Question on model 1863 Springfield bolster

[GreyGus]

I am showing my ignorance here, but better safe that sorry. I recently purchased this rifle and while wiping it down, I noticed a line where the bolster connects to the breech.
Is this normal, or was the bolster made as one piece with the breech and this one has cracked?
The rifle is a defarbed reproduction of unknown make.

thanks for any assistance.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I’d think that it is poorly made to start with. I recently worked on an original 1856 Enfield and on very close inspection found that the bolster was brazed on. That indicated that it is a good way to make a breech but also shows that a perfect fit and a well executed braze is necessary.

 

[64Springer]

Sure looks brazed on to me.

If it were a dangerous way to mount a bolster, I doubt they'd have done it.

That rifle's been rode hard and it hasn't given way.

Stuff it with 60 grains of 2F and a minnie ball and pull the trigger.


PS: I'd still like to know who stamped the bolster with that cannon.

 

[hawkeye2]

That bolster has clearly been brazed (poorly in my opinion) to the side of the barrel. Brass is visible in one photo. The stamp on the bolster is nothing I have ever seen and the shape of the bolster is wrong, rounded edges, etc. There are no manufacturer's marks or proofs on the barrel. It is by some unknown manufacturer.

The N-SSA will not approve any barrel with a brazed on bolster as some were known to have blown off back in the 1960s. The association will not allow any barrel that has not been made by an approved maker and clearly marked to be used in competition. Most Italian makers have approved barrels with the exception of some early ones that had brazed bolsters.

Here are links to 2 earlier discussions of that very gun:

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...ld-real-or-replica.168697/page-2#post-2423071
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/barrel-identification.168714/#post-2423134

 

[GreyGus]

So on original rifles was the bolster forged as part of the barreled receiver? Or was the bolster a separate part that was attached and if so how was it attached?