POTD: Simeon North Hall Model 1840 “Fishtail” Breechloading Carbine
Sam.S 03.18.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have the very influential Hall rifle which was licensed and produced by the Simeon North company for the United States military. These Hall rifles were breech-loading smoothbore black powder rifles. The Simeon North company was very modern in the sense of their attention to parts interchangeability and their adaptation to percussion cap. The Hall rifle originally was a flintlock rifle. Along with the change in the ignition, Simeon North also made an amendment to the Hall rifle that was a welcome one. They took the hook-style action opener and changed it to be a side lever operation. This streamlined the rifle and made it much less potentially cumbersome. The new side lever is pulled downward which cams the breech block upward. At this point powder and a bullet can be loaded into the breech block before being cammed back down and fired.
“This carbine features the distinctive “fishtail” operating lever. The breechblock is marked “U.S./S. NORTH/MIDLth/CONN./1842″.”
Lot 2113: Simeon North 1840 Carbine 52 percussion. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1027/2113/simeon-north-1840-carbine-52-percussion.
