The Burton Breechloading Rifle with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson

In today's episode we showcase two rifle's that participated in 19th century British weapon trials that form the origins of the adoption of the Martini-Henry. Fun fact: James Henry Burton's son Frank went on to design the Burton Machine Rifle now at the Cody Firearms Museum - https://centerofthewest.org/2019/09/03/museum-minute-rifle-ahead-time/ 0:00 Intro 0:15 Burton Breechloading Rifle 0:30 19th Century Weapon Trials 1:40 Burton. No:1 Details 4:15 James Henry Burton History 10:15 No:1 Breech Mechanism 12:30 Cody Firearms Museums' No:0 14:36 Burton. No:2 17:05 Further Reading 17:45 Trials Criteria 20:16 Improved Bolt-Action 21:00 Martini-Henry, Shaken Not Stirred. 21:20 Burton's Legacy 22:55 Outro Link to Lithgow Small Arms Museum: https://www.lithgowsafmuseum.org.au/ Sources mentioned: Burton's life in arms from Logan at High Caliber History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNGgXVIIncU 'From Under Iron Eyelids' by Thomas Tate (AuthorHouse, 2005). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Iron-Eyelids-Biography-Armorer/dp/1420821261 And two fantastic PhD theses from colleagues; - Curator Emeritus Peter Smithurst on Enfield’s modernisation and Burton; https://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35383/1/FINAL%20THESIS%20SMITHURST.pdf - And Tom Heptinstall on the trials; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330398169_From_Snider-Enfield_to_Martini-Henry_to_the_Magazine_Lee-Metford_An_Historical_and_Technical_Overview_of_the_Development_of_British_Military_Rifles_from_1866_to_1895 Subscribe to our channel for more videos about arms and armour Help us bring history to life by supporting us here: https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/donations/ Sign up to our museum membership scheme here: https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/membership/ ⚔Website: https://royalarmouries.org/home ⚔Blog: https://royalarmouries.org/stories/ ⚔Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyalArmouriesMuseum/ ⚔Twitter: https://twitter.com/Royal_Armouries ⚔ Instagram: http://instagram.com/royalarmouriesmuseum We are the Royal Armouries, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Discover what goes on behind the scenes and watch our collection come to life. See combat demonstrations, experience jousting and meet our experts. Have a question about arms and armour? Feel free to leave us a comment and we'll do our best to answer it.