd ...
. By 1866, the company once again reorganized, this time as the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...
, and the name of Winchester became synonymous with lever action rifles.


Gallery

File:Volcanic.JPG, A Volcanic pistol in .41 caliber File:Smith-et-Wesson-Volcanic-1854-1855-cal-31-p1030158.jpg, A Volcanic pistol, circa 1855 in .31 caliber File:Jennings and Volcanic rifles.jpg, The Jennings (top) and Volcanic (bottom) rifles File:Volcanic-Pistol.jpg


In popular culture

Set in 1875, Have Gun Will Travel Radio Episode "Landfall" aired November 08, 1959. A character offers Paladin use of his Jennings rifle. The Rider, the title character of Edward M. Erdelac's Judeocentric Lovecraftian weird west series ''Merkabah Rider'', carries a Volcanic pistol inlaid with gold and silver and bearing various Solomonic talismans and wards, including a jeweled Tree of Sephiroth on the handle. It also features as one of the weapon cards in the
Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
-themed card game Bang!. In the 2005 videogame “ ''Gun''”, a weapon called the “Volcanic 10” is unlocked as a pistol. The pistol is fired and reloaded as a revolver in the game, however, it holds 10 shots. The 2007 videogame "'' Fistful of Frags''" also features the Volcanic pistol as a weapon. The Volcanic pistol is one of the many sidearms the player can get in the 2010
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
videogame '' Red Dead Redemption'', as well as its 2018 prequel, ''
Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in a fictiona ...
'', and its online multiplayer expansion, '' Red Dead Online''.


References


Bibliography

*Flayderman, E. Norman: "Flayderman's Guide to Antique Firearms and their Values 9th edition" Gun Digest Books, 2007 *Houze, Herbert G.: "Winchester Repeating Arms Company; Its History and Development from 1865 to 1981" Krause Publication. 1994 *Lewis, Col. B. R.: "The Volcanic Arms"; American Rifleman, November 1957 *Madis, George: "The Winchester Book"; Art and Reference House. 1985 *McDowell, R. Bruce; "Evolution of the Winchester"; Armory Publications, 1985 *Edsall, James: "Volcanic Firearms - And Their Successors"; Pioneer Press, 1974 *Internet Movie Firearms Database: For a Few Dollars More. Last edit, 15 May 2012.


External links


Volcanic Rifles & Pistols
{{USCWWeapons Privately held companies based in Connecticut 1855 establishments in Connecticut 1856 disestablishments in Connecticut American companies established in 1855 American companies disestablished in 1856 Guns of the American West American Civil War weapons Rifles of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1855 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1856 Pistols of the United States