Burnside Serial Number Search/Help

[rpq1968]

Hi there. I am new to the forum. So I guess I will just jump right in... I have a Burnside Saddle Ring Carbine Serial Number 22281. I would appreciate any help in identifying this carbine, ie: Year manufactured, issued date, area or fort issued too, or if we are really lucky name of soldier issued too...

And finally how I can obtain the paper trail/paperwork of this great rifle.

Thank you all so much for the help..

P.S. I think this carbine is a 5th Model (not 100% sure)

 

[Old Hickory]

From what I see in my Springfield Research Service books your carbine could have been issued sometime between April and July 1864. Only a few hundred Burnside serial numbers are recorded in these books, but it's in the range of carbines issued to the 2nd Ill cav, 6th Ill cav, and the 14th Pa cav. in 1864. I see some early numbered Burnsides being issued/reissued as late as 1865, but the 20,000-23,000 range mostly being issued April-July 1864.

U.S. issue of Burnside carbines,
Ill-2-3-6-12-14-16 Reg.
IN-3rd.
IA-3rd.
KY-1-5-6-7-11Reg.
ME-1st.
MI-1st.
MO-6th.
NJ-1st.
NY-1(Vet)-2-3-11-12-14-15-21-25Reg.
OH-1-4-5-6-7Reg.
PA-7-8-9-12-13-14-15-20Reg.
WV-3rd.
WI-2-4Reg.
Loudon Rangers

C.S.
NC-2nd.
TX-8th.
VA-6-7-11-12Reg&35Bn.

That's all I got.

 

[rpq1968]

Thanks Old Hickory. That is a great. I am extremely pleased. I was told that this carbine may have been issued to someone in Illinois.

May I ask how or where I can obtain a "Springfield Research Service book(s)". I enjoy the research aspect and the history behind my carbine..

Ryan

 

[Jobe Holiday]

rpq1968 - You must understand that serial numbers were only inventory numbers and meant nothing else. When the arms were packed into crates and shipped the numbers were entirely random and not consecutive. If your number is "...in their range of...." it means absolutely nothing at all. If you search back through the various posts here over the years regarding serial number research you will find much discussion verifying what I am telling you. Unless your number is a exact match everything else is meaningless. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, but this is the truth.
J.

 

[rpq1968]

Thanks Jobe Holiday. Your information is noted. Well the research goes on. If I can find out everything about my Carbine then that is great. I am extremely interested in the history. So anything is better than nothing. And I do take it with a grain of salt. If nothing comes of it. That's cool. I still have a great carbine. But I have to ask so I can attempt to find an exact trace of this serial number. Better to know for sure than to guess later on. Thanks for the information

 

[Jobe Holiday]

You also asked about the Springfield Research books. They are long out of print and the new owner of the printing rights refuses to reprint them. The whole story is much longer, but this is the essence of it. They can be found on some of the Internet book services from time to time but usually are cost prohibitive for what they are. A friend passed up a set at a show over the past year for $100 and has regretted it ever since. They were printed separately over the course of a few years with a total original price of over $100, as I recall it anyway.
J.

 

[Old Hickory]

Jobe's right, very lucky you would be to find a serial number in those books to a specific issue. I've had them almost 25 years and only nailed one down, a U.S. 1884 Springfield rifle issued to the 3rd. Texas Volunteers in the Spanish American War that I own. As to serial numbers and a round about date of issue, sometimes it works out, sometimes not due to the manufacturing process and random boxing and shipment of arms. I have an 1894 Winchester sporting rifle with a serial number indicating manufacture in 1898, however it wasn't shipped from the factory until 1901. Parts bins being refilled with earlier parts still in it, an assembly being misplaced, or set aside... As I said in my earlier post, some early Burnsides show issue in the books as late as 1865. Storage? Re-issue? The authors just printed the information they had on hand, sometimes a new issue, sometimes a re-issue.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

The records we are discussing from the S.R. books are even more complicated because they are only a snapshot in time for one instance where the arm shows up in archival research records. Such as: "Sharps Carbine, No. 12345, 3rd Illinois Bushwhackers, 9-23-1865, turned in." So, all it tells you is that that specific Sharps was with that unit at that point in time. I got to see several original shipping documents from the Springfield Armory showing the serial numbers of Trapdoor Carbines going to one of the Forts out West. The serial numbers for the twenty carbines were over 1,000 numbers apart with no two being consecutive!
J.

 

[rpq1968]

Thanks for all the information. It is helping with identifying the carbine and possible travels. So how do you go about finding the different books or documents about the carbine. Where are the manufacturer logs and documents being kept. Does Springfield Armory keep these records or were they archived somewhere else?

 

[Jobe Holiday]

To the best of my knowledge there are no Burnside factory records in existence regarding production serial number sequencing and shipping. The Springfield Armory has kept its own records, but not the records for the multitude of other manufacturers. The majority of those records have been either lost or destroyed over the years.
J.

 

[rpq1968]

Ahh well that puts a bit of a twist on it..lol.. Thanks Jobe.

 

[Scooter22]

A new book, "Burnside Breechloading Carbines and Rifles," discusses the serial number sequence in detail, and points out that the maker duplicated numbers.