Sharps & Hankins Model 1862

About the Sharps & Hankins Model 1862

The Sharps & Hankins Model 1862 is a single-shot, breech-loading carbine designed by Christian Sharps and William Hankins and built by their partnership in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. Pulling down the trigger-guard operating lever slides the entire barrel forward to expose the breech, into which a self-contained .52-caliber metallic rimfire cartridge is inserted; an external hammer then strikes the cartridge rim to fire. Chambering a modern metallic cartridge made it weatherproof and faster to load than the era's paper-cartridge carbines, and a trained trooper could manage roughly eight to nine aimed shots per minute. The most numerous Navy variant carried a distinctive leather sleeve over the barrel to protect the firer's hand from heat and the metal from salt spray.

The Sharps & Hankins Navy carbine was prized aboard Union warships and gunboats because its self-contained metallic cartridge shrugged off the damp and salt air that ruined paper-cartridge arms, and the leather barrel sleeve became the model's signature feature. It saw use with Union landing parties and blockade squadrons throughout the Civil War.

Sharps & Hankins Model 1862 specifications

Produced in three forms: an Army carbine (about 500 made), a Navy carbine (about 6,686 made, fitted with a leather barrel cover), and a short Cavalry carbine with a roughly 19-inch barrel and saddle ring. Total production was approximately 8,000 units. The barrel-sliding breech mechanism was patented by Christian Sharps and is mechanically distinct from the falling-block action of the better-known Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company carbines made at Hartford.