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MODEL 1840 HALL CARBINE BREECH BLOCK – DATED 1842
- COMPLETE, FULLY FUNCTIONAL – AS USED BY THE DRAGOONS
AS AN “OFF DUTY” HAND GUN: It is well
documented that US soldiers armed with the Hall rifles
and carbines were known to remove the breech blocks from
their arms and carry those loaded breech blocks with
them as a self defense pistol into the cantinas and
saloons on the untamed frontier and in the interior of
Mexico during the Mexican War.
While it is difficult for us to imagine firing this
breechblock without the benefit of a stock to hold on
to, in the absence of an alternative, it certainly could
have been a lethal deterrent to all but the most
determined adversary at close range. Louis Garavaglia
and Charles Worman included one such encounter in their
excellent two volume work, Firearms of the American
West, Volume 1 on pages 132-133, with an excerpt
from My Confession, the Mexican War journal
written by Dragoon Samuel Chamberlain. Describing an
incident where he found himself confronted by some
twenty Mexican guerrillas in a cantina in Monterrey,
Mexico in 1847, Chamberlain wrote,
“…but resolved not to be rubb’d out without a
struggle. With a bound I sprang behind a large table
used for a bar, drew the chamber of my Hall’s Carbine
(that I always carried in my pocket), said a short
prayer and stood cool and collected, at baby before
those human Tigers, guerillars. There was one grizzly
old fellow who seemed more ferocious than the others; he
had but one eye that glared on me with the fierceness of
a wild beast. He rushed for the table as if he would
spring over, when the sight of the little iron tube
pointing straight for his solitary optic caused him to
pause.”
This incident was dramatically illustrated in one of the
original color sketches included in Chamberlain’s
journal, as shown in the photographs below. The
enlarged section of the illustration shows the Hall
breechblock in Chamberlain’s right hand, a rare
incidence of historic and period documentation of the
use of these deadly little companions. Through the
years a number of Hall breech blocks have surfaced in
the Southwestern United States and Mexico, undoubtedly
relics of the Mexican War period.
This breech block is well preserved and intact -
complete with the percussion cone, a functioning hammer
that will hold at half and full cock, and a trigger that
operates properly to release the hammer. The breech
block release was the so-called “fish tail” lever and to
facilitate carrying the block as a handgun, was removed
during its period of use – a common modification. The
top of the block is legibly marked “U.S.”/ ”S.NORTH”
/ ”MIDLtn” / ”CONN.”/”1842”. The top surface of
the block is pitted, showing evidence of exposure or
poor storage through the years, however the balance of
the other metal surfaces to include the mainspring and
internal parts, are smooth and retain a decent finish
considering the wear to which this block must have been
exposed.
Holding this historic, well used Hall carbine breech
block, it is easy to imagine a Dragoon strolling the
streets of a remote Mexican village, with the loaded
breechblock tucked into his waist band as his only
defense against a hostile environment. $550
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