US Army Gatling Gun Ammunition Lot Including .58 And 1-Inch Types.

A specialized and visually striking grouping of early Gatling gun ammunition, representing experimental and developmental cartridges associated with U.S. Ordnance Department trials conducted at Frankford Arsenal during the final years of the American Civil War, preceding the Gatling gun’s official U.S. Army adoption in 1866. The lot includes multiple .58 caliber rimfire Gatling cartridges in both short and long case variations, identified as “Mountain Gatling” types, each retaining period-style lead projectiles with visible lubrication grooves and copper cases exhibiting a mellow, untouched patina consistent with age.

Lot includes two scarce 1-inch Gatling gun cartridges, representing two distinct priming systems: the Benét internal priming system and the bar-anvil primed variation. These large-caliber experimental rounds correspond to the earliest and most formidable Gatling configurations, of which only a very limited number were produced. Surviving records indicate that production of 1-inch Gatling guns was extremely small. Available ordnance and collector literature indicates that the U.S. Army’s first post–Civil War procurement of 1?inch Gatling guns consisted of an order for fifty guns, placed in 1866 alongside fifty .50?caliber Gatlings, all manufactured by Colt. A more technical developmental history mentions “another 50 one?inch Gatlings” in the context of trials and adoption, but the wording is ambiguous and does not clearly establish whether this refers to a separate, additional contract or is simply another reference to the same initial order. On solid documentary footing, therefore, the best?supported figure is that the Army ordered fifty 1?inch Gatling guns, with some secondary sources hinting (but not definitively proving) that the total might have reached as many as one hundred. As such, associated ammunition is correspondingly rare. One example retains period-style handwritten identification on the case.

Lot further includes a 1-inch Gatling canister cartridge, an imposing and seldom-encountered form intended for anti-personnel use in the same way that muzzle-loading artillery utilized canister, but on a far more industrial scale - further illustrating the range of ammunition types evaluated during early Gatling gun development.

Overall condition shows expected oxidation to the lead projectiles and age toning to the copper cases, with no apparent modern alterations beyond museum-style labeling and mounting. A nice lot of Gatling gun ammunition, with several very scarce examples. Though the Gatling entered service just after the Civil War, it's wartime development and trials make these equally appropriate for a Civil War ordnance and developmental metallic cartridge display as well as for any Plains Indian Wars ordnance exhibit.

Estimate: $2,000 – $3,000