Reconditioned rifled muskets?

[Mountain-Man]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I was reading about the 19th Tennessee Infantry and read that they had reconditioned rifled muskets until Shiloh (if I recall correctly) what were the reconditioned muskets, were they the M1842's or a different model?

 

[redbob]

They could have been just about anything, even flintlocks that had been converted to percussion. At that stage both sides were cleaning out their armories and buying anything that they could get their hands on.

 

[Bob Owen]

They were reconditioning them by converting the flintlocks to percussion and the smooth bore muskets by rifling them.

 

[Bob Owen]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I was reading about the 19th Tennessee Infantry and read that they had reconditioned rifled muskets until Shiloh (if I recall correctly) what were the reconditioned muskets, were they the M1842's or a different model?

You are in the right place! You live in Tennessee don't you?

 

[Bob Owen]

A rifled musket is a smooth bore that has been rifled after manufacture. A rifle musket is one that is rifled at the factory with the original purpose of being a rifle.

 

[gary]

Rifle muskets are guns that left the factory/armory with rifled bores.
Rifled muskets are guns that left the factory/armory with smooth bores and were subsequently rifled.

Mind you, even into the early Twentieth Century when nitro-cellulose cartridge, magazine fed bolt action firearms were standard in the world's armies, military marksmanship manuals were still called Musketry Instructions.

 

[Mountain-Man]

Just re-read it and it says rifled muskets, just to clear it up

 

[Southron]

Here is a write-up of a "Converted" flintlock musket that the Ordnance Department never got around to rifling for whatever reasons:

http://www.collegehillarsenal.com/shop/product.php?productid=662

 

[johan_steele]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I was reading about the 19th Tennessee Infantry and read that they had reconditioned rifled muskets until Shiloh (if I recall correctly) what were the reconditioned muskets, were they the M1842's or a different model?

most likely they they would have been M1816 flintlock muskets that had been converted to percussion. Some were rifled but the majority were not. However they may also have been Remington Maynard conversions of the M1816.

 

[Southron]

Here is another possibility, Confederate imported. British "Reconditioned" Rifled-Muskets:

http://www.collegehillarsenal.com/shop/product.php?productid=811&cat=0&page=1

 

[rob63]

More possibilities...

According to Confederate Rifles & Muskets by Murphy and Madaus the State of Tennessee had received 15,087 U.S. Model 1816 or Model 1822 flintlock muskets between 1820 and 1850 under the 1808 Militia Act. Between 1850 and 1860 they received a further 1,033 muskets of the same models that had been altered to percussion and 530 U.S. Model 1855 cadet rifle-muskets.

The same source says that as of July 31, 1861 the Provisional Army of Tennessee (which included the 19th Tennessee) consisted of 22 regiments with a total of 11,955 men, and was armed with flintlock muskets. Presumably those flintlock muskets would be the same U.S. Model 1816/1822 muskets that had been previously received by the State of Tennessee.

The Ordnance Department of the Provisional Army of Tennessee was transferred to the Confederacy in Sept. 1861 and included the facilities at Nashville and Memphis. Both of those facilities were engaged in altering flintlock muskets to percussion and in altering civilian rifles to military use by altering them to percussion and re-boring them to .54 caliber. The number of civilian arms altered was never very large, but it adds another possibility to what could count as a "reconditioned" rifled musket.

As the Confederates retreated out of Tennessee the machinery and personnel from Nashville were relocated to Atlanta, GA and the Memphis works were moved to Columbus, MS. The Army of Tennessee was mainly supplied by the Atlanta Arsenal. Another aspect of the work performed at these arsenals was repair of weapons damaged or captured on the battlefield. A report by Major M.H. Wright for the fiscal year ending 30 June 1863 indicates they had repaired and issued 12,356 muskets and 5,649 rifles and rifle-muskets.

The same source also records that some 4,000 stands-of-arms captured at the battlefields of the Seven Days around Richmond were sent to the Columbus Arsenal for repair. You can see that "reconditioned" arms issued to soldiers in the West could include weapons that were originally captured in the East.

The combination of the words "Confederate Ordnance system" and "reconditioned" opens up an almost endless list of possibilities.

 

[rob63]

Another aspect to consider; you didn't mention the source for the description of reconditioned rifled-muskets.

If it originally came from a Confederate Ordnance officer who previously served in the regular army then I would presume that he knew what he was talking about. However, if it came from an officer who a few months before had been a politician, or a plantation owner, or whatever, then I wouldn't take the description at face value.

Yet another possibility; if you were a Confederate Ordnance officer who had nothing but old repaired muskets to offer to an officer that was demanding the latest rifled-muskets and you knew the officer wouldn't know the difference, you might be tempted to simply tell him that he was receiving the finest reconditioned rifled-muskets available. Used-car salesmen are nothing new.

 

[Mountain-Man]

Thanks for the replys, yall cleared things up for me