Did Lincoln own any weapons?

[AussieMick]

I think we are safe to assume that Lincoln owned a rifle or two ... concerning the Spencer Repeating rifle
https://www.americanrifleman.org/Webcont...rifles.pdf

" Lincoln wanted to see for himself, though his personal view was that the single-shot breechloader would be the army rifle of the future. (As indeed they would be, evidenced by the adoption of the “Trapdoor” Springfield). And so it was that, in the summer of 1861, the president and his private secretary, William Stoddard, tramped across the White House south lawn for some shooting practice. Lincoln carried a very early prototype Henry, and Stoddard a Springfield rifle-musket specially modified into a breechloader. At the bottom of the lawn there was a patch of ground picturesquely called Treasury Park, though it wasn’t so much a verdant Eden as weedy, gravelly turf enclosed by a wooden fence and dominated by a large pile of lumber that Lincoln used as a backstop for shooting. Christopher Spencer himself came to demonstrate the firearm. Betraying his curiosity in all things mechanical, Lincoln asked to be shown “the inwardness of the thing.” So Spencer took the piece apart and screwed it back together, delighting the president. Spencer then accompanied the president, Lincoln’s son Robert and his secretary John Hay to Treasury Park. They set up a wooden plank three feet long and six inches wide to use as a target. Lincoln took the first shot, from 40 yds. away. It hit 5" below, and somewhat to the left, of the bullseye. His next hit the spot, and by furiously working the lever, he rapidly placed five more in the neighborhood. “Now,” he said, “we will see the inventor try it.” Spencer then performed, in Hay’s words, “some splendid shooting,” and beat the president’s score. Lincoln, amused, defended his inferiority by remarking that Spencer was younger than he."

[LincolnMan]

I love this story!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Can't help it - I dislike any shooting, moreover "for fun".

[Steve]

(07-25-2018 06:22 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  I think we are safe to assume that Lincoln owned a rifle or two ... concerning the Spencer Repeating rifle
https://www.americanrifleman.org/Webcont...rifles.pdf

" Lincoln wanted to see for himself, though his personal view was that the single-shot breechloader would be the army rifle of the future. (As indeed they would be, evidenced by the adoption of the “Trapdoor” Springfield). And so it was that, in the summer of 1861, the president and his private secretary, William Stoddard, tramped across the White House south lawn for some shooting practice. Lincoln carried a very early prototype Henry, and Stoddard a Springfield rifle-musket specially modified into a breechloader. At the bottom of the lawn there was a patch of ground picturesquely called Treasury Park, though it wasn’t so much a verdant Eden as weedy, gravelly turf enclosed by a wooden fence and dominated by a large pile of lumber that Lincoln used as a backstop for shooting. Christopher Spencer himself came to demonstrate the firearm. Betraying his curiosity in all things mechanical, Lincoln asked to be shown “the inwardness of the thing.” So Spencer took the piece apart and screwed it back together, delighting the president. Spencer then accompanied the president, Lincoln’s son Robert and his secretary John Hay to Treasury Park. They set up a wooden plank three feet long and six inches wide to use as a target. Lincoln took the first shot, from 40 yds. away. It hit 5" below, and somewhat to the left, of the bullseye. His next hit the spot, and by furiously working the lever, he rapidly placed five more in the neighborhood. “Now,” he said, “we will see the inventor try it.” Spencer then performed, in Hay’s words, “some splendid shooting,” and beat the president’s score. Lincoln, amused, defended his inferiority by remarking that Spencer was younger than he."

This Washington Times article from 2006 has a little more background to the story:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/200...624-2018r/

The Smithsonian website has an image of one the earlier Spencer rifles tested by Lincoln:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collection...ah_1199105