Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a classic story of mistaken identity… but not like the last time we talked about it. So, the Starr Percussion Carbine is the younger big brother of the Starr revolver which found a lot of love and success in the American Civil War. The Starr Percussion Carbine, however, had a little success but it was short-lived. It had a lot of issues. It was robust, unique, and efficient as far as breech-loading black powder carbines go but it had one flaw. People did not listen. This carbine fell victim to a miscommunication in which the people in the proper places believed it was chambered for the same cartridge as the Sharps rifle. It was a very similar cartridge but the mixup resulted in numerous issues not exclusive to failure to extract and failure to fire. This inadvertently ruined this rifle’s reputation.
“Manufacturer: Starr Arms Company
Model: Percussion-Carbine
Type: Carbine
Gauge: 54
Barrel: 21 inch round
Finish: blue/casehardened
Stock: walnut
Manufactured circa 1862-1865.”
Lot 6357: Civil War Era Starr Percussion Carbine. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1032/6357/civil-war-era-starr-percussion-carbine.
