Historical question about PM rifles

[cheng]

anyone can help assign approximate years from which these three Playmobil rifles could have first been used on battlefields? These rifles might not have been made to represent any real historical rifle but at least we shouldn't let our Napoleonic klicky hold a PM 'Plains Winchester' or a PM 'WW2 Mauser' right?  

also, our oldest PM gun might not be having a rifle bore

[cowabounga]

I think none of these fits for knights, but I may be mistaken. 

[Ds dad]

The first one I always considered to be a musket so 1700's to mid 1800's
The second one is a repeating rifle. I think they started showing up during the American Civil War (1860's) and were really popular in the second half of the 1800's.  Can't see the third one, what set is it from?

[Wesley Myers]

The first and last rifles would be 'percussion cap' rifles.

I will check my manuals and get back to you on this.  I can tell you off the top of my head they would be appropriate for US Civil War, Fenian Invasion of Canada and cavalry, infantry and artillery in the USA Indian Wars post Civil War period (the US army kept percussion cap weapons as standard issue while Indians would often have repeaters - public purchases as opposed to private purchases, respectively).

Percussion caps are still used today (in hunting).  Hunting seasons open at different dates for different types of weapons being used (at least in Canada, with bow hunting being first, muzzleloaders (I think percussion caps may fall into this category for hunting) and all others (rim fire and centre fire weapons) last. 

[cheng]

no worries cowabounga, we can discuss samurai weapons another time

and dsdad, much appreciated....so the 2nd one loads from the front into the lower barrel I reckon?
but I dont know which set the 3rd one is from

WM! hope we can get a few more opinions and perhaps I can summarize into a refernce table for other PFs who face the same questions. You do know much more than the average person, please research for us....if you dont have gun #3, would somebody here post a very clear photo hear (I dont have #2 & #3....dont even dare use the word 'rifle'

[Wesley Myers]

I should have all three.  I know I have the first two.  I think the third one is the same as the first, but just a different stock number (you really miss playmodb when you want to use it ...).

I would use the word rifle.  Rifling is the spiral grooves (lines) cut into the inside of the barrel to make the bullet "spin" (spiral) as it travels.  This rifling makes the shot (bullet) travel straighter. 

Rifles started to gain popularity during the beginning of the 19th Century.  Muskets would have long barrels to help the bullet travel straighter but when rifling was introduced you could have a short barrel and it would be more accurate. 

If you combine the two - long barrel and rifling - then you really have a tool that will shoot very accurately over a very long distance. 

As for gun #2 the receiver (the tube on the bottom below the barrel) holds extra rounds.  It's like a magazine on an assault rifle but does not stick down - it points ahead.  As the gun fires, the empty cartridge is cycled out and a new one from below is chambered in its place.  This is what happens with a pump action shot gun, but with a pump action gun it is manual.  You can get shotguns that are semi automatic and even fully automatic (so they chamber the rounds by use of gas exchange - the round you previously fired has a lot of blow back gas (the equal and opposite reaction effect - as the bullet fires forward the action cycles the old round out and chambers the new one).

[Wesley Myers]

Here is an image that shows a lever action (this one is a Spencer and is unique because the rounds are in the stock):



This is a Winchester and is the most common type where the rounds, like the shotguns I was just mentioning in the previous post, are in the receiver tube below the barrel:



I think the Playmobil repeater (lever action) rifle is like the Winchester (it will have a small rectangle on the right side of the body - above and in front of the trigger) - that is where you insert the bullets into the receiver.

I have one of these (an actual one and a Playmobil one) and can take pictures for a comparison.

[Wesley Myers]

It is hard to tell from a toy sometimes, but it is possible the second gun (but I doubt it) represents an over-under double barrel shotgun like this:



Most shotguns we are familiar with are with a "break action" (it looks like you "break" the gun to open it up hence the terminology) like this:



However, some, historically from our Wild West era, were side break actions like this (looking down from the top):

[cheng]

thanks WM, for your very clear lesson...very intrigued by the different ways of loading the the next shot...(the first time I've heard about this 'spenser style') and taking so much trouble....every picture and word greatly appreciated!

Now that I'm a bit more knowledgeable, I still need visual judgements as to which represents which closest. You obviously have all the full photos and all the 3 PM rifles....can you decide for me which can be which and hence the earliest years the 3 were first used on the battlefield.
(btw, the 3rd rifle has those hooks for the PM strap and the barrel has those what-you-call ties/brackets holding the receiver to the refle barrel so I thought #1 could be a musket while #3, a later rifle? 

[tahra]

Here is an image that shows a lever action (this one is a Spencer and is unique because the rounds are in the stock):

I never had a clue!