POTD: Code Carbine! – The Muzzy and Morse Carbine
Sam.S 04.24.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a very cool point in American cartridge history. This is the Morse Carbine, otherwise known as the Morse & Muzzy Carbine or Muzzy & Morse Carbine. George W. Morse (not to be confused with Morse Code) is considered the inventor of full-on modern metallic centerfire cartridges in America. Prior to this, there were all kinds of metallic cartridges that not had yet placed the primer in the rear of the cartridge, but Morse did. He introduced this with his Morse Carbine which he submitted to military trials. It did very well and with its new metallic cartridge performed such feats as being submerged underwater, removed, then fired. The military ultimately went with the cheaper Burnside carbine which we previously covered.
“The action of this carbine is covered by 1856 and 1858 patents by George W. Morse of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Around 655 conversions based on Morse’s designs were manufactured in limited numbers at the national armories and another variation was manufactured during the Civil War for the Confederate States in South Carolina. The sporting guns based on Morse’s patents were manufactured by Muzzy & Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts, in the late 1850s to around 1861 in rifle, carbine, or shotgun configurations. They can be quickly taken down and fitted with alternative barrels, and at least one complete set with a barrel of each type is known. All of the Morse firearms are very, very rare and seldom even seen, let alone offered in a public auction. It has a small combination globe and blade front sight, “MUZZY & CO. WORCESTER” on top ahead of the notch and folding ladder rear sight, “MORSE’S PATENT. [double stamped]/OCT. 20. 1856” on the tail of the lever, the matching serial number “66” or “99” on the inside of the lever and several other components, scroll and border engraving, a Schnabel forend, and smooth buttstock with an oval “MD” monogram stamp.”
Lot 3208: Scarce Muzzy & Co. Morse Patent Breech Loading Sporting Carbine. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/76/3208/scarce-muzzy-co-morse-patent-breech-loading-sporting-carbine.
