Welcome to in the present day’s Photo of the Day! Right here we’ve got a Whitney-Burgess-Morse lever motion rifle manufactured between 1878 and 1882, considered one of fewer than 3,000 produced. That is chambered in .45-70 Authorities and reveals brass tacks put in in the correct facet of the wrist with extra holes the place extra as soon as existed.
Andrew Burgess designed this lever-action, and Whitney Arms Firm manufactured it in an try and compete with Winchester’s market dominance. Burgess was a prolific firearms inventor who created lever-action, slide-action, and different repeating mechanisms for a number of producers. The Whitney-Burgess used a dropping block motion operated by a lever, mechanically completely different from Winchester’s toggle-link design. Whitney produced these in a number of calibers, together with .45-70 Authorities, .44-40 WCF, and others. The .45-70 chambering made sense for western markets the place the cartridge was established by way of Springfield Trapdoor rifles and buffalo looking. The 28-inch octagon barrel was normal for longer-range rifles.
Manufacturing stayed beneath 3,000 items throughout all variations. The Whitney-Burgess by no means achieved business success in opposition to Winchester’s established Mannequin 1873 and Mannequin 1876, which had intensive vendor networks and market presence. Whitney couldn’t overcome that benefit regardless of providing a mechanically sound different. Manufacturing ended round 1882 after solely 4 years.
The brass tacks are vital. Native People, frontiersmen, and settlers generally embellished rifle shares with brass tacks in patterns or rows. The present tacks and empty holes present this rifle was embellished throughout frontier use, then some tacks had been misplaced over many years. This ornament signifies precise frontier service somewhat than armory storage.
Most of our POTDs make the most of photos from our mates at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms public sale in the US. Take a while to browse their current auctions – who is aware of, perhaps you’ll discover a piece of historical past to take house!
“Scarce ‘Frontier Issued’ Whitney-Burgess-Morse Lever Motion Rifle in .45-70 Authorities.” Rock Island Public sale, www.rockislandauction.com/element/1049/3045/whitneyburgessmorse-lever-action-rifle. Accessed 6 Jan. 2026.
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