TRS M1800 .54 rifle Pics

Pics of my recently delivered M1800 .54 Harpers Ferry rifle reproduction, from The Rifle Shoppe. Next to it is a TRS Baker rifle for comparison. Yes, the British made left handed Bakers. The lock plate of the one pictured was cast from an original.

The M1800 is about three inches longer than the Baker. Note the early versions of the barrel rib, buck horn rear sight, butt plate, thimbles, lock, and 33" swamped octogon-to-round barrel. While these features all changed slightly when serial production of the M1803 began, the rifle has all of the general characteristics of first variation M1803.

This rifle was built from castings made from impressions of the various parts of rifle #15 that many believe to have accompanied Lewis & Clark.

Can't decide which rifle I like better, but the Baker seems to offer slightly better handling.
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Jess Melot builds a beautiful rifle that's made to shoot extremely well. The included test target shows that he zeroed the rifle in three rounds at 50 yards. Shots 3, 4, and 5 overlap. He used a .53 round ball, .010 patch, and 75 grains of ffg.

Looks great. I don't know the history but it sure looks like the Harper's Ferry is a sort of Americanized Baker.

Picture MVC-003S.jpg is not close enough to see lock details.

PS Thanks for the tip on Rifle Shoppe catalog as a reference. Ordered it.

Very nice, but where did you find that chunky little beauty with the south-paw lock?? The Rifle Shoppe as well?

J-Mac

Yes, it's also a Rifle Shoppe piece. I bought it from the gent in SoCal who had originally commissioned it, saving me a two year wait. He specified two upgrades: a browned barrel (takes 12 days to do) and an English walnut stock, which is the densest piece of walnut that I've ever handled. I then called up TRS and ordered up a bayonet, cleaning kit, and catalog. The catalog described the M1800 rifle. The workmanship on the Baker was so nice that I just had to order up the Harpers Ferry! I now have a M1817 common rifle on order, and am more than willing to wait for it, for as long as it takes.

Rich Pierce said:

Looks great. I don't know the history but it sure looks like the Harper's Ferry is a sort of Americanized Baker.

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Good eye. The guns are contemporaneous but show differences in design philosophy.

The Baker fired a .62 ball vs .54 for the M1803, which used fine grained powder to achieve a muzzle velocity approaching 2,000 fps. (Barrel bursting was a problem!)

The Baker has provisions for a sling, where the M1803 did not as the American rifleman was expected to carry his rifle "always to hand".

The M1800's buckhorn rear sight made for superb accuracy in conditions of low light. The tiny rear sight notch on the Baker meant that far brighter lighting conditions were required for really accurate shooting.

Great looking guns!! :bow: :v :thumbsup: :hatsoff: