Muzzleldrs Broken Springfield M1842 musket relic - 1853 Perryville KY

mr. scratch

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Okay, picked this up recently; the broken-off back-half of a Springfield M1842 musket. This was evidently found in the 1950s in an old barn in Kentucky that was being torn down. Yellow paint on the rear underside of the stock says "PERRYVILLE KY". Also has a light"HDM" carved into the left side of the stock, and a "K" in the top of the neck.

My question -I believe the date on the lock is 1853, but the 3 is mangled. I've seen other image of this same type of lock from the same period with what appears to be a messed-up 3 at the end. Any idea if this was this a bad number die, or were a bunch of these restruck at some point after production for some reason?

Any other info about this I'm missing? As this musket/rifle was widely used by both sides (assuming this is a CW piece) I'm assuming there is no way to know if it was specifically used by either USA or CSA, yes?


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I don't think its a bad strike just some pitting as you can see the same around the S & F as far as which side no way to tell.
 
Mm. I'm not sure it's just pitting. There is some rust, but not enough on this particular spot to do this I would think. I dunno.

As I said, it does appear that other M1842 locks of this date have a similar issue with the last digit. Another I was able to find within a couple of minutes searching. Just a small thing that I was wondering about, hoping someone would say "oh, yes the '53s at such-n-such arsenal were updated and restamped in '62" or somesuch.

But, maybe not.



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I don't suspect anything about the '3' of the 1853 lock plate date stamp other than what has been said, it is within the production range of the model 1842. Probably somebody at the US Armory was heavy handed? You would certainly expect a number of 1842s saw action at Perryville on both sides.

There are also minor variations with the 1842s over the various production runs, the most interesting to me is the slightly taller hammer spur that some of them feature.
 
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