Welcome to at the moment’s Picture of the Day! Right here we now have a P.W. Porter Third Mannequin turret rifle, serial quantity 1228, manufactured by George P. Foster in Taunton, Massachusetts in the course of the 1850s. This is likely one of the most mechanically uncommon percussion rifles ever made – that includes a vertical turret as an alternative of a horizontal cylinder. Parry W. Porter patented his turret design as an alternative choice to standard revolving rifles. The turret stood upright with chambers organized in a vertical circle, rotated by a lever motion that additionally cocked the hammer. George Foster manufactured these underneath Porter’s patent in restricted numbers by the 1850s.
This instance reveals Third Mannequin options – percussion nipples on the turret and an angular facet hammer, usually seen within the 680-1225 serial quantity vary per Flayderman’s guides. At quantity 1228, that is late manufacturing. It features a loading lever, which differs from strict Third Mannequin definition however reveals Foster was nonetheless experimenting with the design.
The sights are offset to the left to clear the vertical turret. The turret is numbered 1127 whereas the barrel, body, and lock carry matching 1228, indicating the turret was changed or renumbered throughout its working life. Foster produced just a few hundred Porter turret rifles throughout all variations. The vertical turret made the rifle cumbersome and unbalanced, and the complexity meant extra potential failures. Manufacturing numbers stayed low, and by the 1860s when metallic cartridge repeaters arrived, revolving rifle designs of any kind have been out of date.
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Scarce P. W. Porter “Third Mannequin” Revolving Turret Percussion Rifle | Rock Island Public sale, www.rockislandauction.com/element/1049/1324/p-w-porter-third-model-revolving-turret-percussion-rifle. Accessed 21 Dec. 2025.
