Original Item: Only One Available. The U.S. Civil war, aside from being one of the bloodiest eras in U.S. history, was also an era of great invention, as many innovations in mechanical design took place. One of these was the "Capping Breech Loader", an ignition design involving using a percussion cap or primer tape to ignite a self-contained cartridge. The Sharps system is probably the most well known of these, but there were many others. As with any new invention, there were some types that were well-received, and some that were not.

The Gibbs carbine is usually thought to be one of the latter, however ONLY 1,052 carbines were ever delivered, so the sample size was not exactly large. Designed by Lucius H. Gibbs of Oberlin, Ohio, and protected under Patent #14057 of January 8, 1856, the development of the carbine was under a VERY dark cloud, and it was plagued by every type of delay imaginable, and some that were beyond that. The design was not particularly revolutionary, more of an improvement on existing designs, utilizing a sliding and pivoting breech, much like Gallager and Maynard designs, the latter of which was probably the inspiration for the design. The delays however were extraordinary, to the point that one might call the carbine "cursed, making theme extremely scarce, with this being the first example we have ever had.

Gibbs seems to have had the first examples of his design made in 1857, which were sent into the U.S. Ordnance Board in 1858, and were found to be adequate, however no contracts were forthcoming, as at the time, there was not a large need. That changed with the outbreak of the civil war, and during the build up, a contract was finally issued, but that was when the trouble started. Strobell & Company, did not return the signed contract, so it was cancelled, and then a further contract was issued by mistake. During the early Civil War contracts were so chaotically issued that the government had to form the Holt-Owen Commission to investigate and review all of the contracts. This was also necessary because many of the "Contractors" were better described as "Speculators", and were not actual manufacturers. The were startups made entirely to get contracts and subcontract out the work.

After the issues with the first contract, another was issued to William F. Brooks of New York City, another speculator, who intended to have W.W. Marston’s Phoenix Armory make the Gibbs carbines and other guns he had a contract for. This company however was ill prepared for organizing large scale operations, and half a year later no carbines had actually been produced. The end result was the mayor of New York, George Opdyke, purchasing the armory to get things going, which actually looked to be working. A new contract was issued, actually being the FOURTH, and production was started under new factory superintendents. They were able to deliver the first 550 Gibbs carbines to the Ordnance Department on May 30, 1863, and the next 502 were delivered on June 24, 1863. 500 additional guns were ready by mid July, however at this point the "curse" would return, in the form of the 1863 New York City Draft Riots, which ran from July 13th to 16th.

With the New York Militia busy fighting in the war, only police were around to control the riots, which were nowhere near enough. After initially being able to protect the Phoenix Armory factory, the police had to pull back, and the rioters burned the factory, along with 500 completed carbines and 6,000 or so in various states of completion. After the large sums of money spent over the 2 years of production, the end result was only 1,052 delivered, which were virtually all put into service. It is confirmed that the 13th and 16th New York Cavalry and the 10th Missouri Cavalry were issued carbines, and certainly other units as well. They were not very well received, as with most designs they were considered inferior to the Spencer and Sharps carbines.

The example we have heard definitely shows signs of use, but is very well preserved, with a lovely patina of age, showing light to moderate service during the war. The design is similar to other "capping breech loader" designs, and features a lever on the bottom with a loop on the end that opens the breech, pushes the barrel forward, and then causes it to "tip up" into loading position. There is a latch that retains the loading lever, which actually looks a bit like a Winchester lever, and the nose cap of the stock serves as the pivot point. The carbine has a very long lock plate with an equally long side plate on the other side, which is fitted with a saddle bar and sliding ring. With the long tang on the breech mechanism, this definitely strengthened the wrist. There is also a three leaf 100/300/500 yard range sight on the top of the barrel.

Compared to other designs, the Gibbs breech design was a bit better, as it has a small cup shaped sleeve on the breech around the ignition channel from the nipple cone, which when the breech is closed fits tightly into the rear of the barrel, giving it a very good breech seal. Due to this the carbine was able to use linen cartridges that burned up during firing, so there was no need to use metal cartridges, which at the time caused all kinds of problems due to most designs lacking an effective ejector.

The carbine still has clear markings on the metalwork, with the rear of the breech assembly marked with the patent information:-

The lock plate is marked with the manufacturer information:-

The carbine is a "tip up" design, with the trigger guard lever opening the breech and sliding the barrel forward until the breech tips up. This allows the linen cartridge to be inserted, after which the breech is closed, and a cap mounted on the nipple to discharge the weapon. This mechanism works well, with no issues noted, and the lock is fully functional, holding at half cock and firing at full. The cleanout screw on the cap bolster is also easily removable, and the slot is still good.

The carbine's metalwork shows a worn aged patina with signs of past peppering and oxidation, now removed, but there is no sign of major pit rust. It definitely was exposed to the elements, and then later cleaned off to remove the rust. We checked the bore, and it is in very good condition, showing a mostly bright finish with strong lands and grooves. There is some past oxidation and fouling, now removed, which is more evident as one gets closer to the muzzle. Still for a Civil War carbine it is in great shape. The wood stock has a lovely color, showing great grain to the American black walnut. It is still quite solid, though there is some cracking on the fore stock area going forward from both the side plate and lock plate. There is also some cracking at the forward end of the breech lever cutout, as well as a small chunk cracked almost off just in front of the cap nipple cone bolster.

A lovely example of an exceedingly hard to find Civil War Carbine, ready to research and display!

Specifications-

Year of Manufacture: 1863
Caliber: .52"
Cartridge Type: Capping Breech Loader
Barrel Length: 22 Inches
Overall Length: 39 Inches
Action type: Side Action Hammer Lock.
Feed System: Top Break Single Shot

The Gallager carbine is an American black powder breechloading rifle produced in the American Civil War. The weapon was designed by Mahlon J. Gallager, who licensed the design to Richardson and Overman of Philadelphia for production. On 31 August 1861 the first weapons were sold to the U.S. Army, eventually reaching a total of 17,782

The Gallager was loaded from the rear with brass cases, which contained the projectile and the propellant. Covered by a disc made of greased felt, the projectile was inserted in the barrel after it was tilted up by a lever, followed by the case, and (like the concurrent muzzleloaders, such as the Springfield) were ignited by percussion cap, which was placed on the bolt face. The brass cases had a paper patch in the base, to prevent powder seepage and still allow the cap to fire the round. The weapon was 0.525 in (13.3 mm) caliber with a 22 in (56 cm) barrel.

The rifle was strongly made, but unpopular with troops. Frequently, the cases stuck due to expansion of the front part and had to be laboriously removed. In July 1862, Brigadier-General J. T. Boyle of Kentucky complained about Gallagher guns, calling them 'worthless'. He stated that 'They snap often, the cartridge hangs in after firing; difficult to get the exploded cartridges out often with screw-driver; men throw them away and take musket or any other arm. They are unquestionably worthless.' He then requested 'Sharps, Wessons, Ballards, or any other kind of carbine.' He mentioned that Wesson carbines can be had for $25 or less from Cincinnati.

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