- Joined
- Apr 1, 1999
- Location
- Martinsburg, WV
My question, however, lies not with the sales, but with the sighting system on the guns.
So, many people regard the gun, Registry Number 1 (CP), at Hanover, PA, to be the first Production Gun from West Point Foundry, but that doesn't seem right.
I've looked at that gun, and gun #6 right next to it, and they both have the shoulder mounted Parrott stadia sight system, and that's "supposed to be" a sign of a later model cannon, earlier model guns are supposed to have the muzzle mounted front sight, and a pendulum hausse mounting centered on the breech.
Perhaps Parrott designed the 10-pdr. Parrott Stadia sight earlier than we all thought, but the U.S. Ordnance Department was uncomfortable with such a radical departure from the standard sighting system, and insisted in having the old pendulum system setup on all the guns it ordered in 1861? Maybe the State of P.A. was okay with trying the new sight system before anyone else?
No, I think there is more to the story here...
Okay let's set the sight question to the side for a moment...
Now, I saw a claim on Gettysburg Daily that these are probably just reproduction barrels, they are too rough, and the barrels are out of round, the markings aren't normal, and they just don't look right. But I need to call B.S. because these guns have a proper Patented 1861 stamp on the reinforce, and all the other stamps are actually correct for early 1861 guns, you just don't see early 1861 guns on the field often, so no, I believe that claim is wrong, these aren't reproductions.
If they were early guns for the State of Pennsylvania that were issued and went to Manassas, why would they have a Patent Stamp? Shouldn't they have a CAV stamp? That was what they used to show the Patent was waiting approval prior to October 1, 1861, so this gun must have been stamped after that date.
So, that would explain the trunnion sights instead of the center muzzle sight I was expecting. But then that would mean this isn't the first manufactured gun off the line in 1861, rather a later year model....
The only way to really tell, and of course I didn't yet discover this info among any of my books, but the Foundry numbers might help unravel the tale! I tried to see if i could see one, but alas, nothing was visible when I visited yesterday.
So, is this line of thinking logical?