Expert advice needed on 1861 Springfield

Dobie1

Cadet
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Hello all. I recently acquired an 1861 Springfield rifle at the local consignment auction and I have questions for you experts. The back two barrel bands have the "U" facing the butt of the gun. Is it a big deal to reverse for a klutz like me? The original rear sites have been poorly replaced (you can see daylight under the sites on profile view. The ramrod is wrong and not sturdy. Instead of preserving the gun "as is", I'd prefer to look for original parts. Any suggestions on where to look for original ramrod & site? If I cannot find them, are there reproduction parts that look good enough?

FYI: The local auction had it listed as "Old musket wall hanger". I was high bidder for a whopping $320.

Thanks for any and all advice!

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Great Score. One thing I see it the lockplate does not fit the where the bolster is. The barrel bands are EZ PZ back the screws out of all of them , silde them off and turn them around. The middle one should have a sling band. Lodgewood.com may the ram rod. I will defer on the site as I would leave it as found as the patina will not match.
 
Looks like the barrel has been shortened at the muzzle so any original ramrod is going to stick out a ways. You are opening Pandora's box a bit here once you start refurbishing something like this. I don't know that I would do much of anything to it other than put the barrel bands on facing the correct way.
 
As Craig says, the barrel has been cut short, and the front sight is a bead type sight as is found on shotguns. Does this still have rifling, or is it now a smoothbore?
I would leave the bands as they are - this detail won't bother a casual viewer, and to take these off and reverse and rotate them you would have to depress that band spring (and risk a slip that might scratch the wood) and slide them (and you might find sliding will scratch wood or metal).
You might be in luck as to the ramrod - you can always shorten a ramrod if the barrel is shortened (but you can't stretch a ramrod that has been cut too short). There are some decent reproductions you can buy for $60 or.
 
You'll need to address that back sight, unlike any such item found on a Springfield Model of 1861. It should look like this -

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Still a good buy at 320 any day of the week. As to replacing the rear sight. It appears that the screw was broken off and is still in place. Going by your own claim to mechanical skills, something that might require outside help. An original sight is easily 200 if you can find one.
 
Still a good buy at 320 any day of the week. As to replacing the rear sight. It appears that the screw was broken off and is still in place. Going by your own claim to mechanical skills, something that might require outside help. An original sight is easily 200 if you can find one.

Also, it looks like replacement sight was driven into the original dovetail cut in the barrel, and was a bit too large, so that dovetail might be a bit out of shape for an original sight.
 
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