People in the 18th century were discovering aerodynamics and that a pointy bullet could go farther, faster, and hurt more than the circular ball of lead. People were also figuring out that a bullet with threads in it like a screw in a gun that also had threads in it was more accurate than no threads. A man named Benjamin Tyler Henry learned how to make guns from a local gunsmith, then went to work for Smith and Wesson a prominent gun manufacturer. The Smith and Wesson company changed their name and acquired new investors for the company. One of those investors was named Mr. Winchester and after a while he forced the company into bankruptcy so that he could buy it from them at a low price. Then after getting the company he changed the name to the New Haven Arms Company. Then, Benjamin Tyler Henry went to go work for the New Haven Arms Company and was quickly promoted to manager. As manager Henry started tinkering with a new design for a rifle and in the 1860s he made the lever action repeating rifle. It was a rear loading design which was new at the time since before the bullet was just jammed in the barrel. The lever near the trigger would, when pulled, eject the shell of the previous bullet and ready the new bullet. It could hold 16 shots in the butt of the gun then another in the barrel which makes 17 bullets total. In the downfall of Custer the Indians the Americans lead by general Custer were supposed to be moving out of their territory had gotten some of Henry’s rifles and even against the 2-1 or 3-1 odds against them they killed Custer an a huge portion of his men.
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