Muzzleldrs Henry minie rifle

[Jack7171]

I've been researching James Henry &son rifles made in the Boulton Gun Works in Belfast Pa, and recently added this 2 band minie rifle to my collection. This rifle, produced in the summer of 1861, was mfg during the time that J.henry & son was making rifles for Phillip Justice of Philadelphia. Searching Henry archives, I found several letters from april-aug of 1861 where Justice was pressing Henry to "put every good hand to work day and night" to build rifles fast enough to arm the fast growing union army. Justice supplied Henry with a saber bayonet to use as a sample for creating the saber lug for these new saber rifles, then it appears Justice fit the bayonets to the rifles. Henry produced some 952 saber rifles. However, during the same time, Henry also produced 285 of these same rifles, but instead turned down the muzzle to accept an 1816/1822 socket bayonet. The Justice stamped Henrys with saber bayonets seen were assembled using "hooked" trigger guards. The bayonet equipped Henry's used round trigger guards. This rifle was assembled with the socket bayonet, but the hooked trigger guard, rather than the typical round trigger guard normally associated with J Henry stamped minie rifles. The staff at the Henry museum, the Gunnery staff of Pennsylvania longarm museum, agreed that this version of Henry bayonet rifle was original, untouched and had never been before. In August of 1861 the City of Bethlehem Pa purchased 40 bayonet minie rifles from the Henrys nearby Boulton Gun Works. The Henry museum staff agreed this would be 1 of those 40 original rifles purchased by Bethlehem. The combination of parts falls in line with production of Justice rifles, without compromising any parts needed to fulfill the commitment to Justice. I feel a certain connection to this rifle as I live a few miles from both Bethlehem pa, and the Henrys Boulton Gun Works

This is the original stock duplicating machine, and museum staff said this machine would have been the exact machine that cut the stock for my rifle in 1861.

Barrel boring tool

Hand cranked drill press

Belt driven drill press

 

[JOHN42768]

Very nice rifle and great old machinery.

 

[UCVRelics]

Awesome piece, great photos and thread. Is there a 2 on the bayonet to match the lug as a lot of these rare one off local made rifles had the bayonet hand fitted to the rifle or could it be a serial#

 

[Jack7171]

I've read that the bayonets were stamped on the neck with a number as well, that corresponded to the number on the muzzle, and I've seen no less than 5 1816/1822 bayonets with a 2 stamped on the neck. There is also another socket bayonet minie (but with the typical rounded henry triggerguard) with #2s and #8s stamped on various parts of the rifle. My bayonet is not stamped, and is just a garden variety 1816/1822 grab and go bayonet and it fits like a glove, as does an 1816/1822 bayonet I have on another rifle. Both ones I tried fit perfectly. So either I'm lucky, or the tolerances are worn just enough that it doesn't need a hand fitted bayonet. I'm sure that the number should match on both and bayonet, but unsure if was for fitment, or rack #, as this was a militia tifle owned by a local city. I am hoping to find a correctly stamped bayonet commensurate with my rifles condition.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

I would like to see that stock making machine at work!

 

[Jack7171]

I would like to see that stock making machine at work!

It's kind of in pieces right now,, when it's restored I hope to see it work as well! It seems like it operates like a lathe,, but instead of spinning fast, it turned slowly,, and instead of a fixed tool to do the cutting against a piece spinning fast,, it has a circular saw blade,, and as the machine rotated the raw stock, the spinning saw blade moved in and out, following the slowly rotating finished pattern stock. Hard to explain but I think that's how it was explained to me. I found a quick video of how one works, although this is a much newer copying lathe

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

I owned one of the Bethlehem militia guns earlier this year for a while. It was accompanied by a US M1827 bayonet that was numbered to the bayonet lug. There were no other modifications to the bayonet and no other markings to discern it from any other garden variety "T"-slot US bayonet.

 

[Jack7171]

I owned one of the Bethlehem militia guns earlier this year for a while. It was accompanied by a US M1827 bayonet that was numbered to the bayonet lug. There were no other modifications to the bayonet and no other markings to discern it from any other garden variety "T"-slot US bayonet.
View attachment 460790

Thats awesome! Do you have any photos of the triggerguard?

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

Thats awesome! Do you have any photos of the triggerguard?

Yes, it was the normal round guard typically seen on Henry's guns.

 

[frontrank2]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.