BREECH MUZZLE LOADING
From the Brady Sharpshooters site.
First Sergeant Charles L. Rice

Born Detroit, MI. Enlisted in First company Sharpshooters, attached to Sixteenth Infantry,
as Sergeant, Sept. 16, 1861, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Sept. 16, 1861.
Joined regiment at Hall's Hill, Va., Feb. 14, 1862. First Sergeant. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Nov. 1, 1862.
Mustered Nov. 1, 1862. Commissioned First Lieutenant Jan. 15, 1863. Mustered Jan. 15, 1863.
Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Aug. 14, 1863.

Notes on the rifle in the photo of Sgt. Rice:

The rifle Sgt. Rice is holding is not an issue rifle such as the Springfield or Enfield but a custom built target rifle, possibly a schuetzen rifle. The feature that identifies this rifle is the false muzzle, clearly visible at the top of the rifle. This makes it extremely unlikely that the rifle was a photographers prop, as was common in period photographs.
The false muzzle was invented by the famous American telescope maker, Mr.Alvin Clark, while he was experimenting with early telescopic sight designs. It was licensed to gun maker Edwin Wesson. This false muzzle covers the muzzle, and contains a deeply chamfered crown and tapered bore to start the ball easily and perfectly. Once loaded, the false muzzle is removed to allow the ball to be fired from a perfectly square sharp muzzle, with no crown. A sharp muzzle is proven to give best accuracy, but is impossible to load, and easily damaged by careless handling. False muzzles have a protruding handle, called a sight block, which alerts the shooter if he has failed to remove the false muzzle before firing. The false muzzle must be made from the barrel blank, and cut rifled as part of the barrel. A lost false muzzle cannot be replaced. This is an expensive feature, not found on lesser target rifles. It dates from the 1840 period. It provides a great advantage in accuracy over the conventional crowned muzzle. It is unfortunate the rest of the rifle cannot be seen clearly, particularly the rear sight (most likely a globe sight) and the stock.
Picture courtesy of Michigan State Archives

     The caplock or percussion muzzle loading target rifles frequently were equipped with a false muzzle to eliminate or minimize damage to the bullet as it was loaded into the barrel.
Here's a modern day caplock schuetzen rifle belonging to Bruce Peglow.  The barrel was made by Jim Goodoien of Blaine, MN. Stock wood was provided by Dunlap Woodcrafts of Virginia. Color case-hardening by Turnbull restorations, New York. The rifle was stocked and finished by Bruce about four years back.


     

The false muzzle is a piece of rifle barrel about an inch and a half long that mounts on the muzzle of the barrel and is held in alignment with pins.  In the picture the end of the rifle barrel is on the left and the false muzzle is on the right. The round doodad sticking up from the false muzzle is intended to block the sights, to keep the shooter from firing the rifle with the false muzzle attached.




This photo shows the rifle barrel with the false muzzle and the short starter in place. The short starter plug is machined to the shape of the bullet nose.
The false muzzle is tapered to ease entry of the bullet into the rifling of the barrel.



In use, the powder charge is poured into the barrel; the false muzzle is placed on the end of the barrel, the bullet is started into the false muzzle, the short starter is placed over the false muzzle and the bullet is started into the rifling by pushing the short starter into the false muzzle and barrel. Then a ramrod is used to push the bullet down onto the powder charge.



The object of the exercise is to allow the shooter to load the bullet into the rifle barrel without deforming the bullet in any way.
Percussion rifles using false muzzles and short starters were used from the time of the invention of the false muzzle by Alvin Clark in ??1840???? to today when the ultimate in accuracy is sought..




After the introduction of breech-loading rifles, some barrel makers made target rifles with false muzzles. These barrel makers included George Schoyen, Harry Pope and Axel Peterson.

Here are pictures of a false muzzle and short starter that are on a Ballard Schuetzen rifle, rebarreled with a Stevens barrel at the Stevens factory, by Harry Pope. (I think I got that right.) Photos courtesy of Hal Prucha.








An empty cartridge case was placed in the rifle chamber.
The rifle was stood up, the false muzzle was placed on the end of the muzzle, a bullet was placed in the false muzzle, and short starter was used to push the bullet into the barrel, the short starter and false muzzle were removed and a ramrod marked carefully were used to push the bullet into the barrel and down to a specific distance from the muzzle and in front of the cartridge.
The theory was that loading the bullet into the muzzle of the rifle and pushing it down to near the front of the cartridge case would clean the bore of any black powder fouling and would eliminate the dreaded accuracy-destroying fins. (Before I found the piece on First Sergeant Charles L. Rice, above, I had never heard the contention that a flat, square, not-crowned barrel gave best accuracy.)
The breech-muzzle loading technique has never caught on with the present day breech loading schuetzen rifle crowd, for a number of reasons.. With smokeless powder there isn't a

Do I understand that Alvin (Alvan) Clark the astronomer and observatory telescope maker is the same person who invented the false-muzzle?   Now that IS interesting, where might I read more about Mr. Clark.

The astronomer Alvin Clark is the same as the false muzzle Alvin Clark.  I believe i saw an article about Clark in the ASSRA Jounal a few years ago.  Or was it in Sky and Telescope?

Chris Jens