POTD: A Lesser Known Civil War Repeater – Ball Repeating Carbine
Sam.S 05.11.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have yet another small arm that was produced during the American Civil War for a very short period of time. This is the Ball Carbine. The Ball Repeating Carbine was a Union-produced rifle chambered for the 56-50 Spencer cartridge. It utilized a tubular magazine that was located under the handguard and loaded from the breech. 1000 of these repeating carbines were ordered by the Union but they were not delivered until just before the war ended. It is unknown exactly how many were produced in total but they are extremely rare today.
“This is an example of a Civil War era Ball Repeating Carbine that was manufactured by Lamson & Co. of Windsor, Vermont, between 1864 and 1865. The Ball carbine featured a lever action and 7-shot tube magazine. The carbine has a near full length walnut forearm secured by two barrel bands and has a steel cleaning rod mounted on the right side of the forearm. The barrel has a iron half-moon front sight and two leaf rear sight with sight notches marked “1”, “4” and “6.” A sling bar with ring is mounted on the left side of the receiver. The carbine has a brown finish on the barrel and color casehardened forearm cap, barrel band, receiver, breechblock, hammer, lever, trigger and buttplate. The screws and small components are niter blue. The stock and forearm are straight grain American walnut. The left side of the receiver is marked “E.G. LAMSON & CO./WINDSOR VT./U.S./BALLS PATENT/JUNE 23 1863/MARCH 15 1864″ ahead of the sling bar mount. These carbines were delivered in May 1865.”
Lot 91: Outstanding Civil War Ball Repeating Carbine. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/91/outstanding-civil-war-ball-repeating-carbine.
