springfield smooth bores

[Jim in Wisconsin]

I am reading a book of the memoirs of Julian Hinkley, of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers - written in 1912. In it he writes:
"On July 16 we reached Hagerstown, Maryland, where we went into camp, and where on the next day we were equipped with a complete outfit of muskets, ammunition, and camp utensils. The degree of preparation of the Federal government for war at this time, may be judged from the fact that the muskets issued to us were old-time smooth-bore Springfields, that had been rifled for a minie-ball: they were so light, that their barrels would spring after the rapid firing of a dozen shots."
What model would these muskets have been? Wouldn't an old smooth bore have a bore too large to rifle to 58 caliber?
Just curious, I guess, thanks
Jim S.

 

[johan_steele]

Springfield manufactured muskets in .69 and some were rifled to fire .69 minnie bullets. Do a google search for Remington Maynard Conversions of the M1816 & Rifle M1842.

Also keep in mind that he was writing in 1912, quite a long time after the war. He may have been talking through his hat, misremembering or may not have known what he was talking about to start with. I have a hard time believing there were any serious issues w/ them having fired originals of both that I mentioned above. The one major difference to me was the sound the bullets made heading down range.

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

Most probably they were M1816 muskets. Although the barrels of these muskets were comparatively thin, several tens of thousands were altered by several contractors in addition to Federal alterations. The rifled M1816 muskets that were altered to percussion via the national armory, or cone-in-barrel method, were prone to the breech bursting around the cone area. This problem was known in the 1850s and the practice was discontinued prior to the war. Many cone- in- barrel rifled alterations were subsequently re-altered with patent breech pieces greatly increasing their ability to withstand the pressure of minie ammunition.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

I believe "Jim in Wisconsin" was confused by the term "Minie Ball", probably not realizing that they came in multiple calibers.
J.

 

[kevikens]

The Frankford Arsenal in Philly converted a large batch of model 1816's to percussion and installed on some of them the Maynard primer and gave some of them at least, maybe all of them , a shallow rifling. Some had rear sights installed, some not. I had one of these many years ago (I like to have weapons associated with Philly as I was born and raised there). On several occasions I live fired .69 Minie balls from the gun. I feel sorry for those guys issued these guns. As I once put it in another post, it was like shooting anvils out of the gun. The recoil was like shooting slugs from a 10 gauge. I can understand why some soldiers were reputed to have closed their eyes and turned away when firing.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

A little later in the book, after Antietam, he says "In the morning we were early astir expecting a renewal of the fight. Our men threw away all of their old muskets, armed themselves with the new Springfield rifles of the improved pattern, picked up on the battle-field. Ammunition and rations were issued, and every preparation made to receive the enemy. All was quiet, however, and so remained for the rest of the day."
That doesn't sound like they were switching from 69 to 58 caliber - but maybe they did.
Just imagine how much those guys would have appreciated an M-16!

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

A little later in the book, after Antietam, he says "In the morning we were early astir expecting a renewal of the fight. Our men threw away all of their old muskets, armed themselves with the new Springfield rifles of the improved pattern, picked up on the battle-field. Ammunition and rations were issued, and every preparation made to receive the enemy. All was quiet, however, and so remained for the rest of the day."
That doesn't sound like they were switching from 69 to 58 caliber - but maybe they did.
Just imagine how much those guys would have appreciated an M-16!

I feel certain that the men did exactly that, switch from .69 to .58 caliber weapons. For starters if the "old-time smooth-bore" that the author speaks of are domestic products, they were .69 caliber. Secondly, the "new Springfield rifles of the improved pattern" is clearly in reference to US M1861 rifle muskets, which are .58 caliber.

The only question I have in regards to this account is, how many men switched out their muskets from battle salvaged guns? A company or two, or at least a few men from each company would seem likely, but an entire regiment would be pushing it. The ordinance returns from the Sharpsburg campaign would shed some more light on the subject.

Cheers,
Garrett

 

[CWDF]

Here is an example from my collection of an M1816 flintlock originally made at Harpers Ferry, converted to percussion and rifled with a long range sight. The barrel is very thin and I have often wondered whether the pressure build up of the rifled round ever blew out the brass plug. I have never found a mention of it in any reports.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

A beautiful example of a cone-in-barrel Rifled Musket! Actually there is no such thing as a "brass plug" to blow out. The vents were plugged with an iron rod and hammer welded shut. But, what did happen was the cones blew out on a regular basis due to the higher breech pressures caused by the hollow based Minie Ball tightly sealing the bore upon ignition. This was not a problem with the old round ball ammunition because the diameter of the ball was only 0.650". These rifled and sighted muskets were quickly pulled out of regular service due to the cone failures.
J.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

I believe "Jim in Wisconsin" was confused by the term "Minie Ball", probably not realizing that they came in multiple calibers.
J.

Perhaps I am the cares-way-too-much purist, but the generalization of the term 'Minie Ball' has always driven me crazy.

Generally speaking there is/was cylindrical/conical/conoidal shot, available in a multitude of varieties.

And then there was the Minié-pattern ball , which was a composite of near-everything that Delvigne, Tamisier, Norton & Thouvenin had laid groundwork for (and then a bit later, those like Whitworth, Pritchett, Enfield, Purdey, Lancaster & Wilkinson would also indirectly offer contribution.)

 

[Railgunner52]

I always assumed it was the Model 55 or 61 they were equipped with. I know it was mentioned by Van Willard in "With the 3rd Wisconsin Badgers", but I can't remember if he states exactly which model.