Some old Photos for your enjoyment

[Pistolero]

Momma said
"Go get me some meat for dinner, here is the rifle and two shells. Get to it, boy."

And he did. They will eat well tonight.

Few fat folks in those days.

Depending on the household budget, may have been ONE shell. (I know, cartridge, but that
is what folks called them back then) or CATriges.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Grant was a failed grocer and a drunk. But he was a heck of a fighting general.
far better than the peacetime political generals like McClellan.

Someone, I think the Secy of War, told Lincoln. "Grant is a problem, he drinks
a bottle of bourbon every day." Lincoln replied, "Find out what brand he drinks
and get each of my other generals a case or two."

And "I can't spare him. He fights."

Bill

 

[KeithB]

re post #18: All riveted construction, not a weld anywhere.

 

[Pistolero]

Good point, Keith.

Carbide, to make acetylene wasn't invented until about the turn of the century,
first used for lighting, cars, mines, even homes.
I believe the first welding technology was oxy-acetylene, invented about
WW1 time frame. Cast it , or forge it for big solid pieces.

So, if you wanted to stick two pieces of metal together in 1860, you either forge
welded them like a blacksmith could, for small pieces, or riveted or bolted. I don't
think bolts were too easy to make cheaply, either, so riveting would have been far less
expensive, I imagine. No idea when modern thread rolling machines were perfected,
but I have watched them work on "How It's Made" on TV and it is flat out amazing
to see them roll threads onto a bolt blank about one or two per second.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Ok, looked it up. Process to make calcium carbide invented in 1892, home lighting applications
started in 1894, then to bicycles the next year. Union Carbide bought the patents......and the rest
was history. I used to for for UCC many years ago.

So, on welding possible in 1850s and 60s beyond blacksmith hammer welding, near as I
can tell.

Very early bolt making machinery in 1870s. Looks like about when the price started dropping
and standardization would be starting.

http://www.nationalmachinery.com/about-us/history

Whitworth (British thread) standards in 1840s, used in USA to some extent, 55 degree.
US threads of 60 degree form were common, too. Metric standards, also 60 degrees
were standardized in 1898, but not adopted in the USA. Interesting to note that
Mauser bbls are Whitworth 55 deg threads, not metric. SAE threads created about WW1, then
WW2 threw a monkey wrench, trying to build and use weapon systems made with
Brit Whitworth, Canadian (?Whitworth?) and US SAE threads....big PITA for Allies. Unified
Thread Standard created, UNC and UNF (unified national coarse and fine) used today,
along with metric.
I think bolts were nonstandard and expensive in 1850s and 60s, rivets would be way
easier.

We are spoiled. Go and buy a bag of Grade 8 bolts which are totally interchangable
and strong as heck for a low price. The old timers would have loved to have even
the simple, basic stuff we take for granted.

And no dead horses laying in the road, or even horse apples.

Bill

 

[JWFilips]

OK A few more from Shorpy.com:

August 1942. "Training in marksmanship helps girls at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles develop into responsible women. Part of Victory Corps activities there, rifle practice encourages girls to be accurate in handling firearms. Practicing on the rifle range in the school's basement."


1925. "Girls' rifle team, George Washington University below:



Just wonder what has happened to the Girls Shooting Teams now a days?
Be these young girls made their Dads real proud back then!

 

[JWFilips]

OK This Shorpy.com image was too good not to post!

Nov. 3, 1913. "Shooting bull, Central Park." 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Headline in the New York Times:
MAN IS SHOT DEAD IN CHASE FOR STEER Frenzied Animal Tears Down Fifth Avenue, Police Shooting From Taxicabs. SEVEN OTHERS SCATTER Wild Bullet Slays a Watchman -- Waiter Is Wounded -- All the Beeves Caught or Killed.
The steer which caused the excitement in Fifth Avenue was one of eight which escaped from the yards of the New York Stock Company at Sixtieth Street and the North River. In the pursuit another man was wounded, a policeman was trampled on, and a delivery wagon was wrecked. The excitement began about 4 o'clock yesterday morning and did not end until five hours later, when the last steer was shot to death in Central Park. The steer which alarmed Fifth Avenue was one of the wildest of the lot, and it was a police bullet fired at it which went wild and killed George Beattie, night watchman of the building under construction at 24 East 55th Street. ... The steer, bleeding from wounds, turned into Fifty-Fifth Street, followed by a string of revolver-popping automobiles. ... According to stockyard authorities, about 200 short-horn Oregon steers were unloaded yesterday morning, consigned to various butchers in the city ...

 

[Pistolero]

1903 Springfield .22, it looks like in the top photo, the bottom looks like a mix,
all different types. Some 'musket' stocked, others short stocks like the 1903 .22.

Good thing to teach women to shoot.

Good grief, every idiot in town popping shots at steers? Pretty crazy times.
Lucky more weren't killed.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Some look like my old 52 Winchester.

On the beef running loose in NYC. I wonder if they still had Teddy Roosevelts issue 32 S+W's then? Not really my first choice for popping an angry beef!

 

[GRMPS]

The Battle of Antietam was fought around the Dunker Church near Sharpsburg, Maryland. It was the first major battle to take place within Union territory, and remains the

 

[GRMPS]

The president’s box in Ford’s Theater

 

[GRMPS]

This is the 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry, parading through Camp William Penn in Pennsylvania, 1865

 

[Bret4207]

And now you know why it's called a "board walk".

 

[JWFilips]

Another Shorpy.com find:

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Vixen, Maxim machine gun and gunner Smith, who fired 400 consecutive shots at Battle of Santiago de Cuba, July 3, 1898." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company.

 

[Jeff H]

Hmmm. Hunting rabbits on bicycles?

That's sporting!

Oh, yeah, much more challenging that way - if you think rabbits can run fast, you oughta see how much faster they are on a bicycle.

 

[JWFilips]

1917. "U.S. Navy Yard, Washington. Sight shop, big gun section." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

 

[KeithB]

Must have been stopped down for depth of field (and those old shops weren't all that well lit anyway). Note the blurred man on lower right.

 

[oscarflytyer]

View attachment 7341
photo shows the execution of Henry Wirz, a Confederate captain.

IMR-4064 was semi-all-right, I want to give IMR-4320 and

Sadly I knew what this one was w/o reading the caption. He was a scapegoat. Damned shame. I have a very good thesis paper (not mine) on the subject I can share if anyone is a Civil War history buff and interested.

 

[oscarflytyer]

1917. "U.S. Navy Yard, Washington. Sight shop, big gun section." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

WOW! That is a very cool photo!

 

[oscarflytyer]

On the beef running loose in NYC. I wonder if they still had Teddy Roosevelts issue 32 S+W's then? Not really my first choice for popping an angry beef!

I have a Smith 32 S&W LONG, and I don't think there is any way I would be dumb enough to try and shoot/stop a big cow like that with it! Not even a friendly one! And, yeah, I know, they used to shoot them b/n the eyes w/ a 22 at 12" for slaughter.

Well, very funny family story (sadly, no UTube back when, if only!!!). So... story goes, my uncle (little brother) has a cow roped for slaughter. My Dad (big brother), is to shoot it with the 22 rifle. Being what big brothers are, he decided to show off and held the rifle with one hand. As he pulled the trigger, said cow turned its head. Ruh ROH! 22 rd glancing off a (NOW MAD!) Cow's head. Oh yeah, and little brother still is attached to rope, still attached to now REALLY PISSED OFF said Cow! You can guess the rest! UTube, if only...!