Frontier Firepower

Frontier Firepower. . Fort Randall saw many advances in weaponry during its lifetime. Improvements in ammunition and firearms resulted in greater power and accuracy as well as faster loading and firing., A magazine for the storage of weapons was one of the first buildings erected when Fort Randall was established in 1856. In the 1870s, a new magazine built of brick with an iron door provided more safety and security for the fort's gunpowder and ammunition., Artillery at Fort Randall included four cannons (two 12-pounder Napoleon guns and two 10-pounder mountain howitzers) and a Gatling gun. The predecessor of the modern machine gun, the Gatling gun was designed in 1861 and used in the Civil War and on the frontier., (Captions) , Gatling gun at Fort Abraham Lincoln (formerly Fort McKean), in Dakota Territory, 1876., Target practice with Springfield rifles, 1890., The Springfield Model 1870 "Trapdoor" rifle was one of the earliest breech-loading rifles to be manufactured in large quantities. It was named for its hinged breechblock, which opened like a trapdoor.