1861 Bridesburg

[ihuntsnook]

I bought this sportorized musket in 1979 in Ray Mitchell's gun shop in East Wilder NH for $85. I sold it years later for more than twice that. It had obviously been well used after its Civil War service, but the workings of the lock were as new. Wish I still had it -- a real testament to the quality of American gunmaking.

 

[BillinOregon]

Nice, snook. I have a Model 1842 made at Springfield in 1853 in the same configuration. Need to cast some pumpkin balls for it.

 

[hawkeye2]

"a real testament to the quality of American gunmaking" You are correct there! In the mid 1800's the US military was equipped with the finest firearms available in the world. I was talking with a friend yesterday who had fired 30,000 rounds through his '41 Mississippi (CW mods to .58 cal.) before he retired it. During that time he had to increase mini ball size twice by .001" each time to compensate for bore wear. He decided to hang it up rather than reline it. This rifle exceeded its design life by 100 times!

 

[ihuntsnook]

They really knew their way around the metal shop. This particular musket had to have been fired thousands and thousands of times with no visible wear on the lock. Nor did they have CNC machining, or even micrometers -- everything was measured with gauges. Really incredible when you think about it.

 

[ihuntsnook]

They really knew their way around the metal shop. This particular musket had to have been fired thousands and thousands of times with no visible wear on the lock. Nor did they have CNC machining, or even micrometers -- everything was measured with gauges. Really incredible when you think about it.

 

[ihuntsnook]

They really knew their way around the metal shop. This particular musket had to have been fired thousands and thousands of times with no visible wear on the lock. Nor did they have CNC machining, or even micrometers -- everything was measured with gauges. Really incredible when you think about it.

 

[ihuntsnook]

They really knew their way around the metal shop. This particular musket had to have been fired thousands and thousands of times with no visible wear on the lock. Nor did they have CNC machining, or even micrometers -- everything was measured with gauges. Really incredible when you think about it.