Editing Single-shot (section)

==Types of single-shot cartridge actions==

===Trapdoor actions===
The earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for general military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading rifle muskets. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away and replaced by a hinged breechblock which opened upward to permit loading.  An internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifle's existing side-hammer. The [[Springfield Model 1865|Allin action]] made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward; the [[Snider–Enfield]] used by the British opened to the side. Whereas the British quickly replaced the Snider with a dropping-block Peabody-style Martini action, the US Army felt the trapdoor action to be adequate and followed its muzzleloader conversions with the new-production [[Springfield Model 1873]], which was the principal longarm of the [[Indian Wars]] and was still in service with some units in the [[Spanish–American War]].

Other trapdoor actions include the rare Confederate [[Tarpley carbine]], the Austrian [[Wanzl rifle|Wanzl]], the Belgian [[Albini-Braendlin rifle]] and [[Terssen]] conversion (some of which were made from French 1777 pattern flintlocks), the M1842/59/67 Swiss Milbank-Amsler, the M1859/67 Spanish Berdan, and the Colt-manufactured Russian [[Berdan rifle|Berdan Type I]]. All of these designs save the 1863 Tarpley date from the period 1865–1869, and all but the Tarpley and the Russian Berdan were conversions from muzzle-loaders.

===Break actions===
{{Main|Break action}}
Perhaps the most common type of single-shot action, usually found in shotguns, small pistols, and black-powder "elephant" guns, a break action connects the barrel assembly to the breechblock with a hinge. When a locking latch is released, the barrel assembly pivots away from the receiver, opening the breech and sometimes on higher quality firearms, partially extracting the spent cartridge.

===Rolling block actions===
{{Main|Rolling block}}
In a rolling block action, the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis.  The operator rotates or "rolls" the block to open and close the breech; it is a simple, rugged and reliable design. Rolling blocks are most often associated with firearms made by [[E. Remington and Sons|Remington]] in the later 19th century; in the Remington action the hammer serves to lock the breech closed at the moment of firing, and the block, in turn, prevents the hammer from falling with the breech open. An interesting variation of the rolling block was the Austrian [[M1867 Werndl–Holub]], in which the pivot pin was parallel to the barrel and the block rotated sideways.

===Dropping block actions===
These are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or "drops" into the receiver to open the breech, usually actuated by an underlever.  There are two principal types of dropping block: the tilting or pivoting block and the falling or sliding block.<ref>There is no general consensus on terminology, and "falling block" and "dropping block" are often treated as synonyms.</ref><ref>Association, N. R. (n.d.). How do guns work? single-shot mechanisms. NRA Family. https://www.nrafamily.org/content/how-do-guns-work-single-shot-mechanisms/</ref>

====Tilting block actions====
In a tilting or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged at the rear (in contrast with [[tilting bolt]], which is not hinged).  When the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber.  The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, and [[Ballard Rifle|Ballard]] actions.

The original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, used a manually cocked side-hammer. Swiss gunsmith Friedrich Martini devised an action that resembled the Peabody but incorporated a hammerless striker cocked by the operating lever with the same motion that pivoted the block. The 1871 [[Martini–Henry]] which replaced the "trapdoor" Snider–Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini was also a popular action for civilian rifles.

Charles H. Ballard's self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the [[Marlin Firearms Company]] from 1875 and earned a superlative reputation among long-range "Creedmoor" target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style ''Schützen'' stocks of the day.

====Falling block actions====
{{Main|Falling block action}}
In a falling or sliding block action the block does not pivot but rather slides vertically in a slot milled into the receiver. Falling blocks are among the strongest small-arm actions ever produced, and are also used in heavy artillery.  Well-known falling block designs include the [[Sharps rifle]]s and carbines, the [[Winchester Model 1885 Single Shot Rifle|Browning/Winchester Single Shot]], the [[Farquharson rifle]], and the modern [[Ruger No. 1]].

===Bolt-actions===
{{Main|Bolt-action}}
Although bolt-actions are usually associated with fixed or detachable box magazines, in fact, the first general-issue military breechloader was a single-shot bolt-action: the paper-cartridge [[Prussian needle gun]] of 1841. France countered in 1866 with its superior [[Chassepot rifle]], also a paper-cartridge bolt-action. The first metallic-cartridge bolt-actions in general military service were the [[Berdan rifle|Berdan Type II]] introduced by Russia in 1870, the [[Mauser Model 1871]], and a modified Chassepot, the [[Gras rifle]] of 1874; all these were single-shots.

Today most top-level smallbore match rifles are single-shot bolt-actions.

Single-shot bolt-actions in .22 caliber were also widely manufactured as inexpensive "boys' guns" in the earlier 20th century; and there have been a few single-shot bolt-action shotguns, usually in .410 bore.

===Other single-shot actions===
*'''The [[Ferguson rifle]]''': British Major Patrick Ferguson designed his rifle, considered to be the first military breechloader, in the 1770s.  A plug-shaped breechblock was screw-threaded so that rotating the handle underneath would lower and raise it for loading with ball and powder; the flintlock action still required conventional priming.
*'''The [[Hall rifle]]''': The United States' first breechloading cavalry carbine, the Hall was introduced in 1819. The lever tipped the breechblock including the chamber upwards and back, allowing it to be loaded with powder and ball without the inconvenience of loading and ramming from the muzzle.  Originally flintlocks, Halls later were made as or converted to percussion locks.
*'''The [[Kammerlader]]''':  A crank-operated Norwegian firearm produced around the time of the Prussian Needle-gun. Originally used a paper cartridge. Later many were converted to rimfire.
*'''The [[Burnside carbine]]''': Invented by future-general [[Ambrose Burnside]] in 1857, this percussion-cap carbine became the third-most common cavalry breechloader in the Civil War after the Sharps and Spencer.  Essentially a modification of the Hall concept, the Burnside featured a unique conical cartridge with a crushable hollow front rim, designed to seal the breech on closing.
*'''The [[Rising breech carbine]]''': An unusual action produced by Bilharz, Hall and Co. for the southern [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], the rising breech's underlever caused the breechblock including the chamber to slide vertically above the line of the barrel, the reverse of a falling-block; the chamber was loaded from the front with a paper cartridge.
*'''The Morse Carbine''': Its action is similar to the Hall rifle but the shape of its chamber is different.
*'''Winchester Model 55''':<ref>The model number 55 was used twice by Winchester; this article refers to the .22-caliber rifle introduced in 1957, not the [[Winchester Model 1894|Model 94]] variant introduced in 1924.</ref> An unconventional hybrid of a single-shot and a [[semi-automatic firearm|semi-automatic]], this .22-caliber rifle ejected the fired case and recocked itself like a conventional [[Blowback (firearms)#Simple blowback|blowback-operated]] self-loader, but it lacked a [[Magazine (firearms)|magazine]] and had to be manually reloaded for each shot.
*"'Screw Barrel Actions'":
The OSS stinger pen pistol and several other clandestine pen guns, as well as homemade zip guns often made using plumbing parts, and cane guns used for both defense and poaching use a screw thread to attach the chambered barrel to a receiver with some sort of breech and firing pin. The user unscrews the barrel from the receiver to expose the chamber to load a cartridge. The RN50 .50 BMG single-shot rifle uses a similar screwthread breech cap to allow an otherwise simple break-action to contain a [[.50 BMG]] cartridge{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}.