Did Sioux Indians invent reloading?
Did Native Americans inspire the invention of the removable, center-fire primer that makes reloading possible?
Major Jerome Clark has an amazing tale in the May, 1931 issue of the American Rifleman that suggests it. Here's what he wrote:
"Probably few of our readers now about one of the most important inventions of the period of the early (18)70s --- the invention of the central-fire primer.
"Most of us know that during the Civil War and for some years after, all our cartridges were rimfire, with few exceptions. The Government .50-caliber Springfield, and also the .45, were central-fire, but they had no primer, as we know primers today.
"The firing pin simply made an indentation in the back of the cartridge case, over a little spot of fulminate enclosed in a pocket on the inside of the shell.
"From 1865 to 1876 the Indians were giving the Army a great deal of trouble, making constant forays on the Union Pacific Railway, then in the course of construction. Most of the Indians were armed with short, heavy muzzle-loading rifles of about .40-caliber, with half stock and patch box, which they obtained from the post traders in exchange for furs.
"In several engagements with troops and settlers about 1871 the Sioux captured a number of breech-loading rifles, mostly Springfields of the .50-caliber type. A strict order was issued not to sell any ammunition to them for breech-loading guns, and as far as is known the order was obeyed implicitly.
"However, whenever an Indian got a chance to pick up a fired cartridge case, he saved it, usually to cut up and hammer out into little ornaments to embellish his leggings or tobacco pouch.
"Along about the latter part of (18)71 the troops had a brush with several parties of Sioux, and were surprised to find quite a number of them using Springfield rifles. The mystery was where did they get their ammunition?
"I don't think the question was settled for quite a while, but after a future brush with them some of their empty cases were gathered up and examined, and it was found that the Sioux had been reloading the empty cases that the soldiers had discarded.
"Here is how they solved the problem of the central fire primer: Taking one of their ordinary percussion caps for their muzzle-loaders, they inserted in the open end of it a small piece of gravel. They then forced the cap into a hole punched in the center of the cartridge shell with a round nail or other pointed instrument.
"The piece of gravel served as an anvil under the firing pin to explode the fulminate, and the Indians had very few misfires. These cartridges caused a great deal of comment among Army officers, and specimens were sent to Washington.
"Then came the invention by Colonel Berdan of the central-fire primer, with its own brass anvil fitted inside.
"However, the invention was basically of Sioux origin, and to these Indians we are indebted for starting the practice of reloading, probably a score of years before it would otherwise have been thought of."
Gatofeo notes: Now, I don't know if Major Clark's story is true but it is plausible.
I don't know who Major Jerome Clark is (or more likely, was, considering his report was written more than 70 years ago) but I wonder if verification exists in some old Army report from the early 1870s?
Perhaps some of these "reloaded" Sioux cases still exist in the Smithsonian, private collections or in archaeological finds. They would certainly be easy to spot, with a hole punched in the back of a case and a percussion cap jammed in the hole.
I have an early inside-primed .45-70 cartridge in my collection. To many, the inside-primed .45-70 looks like a rimfire cartridge because no primer appears on the rear.
I believe that reloading this case as above is entirely possible.
The base appears to be thick and strong, requiring quite a strike from a firing pin (which the 1873 Springfield has) to reach the internal primer. This strong base would facilitate reloading with a hole punched through the base and a percussion cap pressed in the hole. Though some gases would certainly escape back through the punched hole, into the firing pin recess, the pressures would be relatively low given the strength of black powder compared to smokeless powder.
An interesting little story, eh? Wonder if it's true? Anyone ever heard of this?
"A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .44!"
Major Jerome Clark has an amazing tale in the May, 1931 issue of the American Rifleman that suggests it. Here's what he wrote:
"Probably few of our readers now about one of the most important inventions of the period of the early (18)70s --- the invention of the central-fire primer.
"Most of us know that during the Civil War and for some years after, all our cartridges were rimfire, with few exceptions. The Government .50-caliber Springfield, and also the .45, were central-fire, but they had no primer, as we know primers today.
"The firing pin simply made an indentation in the back of the cartridge case, over a little spot of fulminate enclosed in a pocket on the inside of the shell.
"From 1865 to 1876 the Indians were giving the Army a great deal of trouble, making constant forays on the Union Pacific Railway, then in the course of construction. Most of the Indians were armed with short, heavy muzzle-loading rifles of about .40-caliber, with half stock and patch box, which they obtained from the post traders in exchange for furs.
"In several engagements with troops and settlers about 1871 the Sioux captured a number of breech-loading rifles, mostly Springfields of the .50-caliber type. A strict order was issued not to sell any ammunition to them for breech-loading guns, and as far as is known the order was obeyed implicitly.
"However, whenever an Indian got a chance to pick up a fired cartridge case, he saved it, usually to cut up and hammer out into little ornaments to embellish his leggings or tobacco pouch.
"Along about the latter part of (18)71 the troops had a brush with several parties of Sioux, and were surprised to find quite a number of them using Springfield rifles. The mystery was where did they get their ammunition?
"I don't think the question was settled for quite a while, but after a future brush with them some of their empty cases were gathered up and examined, and it was found that the Sioux had been reloading the empty cases that the soldiers had discarded.
"Here is how they solved the problem of the central fire primer: Taking one of their ordinary percussion caps for their muzzle-loaders, they inserted in the open end of it a small piece of gravel. They then forced the cap into a hole punched in the center of the cartridge shell with a round nail or other pointed instrument.
"The piece of gravel served as an anvil under the firing pin to explode the fulminate, and the Indians had very few misfires. These cartridges caused a great deal of comment among Army officers, and specimens were sent to Washington.
"Then came the invention by Colonel Berdan of the central-fire primer, with its own brass anvil fitted inside.
"However, the invention was basically of Sioux origin, and to these Indians we are indebted for starting the practice of reloading, probably a score of years before it would otherwise have been thought of."
Gatofeo notes: Now, I don't know if Major Clark's story is true but it is plausible.
I don't know who Major Jerome Clark is (or more likely, was, considering his report was written more than 70 years ago) but I wonder if verification exists in some old Army report from the early 1870s?
Perhaps some of these "reloaded" Sioux cases still exist in the Smithsonian, private collections or in archaeological finds. They would certainly be easy to spot, with a hole punched in the back of a case and a percussion cap jammed in the hole.
I have an early inside-primed .45-70 cartridge in my collection. To many, the inside-primed .45-70 looks like a rimfire cartridge because no primer appears on the rear.
I believe that reloading this case as above is entirely possible.
The base appears to be thick and strong, requiring quite a strike from a firing pin (which the 1873 Springfield has) to reach the internal primer. This strong base would facilitate reloading with a hole punched through the base and a percussion cap pressed in the hole. Though some gases would certainly escape back through the punched hole, into the firing pin recess, the pressures would be relatively low given the strength of black powder compared to smokeless powder.
An interesting little story, eh? Wonder if it's true? Anyone ever heard of this?
"A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .44!"
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Interesting and maybe feasible --- but by people just emerging from the Stone Age???? 0 -
rhmc, by that time a lot of the native american tribes had roughly 80 years of experience with firearms so I guess it is possible that they probably just deduced that by taking used brass and punching a hole in the base and then taking the caps that they would normally use on their muzzle loaders and stick them in the back of the brass that it would probably work the same as the typical centerfire cartridges of the time period.
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Any history written during the 30's is highly suspect. Very little real research was done and next to no archeology. This guy's writing is typical of the nonsense that was published as gospel back then. The Sioux would have gotten their Springfields and the ammo to go with it from troopers they had killed. When they ran out of ammo they went back to their bows and spears until they got hold of another trooper.
80 years? Try about 200. The Hudson's Bay Company had been in the west for nearly 200 years by 1865. The weatern tribes had firearms almost from the very beginning.0 -
Hey HRMC24. If you could come out of the stone age maybe you would know that the indigenous people of North America were here before the great floods 13,000 years ago. The Sioux culture was a very successful one based on Family and Pride. It had very little crime and no need for the currently overflowing prison system (2 million plus). It was a higly organized culture that never went into an economic depression, never destroyed the environment and never slaughtered animals just for the fun of it. Those actions are more stone age than anything the Sioux ever did.
As for how they got ammunition, they probably traded with the Mandans. The Mandans had a trade system that has been tracked around the world. When the first expeditions arrived they found the Mandan had been trading for centuries before they were here. And even though the Mandan were systematically wiped out by small pox, they never were at war with the whites and were trading freely the whole time.
Mad Dog0 -
It presents an interesting question, that the American Indians started the practice of reloading should create a entire new research that would require years of study. For those that say "stone age" I say look to the finest light mounted horse in the world.Hold onto your hair white eyes. 0 -
Gatofeo,may I suggest you send that story to the History Channel and see what they can come up with.
[8D]
ATF0 -
Sorry if I pushed someone's buttons. I am better informed than most about technology, archeology and history. A lot of people want to believe the native Americans, before being drawn into the 17th to 19th centuries by european technology, were living in peace and harmony --- can't believe they were constantly at war with one another and some were cutting out the hearts of their captive with flint knives. As for the Sioux, read about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Cheers 0 -
Perhaps they were getting their banned supplies secretly from the French[:p]
Love them Beavers
SUPPORT THE I.N.S. , THE COUNTRY THEY SAVE COULD BE YOUR OWN0 -
rhmc24 you must be a happy man, because ignorance is bliss and you are definately ignorant. The constant wars you refer to seldom resulted in mass destruction. The pratice of counting coup was used which was to touch your enemy (like tag). There was only one case of a full out assault of one tribe against another and that was against the Arikara who had moved into Sioux territory in North central South Dakota.
As for being at war constantly, you should be thankful. The highest decorated soldier in our state history (North Dakota) was a Devils Lake Sioux member who single handedly saved sixty members of his battalion. There are the code talkers (Sioux did this also)and the Native American volunteers in wars is about 6 times any other group. Last year 9 out of 10 of the White Shield ND (Native American school) graduating boys enlisted in the service because of 9/11. Also the first person to die in operation Iraq Freedom was a Hopi woman who only asked that someone look after her children.
As for cutting out hearts with knives. What about Jerimiah Johnson aka "Liver eating Johnson" who killed teenage Crow indians and ate their livers? Is that more civilized to you. Or maybe you prefer the term Redskin itself. It comes from the bounty pratice of skinning Indians hides for cash rewards. Same as the pratice of scalping that was used against the indians for cash rewards.
Your self imposed knowledge of Native American history is a joke. Maybe you could take a real class from my mother, who has a Doctorate and teaches at Cornell University (an Ivy league school) before you volunteer your ingnorance next time.
Mad Dog0 -
C'mon y'all lets keep it civil. Discuss facts, don't trade jabs. No topic is worth driving wedges between folks here.[B)]
Love them Beavers
SUPPORT THE I.N.S. , THE COUNTRY THEY SAVE COULD BE YOUR OWN0
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