1890 Cast-Iron Cap Gun


Here is the right side of this gun. It's probable that the big wheel that looks somewhat like a ship's wheel is to advance the caps. They did have caps on paper in those days as early as the Civil War which used fulminate of mercury. The Maynard Tape Primer was used on rifles, invented by Dr. Edward Maynard, a dentist, so you might easily say that he invented the concept of roll caps! At least he held the patent on it and the early versions he made used a wheel to advance the caps.





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