Original Item: Only One Available. Developed by LOUIS TRIPLETT and WILLIAM SCOTT of Columbia, Kentucky and manufactured under contract by the Meriden Manufacturing Company of Meriden, Ct. This is a Repeating Rifle enclosing a 7 Shot tubular magazine inside the wood butt. It is loaded from the front once the swivel breech of the action is fully opened. These were all chambered for the .56-50 Spencer cartridge, referred to as .50 caliber. The serial number is marked on right rear of the action, and on this example is 1291, out of a total production of about 5000.

The Triplett & Scott guns were made in two lengths; a short 38 inch carbine with a 22 inch barrel, and a rifle such as this, which is just over 46 inches long with a 30 inch barrel. 2,000 carbines and 3,000 rifles were ordered January 2, 1865, all delivered by April 1865.

This is a lovely example of the Kentucky National Guard contract rifle, and the breech tang is still marked with the patent information, which is still crisp:

TRIPLETT & SCOTT
PATENT DEC. 6, 1864

The left side of the rear action is marked with the manufacturer information, which is still clear as well:

MERIDEN MAN'FG. CO.
MERIDEN CONN.

The left side of the breech is clearly marked with KENTUCKY, indicating that this was part of the Kentucky National Guard order.

The condition of this example is quite good, showing a lovely patina of age on the metalwork, so it definitely looks to have seen a good amount of service. There is some past peppering on the magazine housing, as well as some past pitting on the butt plate, but overall it is very nice, with nothing out of line with use in service. Early breech loading firearms were notorious for having a poor gas seal, which resulted in powder fouling around the breech, however we can see relatively little such damage on this example. The bore is actually quite nice, with clear crisp lands and grooves and a partly bright finish. There is past fouling and oxidation in the grooves, but nothing out of line from usual wear from service.

We checked the action, and it looks to be functional, though we have no way of testing it. The receiver breaks open and rotates correctly, with the ejector presenting and retracting as it rotates. The magazine door is properly pushed out of the way, and quickly closes back up correctly, and the follower and spring are still present. The lock is fully functional, holding at half cock and firing only at full. The breech lock looks to be fully functional, though there is definitely some play in the breech joint due to wear. Both sights are present, however the rear sight leaf is bent and the slider missing.

The stocks are in good shape, with the black walnut showing a lovely aged red brown color. The fore stock is in very good condition, without any major damage or wear, We did note that the retaining band looks to be from a Springfield Model 1884 trapdoor, as it has the inlet on the top for the Buffington sight. The butt stock shows cracking and repairs on the left side, which is definitely a common place to see these. The wood is very thin there due to the magazine tube, and over time the wood can shrink, leading to cracks. There are also repairs on the right side by the receiver, with some metal pins to help retain a large chunk that broke free. The rear sling swivel on the bottom of the stock is present, and like most we see the butt plate tang swivel has been removed, though the whole was plugged.

A very nice example of a rare late Civil War issue rifle with a very interesting reloading system. Ready to display!

Specifications-

Years of Manufacture: 1864 - early 1865
Caliber: .56-50 Spencer Centerfire (.50 Spencer Carbine)
Ammunition Type: Centerfire Cartridge
Barrel Length: 30 inches
Overall Length: 46 inches
Action: Rotating Action with Manual Hammer
Feed System: 7 Round Tube Magazine

History and overview of the Triplett & Scott "Kentucky" Carbine-

The Triplett & Scott was a rather unusual piece during its era, as virtually all of its contemporaries were single shot firearms. The Triplett & Scott, on the other hand, was a repeating carbine holding seven shots in the magazine. The design itself consisted of a two parts, where the entire barrel, breech etc. would be attached to the stock (and other components) via a revolving hinge, which allowed the barrel to be twisted clockwise in order to allow the spent cartridge to be ejected. When this cartridge was ejected the barrel would be twisted further towards clockwise, releasing a spring latch which loaded the next cartridge. The barrel was then twisted anti-clockwise, locking the barrel in position for firing.

This design required the magazine, tubular in design, to be mounted within the buttstock. This presented two problems: firstly that the magazine could not be removed, meaning the shooter would have to reload the magazine with each cartridge one at a time; and secondly this design severely weakened the buttstock. The area around the wrist of the stock was almost entirely taken up by the magazine, leaving little wood joining it to rest of the stock, often causing the stock to snap under little stress.

Otherwise the Triplett & Scott was rather uniform to any other carbine of the era, with a blued, five groove rifled barrel and basic iron sights. The action resembled the familiar percussion lock design, although it had been modified so that the hammer would strike a firing pin, meaning that the Triplett & Scott could use metallic rimfire cartridges instead of the more familiar paper cartridges.

Records show the initial customer was the Kentucky National Guard but quickly followed by a 5,000 gun contract from the U.S. War Department. All 5,000 of these carbines were delivered before the War ended in April 1865. According to the records accessed on the Internet most of the initial Government delivery were issued to General Sherman's troops for their Campaign through the South when they burned ATLANTA.

Sadly interest waned once the Civil War concluded making this most interesting forward thinking Repeating Carbine hard to find today. In nice condition ready to display. An extremely interesting piece!

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IMA considers all of our antique guns as non-firing, inoperable and/or inert. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 921(a)(16) defines antique firearms as all guns made prior to 1899. This law exempts antique firearms from any form of gun control or special engineering because they are not legally considered firearms. No FFL, C&R or any license is required to possess, transport, sell or trade Antique guns. All rifles and muskets sold by IMA that were manufactured prior to 1899 are considered Antiques by the US BATF (United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). Therefore, all of IMA's Antique guns may be shipped to all US States and most nations around the world.

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