Alva Review-Courier -

In the 19th century, jamming of cartridges in gun breeches of military weapons happened relatively infrequently. But to a harried combatant engaged with an enemy, having a gun jam once in action would be once too often.

Some weapons tended to jam more frequently during periods of continuous firing. And if the cartridge being used contained black powder, jamming was all the more likely to occur.

(In the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, cleaner burning smokeless powder was not yet available to the U.S. Cavalry. But by the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898, smokeless powder was being...