Chiappa 2-band rifled 1842 .69 rifled-musket?

Funny thing is I had one and let it go about 5 years ago. Kicking myself now. I have a nice defarbed 3 band '42, been using it more than 10 years now. It's great, but now I want one of those short, rifled versions again. Hoping someone had one tucked away that needs a new home. This is the one I let get away.

BIIIIIIIIIIIIG mistake.

For my practical purposes right now , I'm having more fun with my Smoothbore 3-banders than my rifled stuff but I would say you'd probably have better luck buying an 1842 Rifled musket kit and having a skilled 'Smith turn it into a Fremont carbine. Anyone selling an Armi Sport "Fremont" is probably going to ask a lot for it.

For those not afraid of Indian muskets, Loyalist Arms and Veteran Arms offers a smoothbore version of the "1847 Musketoon" obviously in smoothbore. I just have no need for it.

There's a rifled 3-bander at $715 on GB right now with a "frosty bore" like, ok I'll spend another $150 and get a new one thanks .

dave951 said:

Take hit in stately manner
Fall so as not to soil your tunic

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And in the case of one CW reeinactor I witnessed at an event with Cavalry, fall as so not to perform a face plant in fresh residue of horse or a fresh "meadow muffin" if you prefer.

As one specrator noted when that reenactor did such a face plant and rose right quick and cussing ... "That would be enough to raise from the dead really fast ..."

Yes. some of the spectators (and some of the lads in the various troops on both sides that witnessed it) were "sick" and laughed when he face planted in that fresh meadow muffin.

I know he "took a hit" because he had to leave for a doctor appointment during the event.

No one but he and the doctor (and possibly some of the doctors nurses) know the reaction of the doctor when he arrived with horse residue in his beard.

Gun Tramp said:

The Armi Sport/Chiappa 1842 3-band rifled or smoothbore are 42" barrels; I use the smoothbore and as with Stan, the shorter model was shown in the manual. Their current website includes an 1863 Zouave .58 smoothbore. For very lethargic pheasants.

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The smoothies came in as about $75 less, for blank shooting for reenactors. Not that they can't be used with shot or patched ball, of course.

Not to wander off track. But but there are a few guys who can defarb and improve these already great muskets. I've had my 3 bander about 11 years now. It's a workhorse, and seen a lot of use. I had Zimmerman change the lock plate markings to Harpers Ferry, blue the band springs & hardware, properly stamp the tang & breech, and make a new brass front sight. In my view, these enhancements just take it up a notch.

This is my rendition of what a 1842 Confederate rifled Macon carbine might look like. It came to me as a cut down original 1842 smoothbore with a 26" barrel. Bob Hoyt relined and rifled the bore per original Springfield specs including progressive depth rifling. An 1842 rifled rear sight, barrel mounted front sight and sling swivels were added. A wood screw retains the front barrel band as done with Macon smoothbores. I'm considering putting it up for sale on the For Sale page.

Hmm. I'm unterested. I'll send a pm.

Someday I'd like to make an 1842 Armi Sport rifled- musket into a Hewes & Philips 1816 conversion. It wouldn't be 100% dead on but the conversion bolster H&P used looked very, very similar to the 1842. It just has a little "H&P" stamp on it, with a repro rear sight that Lodgewood sells , probably for this purpose. For all intents and purposes H&P made 1816 Flinters into 1842 Springfields with rifling.

Gun Tramp said:

The Armi Sport/Chiappa 1842 3-band rifled or smoothbore are 42" barrels; I use the smoothbore and as with Stan, the shorter model was shown in the manual. Their current website includes an 1863 Zouave .58 smoothbore. For very lethargic pheasants.

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Most likely for sale in countries that either don't allow rifles of any kind, or make residents jump through more kinds of insane hoops than it is worth to get the license, like I think UK residents have to do.

Britsmoothy can probably attest to that.

I shoot in the pistol pits at my gun club, about 50 yards ......to avoid having to mess with people when I'm just in the mood to shoot for an hour and roll.

Smoothbores really shine for this, because it's way easier and more fun to roll up roundball cartridges or just use wadding and I don't feel like I'm shooting point blank with a rifle.

dave951 said:

I shoot a chopped 42 smoothbore in North South Skirmish Competition. During the War, damaged guns were often sent to arsenals for repairs and reissued. In the case of my gun, the Macon arsenal chopped a number of 42s to 30in barrels making for a short, handy almost carbine like smoothbore. After tuning, my 42 Armisport Macon is capable of putting 10 shots into a playing card at 25yds. Smoothbores are a whole different animal from the rifled guns. Getting them to shoot sometimes involves howling at a blue moon, a complete conpendium of invective curse words, and often just dumb luck spawned out of frustration. But when you find the load, it's allll worthwhile.

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For a long time, I was shooting a .680 round ball from my repro 42 Springfield smoothbore from a paper cartridge. I was using drawing paper for the cartridge. The paper and ball combination was too thick to try to leave the ball wrapped in the paper. I was having to load the bare ball and put the cartridge paper on top as wadding. The accuracy seemed ok, but I wanted better. I backed off to a .662 round ball wrapped in a newsprint cartridge. The results have been unbelievable. I am getting rifle-like accuracy out to 75 yards. My groups at 50 are touching each other. This is from standing and loading from the cartridge box. I am happy, now.