Relic Tube lock

[Southern Articifer]

I first saw this lock 38 years ago. Then it still had a tag on noting it was found on a Civil War battle site. All I can remember about the tag was P.Ridge - recovered Sept. 1924. The tag is no longer attached but I was finally able to buy it for my collection and can now use it in my historical firearms talks. The lock is from a model 1851 Austrian tube lock cavalry pistol, single shot 65 cal. A number of these were purchased by the Federals along with supplies of tube primers. They were issued to the union armies of the west - such as Fremont's men. What's also worth noting about this lock is that this is how the locks on all the M.1854 Lorenz rifles and the contract made Enfield pattern Lorenz rifles looked like before they were properly converted to percussion. While this is a pistol lock and is smaller then the rifle and musket locks, all the Austrian tube locks are the same. The tube primers were a brass tube filled with mercury fulminate, crimped at both ends. One end had a wire on it that attached it to the cartridge. The tube primer was placed in the priming trough - the wire helped the solider to hold and align the primer as this was done. Once in place, the lid was closed. The cartridge was then pulled free from the wire. In this motion, the cartridge was opened and could now be poured into the barrel. The button on top of the lid is a simple firing pin. It floats freely so it won't set off the tube primer when closing the lid. Dropping the hammer drives the button/firing pin onto the primer.

 

[major bill]

Looks nice to me.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Cool!!

 

[originalrebelyell]

That is very interesting I like it.

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

What's also worth noting about this lock is that this is how the locks on all the M.1854 Lorenz rifles and the contract made Enfield pattern Lorenz rifles looked like before they were properly converted to percussion.

Very cool lock! Tubelocks are a real rarity here in the states, this is only the second example of an Austrian tube lock that has surfaced with certifiable Civil War provenance I am aware of. The other example of is an excavated Austrian M1842 musket in a private collection.

I will point out however, that the Muster 1854 "Lorenz" rifle-musket was never a tube lock firearm; it was designed as a percussion arm. The last Austrian arm to utilize the Augustine Consol lock was the M1849 rifle.


Thanks for sharing,
Garrett

 

[Jobe Holiday]

Southern Articifer - Can you direct me to, or can you provide me with, the specific government records verifying the importation and issue of the pistols you have referenced? I have been trying to find information on imported single shot pistols of any type for quite some time with no success. My research has caused me to believe that both governments only imported revolvers because of the huge amount of domestic single shot pistols already available in this country, and which were virtually disregarded as nearly useless by the Cavalry of both sides. Thank you!
J.

 

[3rd North Carolina]

looks very nice to me

 

[Booner]

Good explanation on how it worked. Thank you.

 

[UCVRelics]

Nice relic. Thanks for posting.

 

[War Horse]

Very interesting. Thank you for posting.

 

[JohnW.]

Very cool...thanks for the share!!

 

[William G Hendry]

Great Piece

 

[Waterloo50]

Very interesting post, thank you.

 

[Southern Articifer]

Trying to explain the progression of lock mechanisms can be difficult. I'll try again. The M1854 Lorenz rifle was built as a new rifle but to cut cost the Austrian government ok'd the use of the earlier model tube locks rather than make up completely new ones. The tube locks were only re-worked - the primer trough was cut away. The holes for the screws that held the lid and lid spring were filled in. Then a new percussion hammer was put on as well. This is why we find M.1854 Lorenz rifles with dates that preceded the model 1854 production. For example, dates as 847 to 852. Remember they didn't use a 1 in their dates. Also, the holes that were filled in from the former tube lock parts can clearly be seen on the now M1854 Lorenz lock. The use of the obsolete tube lock locks continued up to the production of the new M1862 Lorenz. The M1862 has an entirely new plate. The plate now has the shape of the Enfield locks and copies their internal mechanics and will have dates starting around 1864. Side note: the Austrian contractors who provide new made Lorenz rifles for our Civil War started using the Enfield style lock plates early on. These Austrian Enfield's as they were called were being issued by fall of 1862. Still, even the Austrian contractors were using up the remainder of the old tube locks, as well as modifying them to percussion proper and then reshaping them to the contours of the more popular Enfield. Hope that helps smooth this out. Next, the reference I'm using on the tube lock in the Civil War comes from the book" Civil War Guns by Willam B. Edwards, pages 291-292. There are some other references on the tube primers in this book but they're scattered in the text and pages. Here is an excerpt from the book and a view of T.R.S.'s pistols that correspond to the images on page 292. Note: Edwards calls these tube lock pistols M1842 but T.R.S. list them as M1851. If anyone can explain this discrepancy, it would be valuable to know.

 

[Don Dixon]

In rather extensive research on the importation of Austro-Hungarian Army (k.k. Army) weapons during the Civil War, I have found NO documentation for the importation of ANY k.k. Army single shot, muzzle loading, pistols; either in tubelock or percussion. Despite his reputation, Edwards was singularly clueless in his writings regarding the k.k. Army weapons. There are virtually no English language secondary sources on the k.k. Army weapons which are worth reading.

Given the attribution to the battle at Pea Ridge, your tubelock presumably came from a Muster 1842 infantry musket. Approximately 27,000 were purchased from two different vendors for Major General Fremont, of which 15,000 were issued to Fremont's troops in tubelock. The rest were converted to percussion in the U.S. by the Federals. Some of the tubelock arms were still in the field in early 1862.

The Muster 1844 and 1849 Kammerbüchse ("Garibaldi" rifles) and Muster 1851 cavalry carbines were originally manufactured by/for the k.k. Army in tubelock. But, prior to being imported and sold to the Federal Army they were converted to percussion; some by the k.k. Army, but most in Liege, Belgium. They also would have been widely represented in the western Federal Army in 1862.

Regards,
Don Dixon

 

[James Brenner]

I, too, am interested in tube locks. Will you repost the picture, please, next to a ruler so we can get an idea of its size? By the way, the December issue of Civil War News has an article on Austrian M1842 tube locks.

Thanks,
Jim Brenner

 

[Don Dixon]

Mr. Brenner,

The lock used in the Muster 1854 System Lorenz percussion weapons was simply a product inproved version of the "small" System Augustin tubelock used in the k.k. Army's tubelock weapons manufactured between 1842 and 1855. The ever frugal k.k. Army reused many tubelocks and tubelock lockplates by removing the external tubelock hardware, filling the resulting holes, and slightly re-profiling the top of the lockplate to fit the bolster on the Muster 1854 rifle's barrel.

So, if you have access to a System Lorenz lockplate you essentially know the size of the tubelock lockplate. Given the limitations of hand fitted artisanal technology, both will fit in the same lockplate mortises.

Regards,
Don Dixon

 

[James Brenner]

So, to review the bidding, there's no difference between the size of a musket lock plate and a pistol lock plate, correct? Here's what I'd like to know. If the lock plate shown above is of smaller dimensions than that of a musket, that would suggest the lock plate is off a pistol. If they're the same size, chances are it's from a musket. If there is a difference, a visual depiction of the lock plate's size would determine the lock plate's origin. I'm curious because there is a direct connection between tube locks and Miles Greenwood. Other than some poor quality photos, I have neither access to an actual lock plate nor a quality description of the System.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Don Dixon]

Jim,

The "large" System Augustin tubelock was used on Muster 1840 muskets. That lock was simply a conversion of the lock from flint to tubelock. Tolerances were too large, the locks didn't hold up well in the field, and Baron von Augustin designed a new lock.

The new "small" System Augustin tubelocks were used on the Muster 1842 infantry musket, the Muster 1844 and 1849 Kammerbüchsen, the Muster 1851 smoothbore and rifled cavalry carbines, and the Muster 1851 pistol, and were all the same size.

Von Lorenz used von Augustin's small lockplate when he designed the percussion lock used in the Muster 1854 weapons. He was unable to obtain a satisfactory trigger pull on his experimental percussion pistol using that lock, however, and designed a smaller profile lockplate for the Muster 1860 pistol. That smaller -- Enfield looking -- lock was then used on the Muster 1862 System Lorenz long arms. The Muster 1862 long arms had cast steel barrels rather than wrought iron, and other improvements, which meant that you couldn't use some of the Muster 1854 parts on the Muster 1862 weapons.

That left the Austrian arms contractors with stocks of parts they couldn't use in arms sold to the k.k. Army. There is a group of pseudo-Muster 1862 weapons which were sold to the Federals. They were cobbled together by Austrian contractors in the "style" of the Muster 1862 weapons from System Augustin and Muster 1854 parts. Tubelock and Muster 1854 lockplates were re-cut to the general Enfield shape of the Muster 1862 lockplate, but are larger, like the System Augustin and Muster 1854 lockplates they were made from. They are probably the worst of the Austrian weapons sold to the Federals during the Civil War.

Confused? Its all clear when you lay them out on a grid next to each other. There will be a photo of them in my book, if its ever published.

I have one of Miles Greenwood's Eagle Iron/Hall, Carroll and Company conversions of the 10,000 Muster 1842 infantry muskets in my collection of Austrian arms. The lock is a standard "small" System Augustin tubelock, with the external tubelock parts stripped off and the resulting holes filled. It has a replacement hammer designed to impact the "cone-in-barrel" placement of the nipple. The musket is a piece of c**p which the soldiers blamed the Austrians for rather than the shoddy work by Greenwood, who was the real guilty party.

Regards,
Don

 

[James Brenner]

Thank you very much for such a detailed and informative reply. I appreciate the time you spent crafting it. At some point, it would be nice to compare notes about Greenwood, Fremont, and contracts; although I think you know more than I.

Thanks again,

Jim