The Greene Breech-Loading Rifle is an unusual arm with an unusual oval bore that makes one turn in 50 inches. Patented by Lt. Col. J. Durrell Greene of the US Army in November 1857, rifle is a .53 caliber, single-shot percussion, under-hammer bolt action rifle with a complex operating mechanism. Simply put, the bolt goes through two distinct motions to operate the arm, with the priming completed by placing the percussion cap on the nipple located forward of the triggerguard and beneath the stock. Manufactured by the A. H. Waters armory in Millbury, Massachusetts from 1859 to early in 1860, a total of some 4,000 such rifles were produced of which 900 were U.S. contract and 3,000 were Russian contract.

Rifle measures 52¾” long and weighs almost 10 pounds. Oil-finished, full, black walnut stock is 49½” long and is secured to the 35” long round barrel via three iron barrel bands with three springs. A small, bladed front sight is mounted atop the bay stud 2 ¼” from the muzzle. Longarm, with its long range rear sight, graduated to 800 yards, in front of the lower band, also has a sling swivel on the middle band with the lower swivel riveted to the rear of the triggerguard tang. Metal components were blued save for the circular under hammer which was case-hardened and the steel trumpet-head bayo which was factory bright. All gunmetal has gathered a plum-brown patina overall including the original ramrod.

Some characteristics of the Greene Rifle were its unique combustible paper-cartridge which had the bullet at the rear of the powder charge. Also, the Greene rifle had an ‘oval’ bore and was the first bolt-action longarm to be adopted by the U.S. Ordnance Department, the only under-hammer arm ever adopted by the US, and the only American arm produced with the ‘oval’ bore. The Greene rifle saw limited service in the Federal army at the Battle of Antietam in the fall of 1862. It is the only recorded action where these longarms were utilized in battle during the war.

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