Designed by Lewis Jennings and made by Robbins and Lawrence of Vermont, this .52-cal breech-loader dating to 1849 combined two experimental features that soon soon became standard: an integrated cartridge ammunition and repeat-fire capability.

The Jennings rifle fired the ‘Rocket Ball’, which stored powder within the bullet itself. This revolutionary ammunition was patented by Walter Hunt who also invented the fountain pen and safety pin. The Rocket Ball paved the way for unitary metal cartridges a decade or two later.

This gun was converted (possibly by Pitt-Rivers) from single-fire to repeater by adding a ring trigger attached to a sliding ratchet. Moving this back and forth chambered the round and advanced a tape primer across the nipple. Jennings later replaced the ratchet with a lever-action, as used in the famous Winchester ‘Wild West’ rifle. Jennings later collaborated with Horace Smith (of Smith and Wesson) to replace the sliding ratchet with a lever-action, which in turn led to such famous repeater rifles as the ‘Winchester’ of the Wild West and the ‘Spencer’ of the American Civil War.