Urrikane
Private
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2018
I thought I would add some commentary to Urrikane's post regarding his transformed Muster 1842 musket, since it is a k.k. Army conversion uncommonly seen in the States.
As an interim measure as the Muster 1854 System Lorenz family of arms went into production, the k.k. Army used the following process to convert some System Augustin weapons to percussion. The external parts of the System Augustin tubelock were removed and the resulting holes in the lock plate were filled. A bolster [Wellbaum or ignition tunnel] was made, threaded to hold a nipple, and threaded to screw into the hole for the System Augustin Kern [tube primer holder] in the barrel of the weapon. Once in place, the new bolster was soldered or brazed to the barrel. The face of the System Augustin hammer was opened up to fit the nipple on the new percussion bolster. In terms of the geometry of the lock, this was probably the best of the System Augustin to percussion conversions. Muster 1851 rifled and smoothbore cavalry carbines, Muster 1844 Extra Corps carbines, Muster 1846 Sanitary Corps carbines, Muster 1851 pistols, and some Muster 1842 muskets were converted using this system. A variety of bolster and hammer shapes were used. As System Lorenz arms became more common in the k.k. Army the conversion bolsters and hammers grew to more closely resemble System Lorenz bolsters and hammers. Among the k.k. Army weapons imported to America during the Civil War, this conversion is seen predominantly on Muster 1851 Kammercarbiner [cavalry rifle carbines]. I have one in my collection. However, the Springfield Armory Museum collection includes examples of this percussion conversion technique used on other models of arms.
Regards,
Don Dixon
excellent explanation!
below the images of two examples of conversion in my collection ( it's the muster 1842 infantry conversion to percussion), the first is a conversion performed by the Sardinian army, you can see the filled holes on the lockplate, but you can also see the work done wrong near the nipple
this is a conversion made by FF (Ferd. Fruwirth)