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The British cavalry as an institution has been around since before Julius Caesar. The British developed cavalry to a high art, and seldom could a foe stand against heavy cavalry pounding towards them with a forest of sharp lances before them. When guns came on the scene around the 1500's, the cavalry life started to strain a bit, and the more guns developed, the more infantry could stand against cavalry. But the cavalry could use guns too, and took to the horse pistol at first
These one shot affairs were smoothbore, difficult to reload especially on horseback, and had little to no range. The horsemen themselves didn't like them and still clung to the sword and lance, even though some realized they would have to change. One of those was Winston Churchill, who rode at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan. When about to charge the dervishes, he put away his sword and brushed off his brand new 10 round Mauser pistol, and did quite well. Other officers also bought their own Colt revolvers, but the rank and file would still rather butcher their way to glory.
Early muzzleloading carbines were tried with some resistance, but justifiably so. Reloading a single shot muzzle loading carbine was even harder than a small horse pistol, and losing ramrods and primer caps was common. (All this while your trying to ride someone down and who is also shooting at you). Breechloaders came on the scene from the 1850's, the first used by Brit's being the Westley Richards Monkey Tail carbine (named for it's odd loading lever) but it still had the capping problem.
Then the brass boxer cartridge was developed and the Snider carbine was issued, and you would think the cavalry's problems would be solved, but not so, they still preferred their precious swords and lances. Besides, the Snider would kick like a blue mule, and a dozen shots were all that the typical horseman could stand. Many didn't even aim for fear of the recoil, and it would have been a wonder if they had actually hit anything. Things got slightly better with the Martini-Henry, but till the advent of the Lee repeating rifles with smokeless powder ammunition did the cavalry finally have a usable and easily reloadable weapon they could live with.
Not that it would do them any good. Machine guns were also here to stay, and the infantry had those same repeating rifles. The day of the cavalry waned, turned to mounted infantry, then morphed into armored cars, and if their spiritual successor is alive today, it's a robotic drone, doing reconnaissance work and the occasional missile strike. It's a shame, as they did look impressive on parade.
Painting by Alfred Munnings "Charge of Flowerdew's Squadron. Canadian cavalry attack German machine guns in 1918 at Moreuil Wood. They were annihilated.
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Where the British Army travels, so go their guns. Sometimes their guns stay on after they've left, and one such is the Egyptian Police Snider. There are a lot of these guns floating around at gun shows and the like, and they all have the same pattern. The consensus of opinion seems to be that these are shotguns built on the Snider pattern for the Egyptian Police.
They all seem to have the same cut down stock with checkering at the wrist. A rail is soldered on the bottom of the barrel that is intended for a cleaning or some such rod, and the rod is usually missing, or some other rod has been substituted, as any seen are all different. Egyptian markings are seen on the barrel with a rudimentary backsight, with the lock marked EP with a half moon beneath. Some receivers are marked in England with Snider Patent with the appropriate proof marks, which are usually missing on the barrel. Other receivers are unmarked. They seem to have been bought in a bunch in 1968 from Egypt and have been here ever since.
On all the ones I've seen the firing pin is usually missing. Most are Mk I latches that don't lock, and sometimes will fly open when shooting, but it doesn't happen that often. A cheap way to shoot these guns is cutting off a 24 gauge shotgun shell, using the bottom part that holds the primer, and muzzle loading them for the rest of the load. Those old shotgun shells are pretty hard to come by, but you can reload a base with a primer a lot, so you only need one, at least for a while.