Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The Porter turret rifle, patented in 1851 by Perry W. Porter, represented an attempt to develop a percussion-based repeating rifle while avoiding Samuel Colt’s revolver patents. It featured a nine-shot .44 caliber turret with chambers arrayed radially like wheel spokes. An underlever rotated and locked the next chamber in alignment with the barrel for firing by a side-mounted hammer. While an ingenious mechanism, the Porter design was fundamentally hazardous. With loaded cylinders pointing in all directions, risks of chain-fire mishaps and rounds striking the shooter or bystanders were severe flaws. Yet about 1,250 were still produced in three variations from 1851-1860, some seeing very limited Civil War use. However, rumors that Porter himself was killed by his namesake rifle sullied its reputation.
“One of only 350-400 manufactured in the 1850s.”
Lot 4013: P.W. Porter Second Model Percussion Turret Rifle – Scarce P.W. Porter Second Model Percussion Turret Rifle. (n.d.-bd). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1034/4013/p.w.-porter-second-model-percussion-turret-rifle.
The post POTD: You Need This Rifle Like You Need a Hole in The Head – Porter Turret Rifle appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.
