Find out about the .50 Caliber Maynard Flat Nose Cartridge and Bullet on display by clicking/pressing the play button. Scroll down to view the images. At the end there is a video demonstrating the loading and firing of the Maynard Carbine. You can follow along with the audio's script at the end of the page.
.50 Caliber Maynard Flat Nose Cartridge
(Michael Helms, Wikimedia Commons)
Union cavalryman mannequin at Battle of Westport Museum
Maynard Carbine, the short barrel is for .50 caliber rounds and the longer barrel is for .35 caliber.
(Hmaag, Wikimedia Commons)
The base of an unfired Maynard cartridge showing the hole in the middle of the base.
(Michael Helms, Wikimedia Commons)
Edward Maynard (Wikimedia Commons)
Maynard Carbine, open for loading (Hmaag, Wikimedia Commons)
This short YouTube video, “Shooting a Maynard Type 2 1865 Civil War Carbine .50 caliber” was produced by Dr. Durell Shepard.
Unfortunately, we do not have a Maynard Carbine on display at the museum. But we know they were in use during the Battle of Westport because of the .50 Caliber Maynard Flat Nose Cartridge and Bullet that were recovered from the former Adams’ farm in the Meadow area at Byram’s Ford while the land was still being farmed. If you look closely at the photo of Pvt. James M. Parker, Company F, 7th Indiana Cavalry, you can see he is holding a Maynard Carbine.
Born in New York, Edward Maynard received an appointment to West Point but left after only one semester for health reasons. After his recovery, Maynard studied to become a dentist. Dr. Maynard was a professor of the theory and practice of dentistry in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, 1857-90. He served in the same capacity at the dental department of the National University in Washington, D.C.
But Maynard was also an inventor and received 23 firearm related patents during his life. In 1845 Maynard received a patent for a firearm tape priming system. This system used a paper tape that held separate primers, similar in nature to a present-day child’s cap gun. He received a patent in 1851 for the Type 1 Maynard Carbine which used his tape primer. When used in the field, the primer tape proved impractical. If it got wet, it became useless. And if not loaded properly, the tape jammed easily. Then in 1859, Maynard received a patent for an improved version of his carbine, the Type 2 Maynard Carbine, replacing the primer tape with using individual percussion caps.
The Maynard carbine was a breech-loaded, single shot carbine which took a brass cartridge designed by Maynard. It featured a flash-hole in the center of the cartridge’s base. When the primer was ignited, the flame ignited the gunpowder through this hole.
The carbine was loaded by opening the trigger guard lever which opened the block, exposing the gun barrel. The cavalryman inserted the cartridge, closed the block, and then placed a percussion cap on the nipple (Type 2 carbine).
After the carbine was fired, the cavalryman simply opened the breech, pulled out the cartridge, inserted a new cartridge, closed the breech, replaced the percussion cap, cocked the hammer, and then aimed and fired.
When tested by the US War Department in 1859, the Maynard Carbine proved to be the more accurate than the Burnside Carbine. But as with all special cartridge breech loaders, the US War Department could not recommend the carbine, which would become useless if there was no supply of cartridges available. However, from 1861 to 1865, the Federal government purchased 20,002 Maynard Carbines at a cost of $24.47 each. They were manufactured by the Massachusetts Arms Company located in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts.
The Maynard Carbine used by the Confederate cavalry during the American Civil War. The Maynard had a good reputation for long-range accuracy, and Confederate sharpshooters made extensive use of it. It was highly praised by the soldiers. One feature that made it popular is the brass cartridges could be reloaded up to 100 times. But one problem experienced by the troopers was there was no forestock to protect their hand when the barrel got very hot from repeated firing.
From the Oxford (Miss.) Intelligencer reprinted in the Weekly Arkansas Gazette is a story about “Toby’s Experience with a Breech-Loading Rifle.”
Toby is a high private in the first regiment of the Mississippi army. His company is armed with a breech-loading Maynard rifle, warranted to shoot twelve times a minute, and carry a ball effectually 1600 yards. … To test its efficacy, Toby's Captain told the men they must "try their guns." In obedience to command, Toby procured the necessary munitions of war and started for the woods; saws a squirrel up a very high tree; took aim; fired—effects of shot immediate and wonderful; tree effectually stripped, and nothing of the squirrel to be found except three broken hairs. … said Toby, in conclusion, “Nothing to do with Maynard but load her up, turn her North, and pull trigger; if twenty of them don't clean out all Yankeedom, then I'm a liar, that's all.”
Brown, John Howard, ed. “Edward Maynard.” In Lamb’s Biographical Dictionary of the United States, Vol. V, 423. Boston, MA: Federal Book Company, 1903.
Maynard, Edward. “Priming-Cock,” September 22, 1845.
Smith, Graham. Warman’s Civil War Weapons. Iola, WI: KP Books, 2005.
Walter, John. The Rifle Story: An Illustrated History from 1756 to the Present Day. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing, 2006.
Walter, John. Weapons of the Civil War Cavalryman. Kindle., 2020.
Weekly Arkansas Gazette. “Toby’s Experience with a Breech-Loading Rifle.” June 15, 1861.
Wikipedia. “Edward Maynard,” March 5, 2022. Link.
Wikipedia. “Maynard Carbine,” July 6, 2021. Link.