Weapons named after people

There have been a lot of warships named after people, including every destroyer and destroyer escort in the US Navy.

 

Wow . Maybe thread should have been "weapons not named after peeps". ...Just have to say: Did you see the bayonet for the Baker Rifle? Now that's a bayonet.... Winchester was worried about bad Karma generated by the rifle killing so many. She built a house maybe not everyone knows about :
Welcome - The world famous Winchester Mystery House
She may have been crazy.

 

Naaaaaaaaaah...the very picture of sanity! Sweet crib, though.

...did I just say "crib"? Dang.

 

Yes Poppy. A truly endless thread, unwittingly opened. A small crack expanded quickly to become a raging torrent.

I wonder how many of these people were pacifists at heart? Did they really mean for their names to be linked to weapons of human destruction for evermore? The pursuit of fame in any century is an amazing thing!

 

Do I get any credit for things like Pierce Arrow, Bowie Knife, Gillete Razor, Bobbie Pin, and Billy Club?

 

Yes you do Victor....Ships/ planes/tanks should not be included as they are platforms named after people. Those named platforms probably use several other weapons aboard named after individuals as well. Single weapons only.... There we be... I too have a weapons grade gas named after me. However, only I find the humor when that gas is released.

 

I have a friend today who lives in San Jose, he has been there for about three decades. I have visited him a couple of times over the years, and he lives only a few miles away from the "Winchester" estate. It is truly bizarre and yet beautiful, but was she "crazy"? Perhaps haunted by a conscience of the deaths her antecedents patents had produced. She was one of those women who felt guilt (after a fashion) for ill gotten (death and destruction) wealth, rather than just un-earned wealth itself.

Of course she also had to contend with the fact that old man Winchester himself was a shirt maker who literally "stole" the idea from a man named Benjamin Henry who worked for him.

 

Excellent info BD. Maybe you could put a link regarding Winchester and his employee? ..Never heard that angle...How did she "contend" with hubby stealing an idea? Was she sued by same employee for stealing idea? Was the public aware the idea may have been stolen and gave her grief?

 

The odd one out in this list of tanks is the Pershing, it was the first US tank to be officially given a name by the US authorities, after they finally got fed up with the British naming all their tanks for them.

 

I don't have a link to most of those connections in the Winchester family, and Winchester didn't really "steal" the idea of the Henry lever action, he simply bankrolled it, and when it failed ended up owning the dang thing as an idea and product. My own use of the word "stole" was inappropriate, and I shouldn't have used it. However, the man (Winchester) wasn't a gunsmith, nor a weapons designer. He was making his own money in the shirt business, and only speculated on the Henry rifle as an investment.

1860 Henry Rifle

The Henry rifle was created in 1860 the year before the American Civil War. B. Tyler Henry invented both the cartridge and the rifle that are known by his name. The 44 Henry rimfire cartridge was the first practical fully complete self-contained metallic cartridge. The Henry Rifle was a further development of prior attempts to make a repeating firearm.

B. Tyler Henry invented the rifle prior to the Civil War

The metallic (copper or brass) case of the cartridge effectively sealed the breech of the gun to contain the hot propellent gases. The priming element was inside a folded rim. The firing pin struck the rim without piercing it. The 22 Short rimfire dates from a few years earlier, but lacked power for practical self defense. Henry was able to make a mass produced cartridge with a significant powder charge.

The 44 Henry cartridge was comparable in power and competitive with military pistols, but was still under strength for military shoulder arms and buffalo hunting. The majority of Civil War military shoulder arms fired a bullet between 350 and 500 grains propelled by 40 to 60 grains of powder. Using modern reloading components, the 44 Henry load of a 200 grain bullet and 26 to 28 grains of black powder can be readily duplicated using the 44 Magnum cartridge case. The 44 Special can be used if the bullet is seated out to the same cartridge length as the 44 Magnum.

The 44 Henry rifle was carried in the Civil War but was not widely accepted nor popular with the Army. And the Army could not readily transport the extra weight of all the ammunition the soldiers would shoot from a repeating firearm.

The Henry was a little tedious to load. The magazine was a tube under the barrel and loaded from the front end. The magazine tube was rendered delicate for military service by a lengthwise slot on the lower side. The slot is necessary for retracting the follower and spring into the front end section for reloading. The slot and follower precluded a wooden forestock.

A few shots rapid fire on a sunny summer day would make the barrel too hot to hold. The average man could shoot all 15 shots of the Henry rifle in about a dozen seconds. The Henry did not have a wooden stock at the front end to protect the shooter's hand from a hot barrel.

A successful businessman arranged a bank loan to Henry's company. The loan was secured by a lien against Henry's and the businessman's homes. When the company failed financially after the Civil War was over, the businessman Oliver Winchester bought the bank note against Henry's house. Frustrated by the inventor and poor sales after the War, Oliver Winchester directed the rifle be improved with a loading gate in the receiver (at the back end of the magazine) for easier reloading and a wooden forestock to protect the shooter's hand. The result was the 1866 Winchester as the first in the long line of Winchester rifles. The term "Model 1866" wasn't applied until the next model of Winchester came out in 1873. Until then, there was only one "Winchester."

The last of the new 1866 Winchesters was shipped around 1915 to a foreign buyer. The manufacture of the 44 Henry rimfire cartridge was discontinued by the big ammunition companies in 1934 during the Great Depression.

Approximately 14,000 Henry rifles were made and most were made during the Civil War. Total quantity purchased by the U.S. Government is 1,731, many of which are in a narrow serial number range of 3,000 to 4,200. The narrow serial number range strongly suggests purchases earlier in the War were not repeated. The Spencer was more powerful and reliable for rugged field use.

A few Henry rifles were made after the War. The first 1866 Winchester serial numbers overlap with the last Henry rifle serial numbers. Total production of all Henry and 1866 Winchester rifles was about 160,000. All were made for the 44 Henry cartridge.


Goto:
1860 Henry Rifle

 

If the UK had got their hands on some, 'We' should have called it the Arnold, or maybe the Benedict...

...

~A

 

STEN gun = Sheppard Tarpin ENfield

Fairbairn fighting knife

 

OK one from the Aussies...The Owen Gun, which was known officially as the Owen Machine Carbine, was an Australian submachine gun designed by Evelyn (Evo) Owen in 1939