Were repeating rifles pitted often against breach-loaders in American Civil War battles and what happened?

Upvote:1

No

The CSA never had a force equipped with either weapon. Therefor they could not have fought against the few Federal units equipped with breech-loaders/repeaters. When CSA troops came up against repeaters/breech-loaders the Union troops inevitably punched far above their weight.

Only a few Union units (generally at their commander's expense) were equipped with breech-loaders. Even fewer (the 21st Ohio infantry come to mind) were equipped with repeating rifles of any kind (even the 21st Ohio had a few companies that weren't issued them). The Confederate army never equipped any unit with breech-loaders or repeaters. There are some instances of individual Confederates purchasing or capturing such weapons, but generally speaking they were only used until the captured supply of ammunition was expended.

The Confederate industrial base simply wasn't up to manufacturing cartridges in sufficient quantity to make them feasible weapons. Additionally the CSA had logistical problems that would only have been exacerbated by weapons that fired off even more rounds than the "standard" muzzle-loader.

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