M1841 Mississippi Rifle

handy.harris

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Austria
Hy Guys,

I am reasearching on Rifles of the Civil War. Does anybody know the following Data of this Rifle?
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Overall length
Barrel length
number of grooves; rifling twist
Range
muzzle speed of the projectile
number produced during the war

I did try google, but was not able to find the data.

kind regards
Handy
 
Mississippi Rifle

Handy,

The Model 1841 U.S. Percussion Rifle, AKA "Mississippi Rifle" had a 33 inch round barrel in .54 cal. According to Berkely Lewis/Small Arms and Ammunition in the United States Service the rifling was 3 lands/3 grooves, 1 turn in 6 feet.

The original prescribed cartridge was a 470 grain bullet with 70 grains of powder but that might have been reduced to 60 grains during the ACW. No specs on muzzle velocity but that combination of weight/propellant should produce something in the 850 to 950 fps range.

Production numbers

Harpers Ferry 25,296
contractors (Remington/Robbins, Kendall and Lawrence/George Tryon, Philadelphia/Eli Whitney/Palmetto Armory) 45,500

A major problem with researching this weapon is that the term "Mississippi Rifle" was used by both sides to describe .54 cal cartridges which led to the term's use in describing any .54 cal weapon. There is also some recently surfaced information that indicates that the Palmetto Armory version was also known as the "North Carolina Rifle".

Hope this helps,
TomH
 
North Carolina Rifle Bullets

Handy,

Here are three variants of the bullet manufactured for the North Carolina Rifle in .54 cal. They are based on the European Wilkinson bullet and use the same compression rings to disfigure the bullet on firing to destroy windage and engage the rifling.

TomH
 

Attachments

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I fire a repro .58 M1841... I don't recall the twist rate off hand but w/ 60 grains of FFG and a 520 grain bullet I get right around 900 fps.

The M1840/41/45 series weapons all fall under the Mississippi catagory of arms. All were in .54 or .58 caliber.

There were at least a dozen variations of the standard M1841 w/ the majority of differences being different types of rear sights, the modification of the weapon to accept a bayonet and differnt ramrod tips. There were also three breach loading conversions tested: the Merril, Lindner & Mont Storm. What that means is the M1841 has the record for the most sight modifications and most bayonet variations of any US military arm.


The longest Bayonet ever issued to the US military was on a variation of the M1841 a 27.25" long bayonet.

Overall length of most of the M1841's were between 48.75-49" EuroArms makes a pretty good repop of the M1841, w/ some modification it will pass muster as any of the originals.

Years ago I pulled down an article by Ralph E Arnold that is a must read if you can find it.

To break down the manufacture of the M1841produced:
Harpers Ferry 25,296
Robbbins & Lawrence 15,000
Robbins Kendall & Lawrence 10,000
Remington 20,000
Eli Whitney 22,500
Tryon 5000

SC Palmetto armory made approx 1000, at least half of which were destroyed in the war. IIRC there may have been a few hundred more made by various CS manufacturers.

Colt modified in the number of 10,000 w/ the distinctive M1855 Colt Revolving Rifle rear sight and bayonet and these were in both .54 & .58.

There were a variety of accepted nicknames for the M1841 in addition to the "Misissippi Rifle" you can find reference to the M1841 as the "Windsor", "Whitney," "Harpers Ferry Rifle" and the "Jaeger."
 
If you buy a repro, make sure that the patchbox has a hole drilled into it to take a spare nipple. I opened the patchobox of an original and was delighted to see one there. Being honest (and not wanting to violate my trust), I left it there untouched.
 
Mr. Steele;

Thanks for such a detailed post on the Mississippi Rifle. I have become somewhat enamoured with this gun...I had the opportunity to shoot one in competition over the summer, in the .54 cal original configuration, and it is a sweet piece of history.

I was interested in the nickname part of your post....you mentioned Whitney. I wonder if you were referring to the Whitney Militia Rifle. I built one for competition last year, and it is my current shooter. It is a combination of the '55 rifle (2 band) and the Mississippi. I built this gun with a Bill Large Barrel in .58 cal, and it uses a Mississippi front and rear band, the Fayetteville stock; (I got the stock from Dunlap, and lucked in to a beautiful piece of curly walnut) the low hump 55 plate, '55 hammer, '55 trigger mechanism, and '55 buttplate.

Evidently the story goes that Mr. Whitney, always looking to make a buck, combined the parts of these two rifles and sold them to the War Dept.

It's quite an interesting gun, both to see and shoot. I have seen a few at National competitions, all built by JRA. I wonder, are there any originals out there? I am always running inquiry on Google, and have never seen an original listed. Just curious if, in your experience, you have ever seen or heard of an original Whitney Militia Rifle.

Thanks,

ddisher
 
I've seen pics but never handled one; I've handled an original Whitney 41 which was of a much higher quality than any of their later arms. I've got Reilly's work in the van, when I get done w/ work tonight I'll see what he has to say on the matter.
 
I've seen a couple different designations of the Whitney Militia Rifle. I think Reilly refers to the Whitney Model 1861 Artillery Rifle as the Militia Rifle but I've also seen the Whitney-Enfield Rifle referred as such. Some argument exists as whether the Whitney Enfields went to Conneticut or Mississippi militias. All told there were probably only a few more than a thousand made.

I thought I had some more info on this particular weapon; but I'm quite mistaken. I'm not sure off hand where i read specifically on the Whitney Militia Rifle, NSSA board mayhaps.
 
I have been shooting in the NSSA for a couple years, and have seen maybe a half dozen of these rifles....but never an original. I wonder if they saw use under another moniker, and the "Whitney Militia Rifle" name surfaced post-bellum. The Whitney Navy rifle is fairly close, but sans brass hardware.

I will get some pictures taken of mine and let you have a gander....not that you couldnt get a photo off the JRA website.

Thanks,

Ddisher
 
I examined a M1841 rifle the other day and noticed "Kuchkendall" (sp) stamped on the sideplate and on the stock. Can anyone tell me about the mark?
 
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