Percussion Rifle ID

Murph58

Cadet
Joined
Feb 25, 2024
Location
Shippensburg, PA
Hello all,
This is the gun which was bought at auction along with the previous Enfield I posted. I find no markings. The only thing I see that stands out is the barrel shape at the chamber end, 31" bbl, 42" total length butt to muzzle (short) thanks


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Thanks I'm surprised it would be post war considering where it was found. It was a relic kept in a home built in 1700's and found by the owner years ago in his grandfathers attic in Franklin County PA. along with a British Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle musket, civilian manufacture and dated 1861. Can't say for sure the accuracy of the finding info so who knows. All new to me but just appreciate knowing anything.
 
It has an M1842 lock. The ramrod is missing. Civilian production in 16 or 20 gauge. Nice to shoot but this will take you some time to restore. If you want to restore it in an old manner you should use bone glue for the stock repair. The lock and the barrel as well as the stock plate can be cleaned with electrolysis or in vinegar essence. The ramrod were mostly made of oak wood combined with a horn dopper or simply iron.
 
Okay, thanks to all. No I didn't pay much for the two guns, around $70. I thought it well worth it for something from the Civil War era. Being from the Adirondack mountains of NY I don't think I ever saw anything related to the Civil War for sale etc.. Granted they are not Whitworths or Sharps and are well used but I have a good respect for their history.
 
It has an M1842 lock. The ramrod is missing. Civilian production in 16 or 20 gauge. Nice to shoot but this will take you some time to restore. If you want to restore it in an old manner you should use bone glue for the stock repair. The lock and the barrel as well as the stock plate can be cleaned with electrolysis or in vinegar essence. The ramrod were mostly made of oak wood combined with a horn dopper or simply iron.
Can you provide more info on m1842 lock please. I'm assuming French/Belgian/German. It's definitely not a martial US 1842 lock
 
On the rifle pictured in this thread, you have what's called a back action lock, which is supposed to be a bit faster in ignition than a standard lock, and the barrel is octagonal to round (those two circles where it changes from octagonal to round are called wedding bands. Both of these items can be found on a civilian hunting or target rifle of the mid 19th century period. One advantage of a back action lock was that less wood is removed from the stock during the inletting process so there is less chance of stock breakage in the wrist area; I see it didn't work on this rifle however.
 
Thanks, I suppose one would be reaching to think it possibly one of the "squirrel" guns" brought into the war by some?
Ya, you would be reaching a bit to think that. I had to look on a map to find where Shippensburg is: You're located on the western edge of what back in the mid-1700's was the epicenter of American long rifle manufacturing, so if your gun was locally made, who knows what its history was. I very much doubt that it saw any combat in the C.W., but perhaps it was used by some old farmer who was in a home guard unit.

I'm kind of intrigued by the barrel. Its style, being hexagonal at the breach and round at the muzzle, to my eye, doesn't match with the back action percussion lock; I think the barrel is much older than the lock. I'm sure that type of a barrel has a name, but I don't know what that name is, but that style of barrel was fairly common in the 1750's. You see them on rifles, especially on trade rifles, on "smooth" rifles, and fowlers beginning around that period. A long hexagonal barrel on a rifle can be very barrel heavy, meaning the balance point for the rifle is way out on the fore stock. By removing some of the mass of the barrel by turning it from hexagonal to round, you move the balance point back closer to the lock, and that makes the rifle much more comfortable to hold or aim. That barrel could have been used on another rifle dating from the American frontier of the 1700's, the F & I War, or the American Revolution. People didn't throw things away like our modern society does, so it's not that unusual to find a barrel that's much older than the rest of the gun its mounted on. The back action percussion lock mounted on your rifle doesn't come into use before the early 1840's or so. I think there's a good possibility that your rifle was made after the 1840's from various parts of an older gun.

Let me say that by no means am I an authority on any type of gun. I'm just an old guy who's always had an interest in old guns, and I read a lot.
 
Ya, you would be reaching a bit to think that. I had to look on a map to find where Shippensburg is: You're located on the western edge of what back in the mid-1700's was the epicenter of American long rifle manufacturing, so if your gun was locally made, who knows what its history was. I very much doubt that it saw any combat in the C.W., but perhaps it was used by some old farmer who was in a home guard unit.

I'm kind of intrigued by the barrel. Its style, being hexagonal at the breach and round at the muzzle, to my eye, doesn't match with the back action percussion lock; I think the barrel is much older than the lock. I'm sure that type of a barrel has a name, but I don't know what that name is, but that style of barrel was fairly common in the 1750's. You see them on rifles, especially on trade rifles, on "smooth" rifles, and fowlers beginning around that period. A long hexagonal barrel on a rifle can be very barrel heavy, meaning the balance point for the rifle is way out on the fore stock. By removing some of the mass of the barrel by turning it from hexagonal to round, you move the balance point back closer to the lock, and that makes the rifle much more comfortable to hold or aim. That barrel could have been used on another rifle dating from the American frontier of the 1700's, the F & I War, or the American Revolution. People didn't throw things away like our modern society does, so it's not that unusual to find a barrel that's much older than the rest of the gun its mounted on. The back action percussion lock mounted on your rifle doesn't come into use before the early 1840's or so. I think there's a good possibility that your rifle was made after the 1840's from various parts of an older gun.

Let me say that by no means am I an authority on any type of gun. I'm just an old guy who's always had an interest in old guns, and I read a lot.
We must have read some of the same sources because what you have said is how I understand it too.
 
Okay, many thanks again for taking the time. Very interesting. I'm also an old timer (81) with limited knowledge re Civil War firearms with the exception of reading "Civil War Firearms" by Joseph Bilby. Very interesting but doesn't really doesn't get into identification or proof marks etc.. I own a modern Lyman flintlock and have had a couple of models in the past that I wish I still had. Right now my thought is to just clean up these guns with a brass brush, replace a couple of screws and find a place in the house to display them. Seeing that we have now "downsized" I really don't have the place or woodworking tools I once had to do much else and not really sure if it would be practical. Many thanks to all! Keep your powder dry!
 

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