U.S. Army Rifle and Carbine Adoption between 1865 and 1900

摘要

This thesis covers a period of transformation in the Army between a large Civil War Army armed primarily with muzzle-loading percussion arms to an Army numbering in the tens of thousands armed with magazine-fed, bolt-action repeating rifles. The thesis covers the boards, trials, procedures, and political and economic constraints that were involved in selecting new arms during this period as well as the specific arms that were considered and selected. The paper concludes with an analysis of the decisions made and how similar considerations affect decisions regarding the small arms carried by America's soldiers today.