Jack Hinson's rifle and other Civil War "sniper" rifles

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crazyjennyblack

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About a month ago, a friend of mine bought this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Hinsons-One-Man-Civil-Sniper/dp/1589806409

I managed to borrow it from him for a bit, and it's been an interesting read. To sum it up - A farmer's two sons are executed in the Civil War by Union soldiers. He commissions a .50 caliber heavy rifle, and uses it to kill dozens of Union officers.

So, I've looked up the rifle, and haven't found any decent pictures of it. We know the barrel length, and the fact that the .50 barrel is 1.5" in diameter. The gun overall weighs 18 lbs. Do we have any other more detailed photographs of the rifle? What about other rifles of similar dimensions and purpose during the war?

What would it take to build a special long-range black powder rifle?
 
Michael-Couch-with-Jack-Hinson-Rifle.jpg



http://www.timesexaminer.com/histor...ith-rifle-used-by-revenge-sniper-jack-hinson-

You might be able to contact the owner.
 
It wouldn't be hard to build a gun like that. I read the book and think it shoots some sort of conical ball. There's no way a round ball rifle can consistently shoot well at 500 yards.

There are many builders who can build you a rifle like that. I wanted to build a 50 caliber 1:24 twist octagon barrel conical gun but when I found about the price of the barrel, I passed. First was the price which would have been over $300. Second was the wait. I needed it for class where we required either to make an octagon barrel or to flute a barrel.

I cheaped out and bout a 22 LR barrel which I tapered and did a half octagon on. Cost was about $70.
 
I read that during the American Revolution long smoothbore "wall" guns existed that could put a 1" lead ball in a target the size of a piece of writing paper at 600 + yards. Reportedly one such wall gun was used in the defense of the Alamo and the remains of that gun were found during construction work around the Alamo environs many years later. That relic is in another Texas museum
 
The gun sounds like a pretty conventional long range target rifle, probably using a false muzzle and a bullet starter. Those rifles used conical balls, never round balls, and often paper patches.

Lucian Cary wrote a series of stories about that kind of shooting which were reprinted in several issues of the Gun Digest years ago, and later appeared in the Gun Digest Treasury.

As a side note, it is too bad that the modern GD does not print or even reprint quality material like that. IIRC, the last issue I bothered to buy was full of "how I got my deer" trash, of no interest to anyone with a serious interest in guns.

Jim
 
"Hey, Hey, Cap'n Jack..."

I have thought it to be a "Pill" rifle, That would be one to use an elongated ball

I once handled the wall gun in the National History Museum in DC that was from the Lake Erie battles. It was to be used form something like an oar lock and was for punching holes in long boats. 13 lands and grooves. 1 inch or 25 mm if I recall correctly.

-kBob
 
I've looked into slug guns (made a thread about them a few weeks ago) but the information is scarce. Those wall guns sound interesting.

Not sure if Jack Hinson's rifle had a false muzzle on it or not. I can't find anywhere online where I could order a barrel quite that thick. The best I've seen in .50 is 1" thick. I can't even imagine where I could find a wall gun barrel :(
 
I agree, not a lot of info on slug guns on the net. There are a lot of older guys that don't get on the net, I am guessing. I would love to make the trip to friendship or cody. I am guessing that is where you can get some first-hand info.
 
The range for shot that killed Union General Sedgwick was estimated to be about 800-1,000 yards, but some claim from 500 yards to over 1/2 mile. CSA sharp shooter Ben Powell was the most likely one to have killed General Sedgewick. General Sedgwick came up to his men all laying on the ground, he asked why? One replied there was a enemy sharp shooter firing from the edge of trees across the open field. The generals words that have gone down in history were,
boys, they could not hit an elephant from there.
Click to expand...
There was a whistling sound, a dull thud, and Sedgwick fell dead to the ground shot through the head,

http://www.sedgwick.org/na/families/robert1613/B/2/9/2/powell-benjaminm1841.html#augusta

Ben Powell’s letter to his wife describes the incident.

http://www.sedgwick.org/na/families/robert1613/B/2/9/2/powell-benjaminm1841.html#bmpletter

At the battle of Second Manassas Col. Barnes placed me in command of the Infirmary Corps in which capacity I served until a few days before the battle of Gettysburg when I was presented with a long-range Whitworth rifle with a telescope and globe sights and with a roving commission as an independent sharpshooter and scout. This rifle killed Gen. Sedgwick at Spottsylvania Court House.
Click to expand...


http://www.sedgwick.org/na/families/robert1613/B/2/9/2/B292-sedgwick-gen-john-death.html

Officer of Sedgwick’s staff decribes the death of the general.
 
elhombreconnonombre - have you ever heard of someone making a gun out of hydraulic piping? That doesn't sound terribly safe. Where would one even get a pipe like that to begin with? Might be fun to use on to fire of light blank loads or something.


Regarding the Whitworth rifle, didn't they use that odd hexagonal bullet? What kind of other marksman rifles were used during the war? I know of the Sharps and the Whitworth, but I've heard that a large number were actually brought by private individuals and many weighed 15-30 lbs.
 
The 1" bore rifles sound like what was referred to as a "Swivel Gun" in the early 1800's. Lewis and Clarke had one on their keel boat. There is also one on display at the old fort in St Augustine. I don't think a person would fire one of those from a shoulder.
 
crazyjennyblack
There is a cottage industry on the Indian subcontinent refurbing old British and colonial made Enfields and Martini Henry military rifles from the colonial period armories and exporting them worldwide. If barrels need replacing, it has been reported that high pressure hydraulic tubing salvaged from breaking up old ocean going vessels are used. That for sure sounds sketchy, bit it is being done and I understand these barrels are proofed.
 
If anyone wants to learn about shooting a muzzle loading snipers rifle, target gun and false muzzles read the book, "The Muzzle Loading Caplock Rifle" by Ned Roberts.
 
crazyjennyblack said:
I've looked into slug guns (made a thread about them a few weeks ago) but the information is scarce. Those wall guns sound interesting.

Not sure if Jack Hinson's rifle had a false muzzle on it or not. I can't find anywhere online where I could order a barrel quite that thick. The best I've seen in .50 is 1" thick. I can't even imagine where I could find a wall gun barrel :(
Click to expand...
Have you tried contacting a ML Sutler? I remember seeing heavy barrels at the Log Cabin Shop, 1 1/2" across the flats and in 45 and 50 caliber. I know the slug gun is still shot at Friendship in the Nationals so they are available.
 
Ben Powell did not kill "Papa" Sedgwick. Powell claimed to have shot an officer who was on his horse. Sedgwick was on foot at the time he was shot. I discuss this in my book on the black powder sharpshooter.

BTW, for those who want to see the actual guns, the Smithsonian used to have on display a "target telescope rifle" that was carried by a Union sharpshooter (Edwin Stancliffe of the 1st New York Sharp Shooter Battalion). Gettysburg National Battlefield Park had several sharpshooter rifles on display. The Museum of Tennessee (Nashville) has a Whitworth displayed. The Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, VA) has a Kerr (and I think a Whitworth). The Thunderbirds (Infantry Division) has a documented Whitworth on display. It is about the only Confederate Whitworth with provenance. Finally, the West Point Army Museum has several long range guns in their collection.
 
Most of the muzzle loading places online sell generic stuff. Green Mountain, Colerain, Rayl, and Lyman brand barrels are what is sold. None of those manufacturers have anything thicker than 1" thick, or 1.2" at the absolute maximum (and those aren't for .50 cal).

I've often wondered about making a muzzleloader slug gun out of a 50 bmg barrel blank and seeing where that takes me, but most of those barrels aren't as long as slug gun barrels. I also wonder about the twist rate. 50 bmg twist rate is 1 in 15, and standard 50 black powder for conicals and sabots is about 1 in 20 or 1 in 24. IDK if the faster twist would help or hurt on a slug gun.

What twist rate did Civil War era long-range weapons use?

I ran into a picture of a "Morgan James" rifle. Anyone know how many were made and the specs?
 

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Whitworth tested twists from 1/1" to 1/120 before settling on 1/20 for the rifle that bears his name.

Many rifles of 45 caliber use 18-22" twists. I am not sure what was used in 50 caliber rifles. A lot would depend on the length of the slug you intend to use.
 
For the life of me I can't remember what it was called but the Swedes had an underhammer rifle issued to its Navy that supposedly shot out to 800 yards. It used Hexagonal Rifling and was said to have been used in the Civil War. I saw it on one of the storage unit buying shows but never got around to looking it up.

As I understand it the hexagonal rifling was some great stuff with black powder long distance rifles. From there it was about understanding bullet drop and having good telescopic sights. With today's modern sights I'd don't think that would be too hard to accomplish supposing someone had a quality made rifle barrel that could stand up to a seventy grain load over a 300 grain lead conical.
 
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