United States Army inspectors conducted trials by having a 38-man infantry company fire at a 100 yards (91 m) target for ten minutes at their own speed.

The back several inches of the barrel (the chamber) is a separate piece that pivots upwards from the front for reloading, similar in concept to the later Swedish-Norwegian kammerlader.

The loose fit of a musket ball allowed for faster loading, even after fouling built up, but also made adding rifling useless, since it wouldn't work without a tight-fitting projectile.

With a breech-loader, a tight-fitting projectile can be used, as it doesn't have to be forced down the barrel, which allows the use of rifling as well as a fast rate of fire.

The breech-loading design was made possible by his focus on using carefully machined components to form a seal, but still allowing enough tolerance for the breech to be opened easily.

While precisely machined for the time, the technology of the day didn't allow for tolerances close enough to make a satisfactory seal, which was also one of the biggest hindrances to the creation of a successful revolver until some years later.

However, the design suffered from the gas leakage around the interface of the separate chamber and the bore (much as gases escape from the gap between cylinder and barrel of a revolver), resulting in the necessity of a heavier powder charge that still produced much less muzzle velocity than its muzzleloading competition.

Thousands of rifles were made, though the troops and many leaders preferred the simplicity and lower costs of muzzle-loaded weapons.

The Sartoris carbine, based on the earlier Crespi breech-loader,[3] was an almost identical design issued in limited numbers to the British army from 1817–1825.

Sartoris' design was tested on many flintlock arms, including a Baker rifle and a regulation cavalry carbine, and at least one sporting gun was converted to caplock by Alexander Forsyth.