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View Full Version : Help identifing my Great Great Grandfather Musket



Mustangpalmer1911
04-06-2011, 08:20 PM
I am hoping someone can help me identify my Great Great Grandfather's Musket we arnt positive but we believe it was what he carried during the Civil Way. He was a Federal Soldier in Artillery.

Info I have on the Musket is
It has 4138 cc 2 it looks like on the barrel, precussion, and on the brass side plate is a odd symbol and the #13. I have a bunch of photos to help.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/c1cb3193.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/138dd325.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/eb0b17fb.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/cd630846.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/1057056f.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/798e4a00.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/28c7b95e.jpg

And just because I think it is great his initials on the stock.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/mustangpalmer91/11f9aa2c.jpg

Simonpie
04-06-2011, 09:42 PM
What a cool family heirloom. A bit rough, but cool.

I don't have any great answers for you, but 2 features stand out that are worth noting. The first is the funky triggerguard with the sharp loop, I assume for a sling. You should be able to eliminate 90% of the carbines from that era based on that alone.

The other is the raised cheek piece on the stock. That looks more like a sporting gun than a military weapon.

As a last note, if you don't know that it has been done, it would be a good idea to be sure it isn't loaded. Muzzleloaders were left loaded a lot due to convenience.

Good luck!

405
04-06-2011, 10:10 PM
I'm certainly no Civil War expert but have to agree- that looks civilian and not a regular issue arm. Would also say that type gun would have been more common on the Confederate side than the Union side. For what it's worth (<.02) if it's smoothbore I'd say a fowling piece- maybe even European? There are plenty of folks here on the forum with more knowledge about such things- they might pipe up.

gnoahhh
04-07-2011, 11:14 AM
It looks to be an Austrian Model 1849, cut down for "sporting" use, and left to languish in a barn for a hundred years. Can you tell what caliber it is?

Early in the war both sides sent purchasing agents to Europe to buy up as many weapons as they could. The Confederacy because their arms making capability was minimal, the U.S. because they too needed more guns than they could initially make plus they didn't want the Confederates to get them. The European nations sold those guys all the junk they had laying around, cheap, and also sold them 1st rate stuff too when they could afford them. The Confederates used everything they could get their hands on, including a lot of the junk- any old port in a storm, so to speak. (English Enfields were a huge favorite of Southern troops when they could get them through the blockade.) The Federals put a lot of foreign stuff to use also, early on, but most of it gathered dust in government warehouses safe from the grubby mitts of the rebels. By the end of the war the arsenals and contractors pretty much had their sh*t together and not much of the junk was in use anymore. After the war that stuff was sold off at about $.50 apiece and most of it got bubba'ed into eternity or melted down for scrap.

I wouldn't call that Austrian musket junk, but it certainly wasn't 1st quality. The English Enfields (Towers) that both sides used large quantities of, and to a lesser degree the Austrian Lorenz rifled muskets, were 1st class weapons of a quality equal to that of a Springfield.

The sentimental value of yours is way more than real world value, if indeed your ancestor carried it during the conflict. But back then, as now, mustering-out Federal soldiers weren't given carte blanche to just keep their muskets if they wanted them. The stuff was turned in, later to be sold off as surplus. The Confederates lost, don't forget, and weren't sent home after the surrender with their muskets. I'm sure there were lots of instances where guys made off with their guns. All that is pretty hazy.

Mustangpalmer1911
04-07-2011, 01:06 PM
Austrian Model 1849 is what they IDed it as over at N-SSA. I am not sure this was what he carried during the war but the Union purchased around 25,000 from the info I have gotten. Weather he bought he after or what who knows. He was Artillery and from what I understand they were issued the "junk". I have to find out what unit he was some of the guys said with that info there are ways to look up what his unit was issued. He spent 35 years 1862-1897 in the the U.S. Army.