Discussion The Springfield Musketoon Was the Gun that Almost Lost the West.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I received a magazine today the had William Gorenfeld and John Gorenfelds' article The Springfield Musketoon Was the Gun that almost Lost the West. Perhaps the title of the article is a bit too overstated. I scanned through the article but have not read it in detail. So was the Springfield musketoon that poor of weapon?

It came out in 1847 and before the start of the Civil War had been replaced. Other older long arms were pressed in to service during the early part of the Civil War and many were older such as the Model 1842 musket The Springfield musketoon continued to be manufactured until 1856. The weapon was never popular with the Army and were mostly stored in aromories at the start of the Civil War. I assume both the North and South pulled a few old Springfield musketoons out of storage and used them until enough carbines were made.

I think I need to read the entire article and see what William Gorenfeld and John Gorenfeld have to say about the Springfield musketoon
 
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I have to agree with @johan_steele there were only around 3000 of them produced so I can't see how they could even make a dent much less "Lost" the West. They do bring a high price when you find one.
 
The problem was the large bore (meaning heavy bullet & heavy power charge) combined with small size of the arm (meaning light weight.) These short muzzle loading carbines started as .69 caliber, and then were rifled, which did made the bore a bit larger, but also meant that users might shoot the more modern but heavier minie bullet. Shooting a smooth ball, the recoil was unpleasant. There was a recent post where someone reported that even with a heavy full length musket, shooting a smooth ball didn't prepare him for the painful experience of shooting a .69 minie in that same gun.
These carbines were light, and that made for worse recoil.
Some of these carbines had a lead ingot inserted in the butt in a cavity retrofitted under the buttplate to try to dampen recoil by adding weight!
 
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