Discussion Ammunition for Foreign Arms

[LouG.]

A Congressional document published shortly after the war may answer a couple of questions regarding ammunition for imported arms. This document (House Misc. Doc. 152, 40th Congress, 2nd Session, Serial #1350) purports to cover all the guns and related items owned by the U.S. in 1867, and although it's a post-war document, the Union wasn't buying anything from overseas after 1864, so the items listed must be Civil War purchases or fabrications. The doc is divided into vertical columns, one of which is headed "Quantity in the hands of troops" and the other "Quantity at armories and arsenals." Under the heading "Cartridges for rifled muskets" we find more than 300,000 "Elongated ball, calibre .71" rounds still in the hands of troops (with another 440,000 stored at armories and arsenals), and under the heading "Cartridges for smooth-bore muskets" we find more than 600,000 rounds of "Buck and ball, calibre .71 and .72," in troops' hands, with many more (along with .71 and .72 caliber round balls) in storage. Note that these are entirely separate listings from the usual .58- and .69-caliber loads, also shown herein. Under "Cartridges for pistols" we see 3700 rounds of "Lefaucheux, army, copper, calibre .46" in troops' hands (with another 1-1/2 million in storage), and also a listing for "Lefaucheux, navy, calibre .36" rounds, with 17,000 in storage. (Below this is a listing for "Pocket pistol, metallic" rounds, presumably .22 rimfires.)

Hope this proves to be of interest.

 

[UCVRelics]

Very Interesting. I going to say it all ended up at Bannerman's.

 

[Don Dixon]

Very Interesting. I going to say it all ended up at Bannerman's.

Schuyler, Hartley, and Graham; Herman Böker and Company; C. H. Pond; William Reed and Son; Bannerman's; and the French Army during the Franco-Prussian War; all bought major quantities of the Army's surplus arms and ammunition.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Can you post a link to this listing?

 

[Don Dixon]

LouG gave the link: Congressional Serial Set No. 1350.

 

[LouG.]

Jeff: As Don has said, the only link I can give you is Volume #1350 in the Congressional Serial Set. Some of the volumes from the Serial Set ARE on-line, on the Library of Congress website or elsewhere, but (at this writing, anyway), #1350 is not one of them. However, if you have a question about a specific item, maybe I can find an answer for you.

By the way, there are two important volumes from the Set available on-line. One is House Ex. Doc. 99, Serial #1338 (Ordnance contracts and purchases, 1861-1866), and the other is House Ex. Doc. 67, Serial #1131 (Ordnance Contracts and Purchases, 1861-62). Volume #1338 can be found (with some digging) on both HathiTrust and Google Books, and #1131 on HathiTrust.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Jeff: As Don has said, the only link I can give you is Volume #1350 in the Congressional Serial Set. Some of the volumes from the Serial Set ARE on-line, on the Library of Congress website or elsewhere, but (at this writing, anyway), #1350 is not one of them. However, if you have a question about a specific item, maybe I can find an answer for you.

By the way, there are two important volumes from the Set available on-line. One is House Ex. Doc. 99, Serial #1338 (Ordnance contracts and purchases, 1861-1866), and the other is House Ex. Doc. 67, Serial #1131 (Ordnance Contracts and Purchases, 1861-62). Volume #1338 can be found (with some digging) on both HathiTrust and Google Books, and #1131 on HathiTrust.

Thanks for your good info.