Recent Find Smith Carbine - Serial #69

[ncreptile]

Hello all,
I impulse purchased a collection of five CW era carbines, including this Smith.

Mass Arms, Serial #69, no spot for saddle ring bar, has sling swivel(missing) spot on butt. It's release lever is different than any I've found online, I'm guessing this was a very early feature they changed or perhaps a replacement by bubba more recently? Functional in dusty/fair shape. Bore has very strong rifling and should clean to good or better once I get the cobwebs and spiders older than me out.

Being a world war gun collector, I don't know much about CW stuff. I'm not asking "what's it worth" but rather is this something special being one of the first 100 by this manufacturer and is there any way of tracing this specific carbines lineage/use? I know it's rare but it seems some serial #s were logged to certain units.

Thank you!

 

[Papabyrd]

Awesome find you may have a real prize winner on your hands. Congratulations

 

[Papabyrd]

sorry for the repeat post computer being a butt

 

[Papabyrd]

Awesome find you may have a real prize winner on your hands. Congratulations

 

[UCVRelics]

Hello all,
I impulse purchased a collection of five CW era carbines, including this Smith.

Mass Arms, Serial #69, no spot for saddle ring bar, has sling swivel(missing) spot on butt. It's release lever is different than any I've found online, I'm guessing this was a very early feature they changed or perhaps a replacement by bubba more recently? Functional in dusty/fair shape. Bore has very strong rifling and should clean to good or better once I get the cobwebs and spiders older than me out.

Being a world war gun collector, I don't know much about CW stuff. I'm not asking "what's it worth" but rather is this something special being one of the first 100 by this manufacturer and is there any way of tracing this specific carbines lineage/use? I know it's rare but it seems some serial #s were logged to certain units.

Thank you!

View attachment 554841

View attachment 554842
View attachment 554843

Very Nice Smith. Below is a great write-up on the Smith. Also, look on the saddle ring side and see if there are any US inspectors cartouch which would be the acceptance of the Smith into the US arsenal. The US did not buy all of the Smiths. The latch is a Bubba fix. It is not listed in the SRS.

 

[JOHN42768]

This might give you a heads up. Yours being Mass Arms. Chicopee, Mass. https://americansocietyofarmscollec...ith-carbones-of-the-Civil-War-part-2-v125.pdf
As Rich just pointed out the release latch is a BUBBa job

 

[JOHN42768]

Also Part ! https://americansocietyofarmscollec...earms-of-Gilbert-Smith-Part-1-v124-Spears.pdf

 

[USS ALASKA]

From the Gun Jesus...

Civil War Smith Carbine and its Rubber Cartridges

Forgotten Weapons

The US military experimented with a wide variety of breechloading carbines during the Civil War. One of these that got a bit of a head start on the others was the Smith carbine, patented in 1855-57 by Gilbert Smith, a physician from New York. He contracted with Poultny & Trimble of Baltimore - a major arms and military accoutrements dealer - to market the gun, and he received his first military order in February of 1860. That first order was on for 300 guns, but it meant that the design was a known quantity to the military when war broke out. Throughout the war a series on contracts were written for a few thousand Smith carbines as a time, with final deliveries made in June 1865 and a total of just over 31,000 delivered to the military. Prices steadily dropped form $35 per gun before the war to just $23.50 by the final contract.

The Smith was a break action design using a cartridge made of India rubber. It was a capping breechloader, meaning that ignition was provided by a traditional primer on the side of the action, and not through a primer integral to the cartridge. This rubber system was a reliable obturator, and the Smith received generally positive reviews from cavalry units that used it in combat.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[ncreptile]

Very Nice Smith. Below is a great write-up on the Smith. Also, look on the saddle ring side and see if there are any US inspectors cartouch which would be the acceptance of the Smith into the US arsenal. The US did not buy all of the Smiths. The latch is a Bubba fix. It is not listed in the SRS.
View attachment 554859

Thank you, this was an enjoyable read.

So it seems being serial #69 that it was one of the 300 destined for the US army for trials but instead likely went to the south, either Alabama or South Carolina?

There are no inspectors stamps I can find on the stock, but according to your attachment, it wouldn't have them this early?

I did find just today "MIW" that looks to be a very old engraving that was sanded off in the stock. When I google MIW Civil War, the only thing that comes up is the 8th Michigan Cavalry, interestingly enough this carbine came from a collection out of Michigan. I cannot find any connection to MIW and the 8th other than google showing several articles specifically for the 8th. You can see the trace outlines of the marking in the picture posted.

Thanks all for posting!

 

[ncreptile]

This might give you a heads up. Yours being Mass Arms. Chicopee, Mass. https://americansocietyofarmscollec...ith-carbones-of-the-Civil-War-part-2-v125.pdf
As Rich just pointed out the release latch is a BUBBa job

Thank you sir! Very interesting.