The development of the firearm magazine was one of many improvements to weapons in the nineteenth century, and its creator's name is still recognized today by gun enthusiasts all over the world.
Benjamin Hotchkiss (1826-1885) worked as a gunmaker in Hartford, Connecticut, in the 1850s and 1860s. After the American Civil War the U.S. government had little interest in firearms, and like other famous firearm designers such as John Browning and Hiram Maxim, Hotchkiss moved to Europe to market his designs. He ended up in France in 1867 and set up a factory in St. Denis in 1875—the same year that he designed the bolt-action magazine rifle.
The story goes that Hotchkiss was on a train from Vienna to Bucharest when he became engaged in a conversation with a Romanian army officer who suggested the idea that bolt-action rifles needed to be developed further for military use. Hotchkiss took this idea and designed a novel loading system for the bolt-action rifle, building upon earlier magazine concepts from inventors such as Valentine Fogarty and Christopher Spencer. The new magazine consisted of a spring-loaded sleeve inside a cylinder that was attached to the buttstock of the gun. Hotchkiss designed the gun so that when the trigger was pulled, the firing pin was released and the new cartridge could move into the receiver.
Hotchkiss received a patent for his new model in 1876. Shortly afterward he sold these patent rights to the Winchester gun company, which began manufacturing the bolt-action magazine rifle in 1879. This gun, and further modifications of it, has been used extensively in the military and is also popular among hunters.
