Ward-Burton Rifle

About the Ward-Burton Rifle

The Ward-Burton Rifle is a single-shot bolt-action rifle adopted on a trial basis by the United States Army as the U.S. Rifle, Model of 1871. It holds the distinction of being the first metallic-cartridge bolt-action rifle ordered into service by the U.S. military. Chambered for the .50-70 Government cartridge and manufactured at Springfield Armory, it locked its bolt by means of two sets of interrupted threads machined at the rear of the bolt body rather than the front locking lugs favored on later designs. Roughly 1,013 rifles with 32 1/8-inch barrels and 313 carbines with 22-inch barrels were produced. The unfamiliar bolt system and minor mechanical faults led troops in the 1872-1873 trials to reject it in favor of the trapdoor Springfield.

America's first military bolt-action rifle, the Ward-Burton was issued for field trials in the early 1870s but was passed over because soldiers were unaccustomed to operating a bolt rather than the familiar trapdoor breech, and the bolts suffered heat-treatment problems.

Ward-Burton Rifle specifications

Named for its co-inventors: William G. Ward, who patented the bolt-action mechanism (U.S. Patent 81,059), and Bethel Burton, who patented the extractor/ejector (U.S. Patent 99,504). Of 95 field reports from the 1872-1873 service rifle trials, none recommended the Ward-Burton for adoption.