1792 harpers ferry rifle

Ernie said to me we will build them but only if you are sure that is what they used. The butt end of the ramrod should be concaved suited to the shape of the Ball the locks should be light and well executed the mounting should be brass there should be at least two thousand of these rifles made. It also confirms one other very important detail even if the Army had NOT placed an order for rifles in 1803, Lewis would still have received his fifteen special rifles. In many early articles on frontiersmen and their rifles, the same method was described to determine a powder charge. In an arti- cle in a similar vein that Tait published in Man At Arms,4he stated that several hundred of the Contract rifles were known to have been stored at Harpers Ferry in 1803. Arsenal Superintendent Perkin was the ideal person to provide this interchangeability of locks due to his prior reputation for lock making at Rappahannock Forge in Virginia. The French term calibre was balls per livre (489.5 grams per livre). Lighter charges also meant conservation of valuable powder. This was a literal blank check to use all resources to make Lewiss arms in time for the upcoming expedition. From September 12 to 15, 1862, Confederate forces under Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson besieged the 13,000-man garrison at Harpers Ferry resulting in the largest surrender of American troops until World War II.. How It Ended. Thomas Rodney called Lewiss air rifle she when he wrote about his encounter with Lewis on September 7, 1803 ..he shewed us the mode of charging herbut she by some means lost the whole charge of air (4) Stuart E. Brown, The Guns of Harpers Ferry, 1968, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1994, P10; National Archives Collection, papers of the War Department; Coxe and Irvine Papers, RG92. Lock plate from SN 15 rifle. It is interesting to note that in 1802, 500 rifles were sent to the Mississippi territory (to William S. Hollings, U.S. consul in New Orleans) and may have been in the hands of riflemen at the Battle of New Orleans. (Brown, op. Jefferson, up to 1802, held ongoing negotiations with France toward purchase of only New Orleans. In this process he was to make contact and befriend as many Indian tribes as possible who inhabited these areas with the intended goal of establishing trade relations that would allow peaceful expansion to the extreme western borders of the new United States. In 1807-1808, Colter explored over 500 miles of new country with only a rifle and a 30-pound pack, including the wonders of Yellowstone Park. Ordways journal entry specifies a short rifle to be traded for a guide, so both Lewiss and Clarks use of only the term rifle really meant a short rifle. Our first official Rifle Corps was raised by act of Congress on April 12, 1808 consisting of 849 men. 14 & 68. The War Department expended $9520.49 in 1799 on new arms manufacturing yet manufacturing of muskets did not get well under way until 1801. (35), Many of the later 1807 contract rifles, using the same style 38 half round, half octagon barrel, also burst during proofing with 8 out of 18 barrels bursting under a proof test of 3/4 oz. Lewis and Clark maintained a detailed journal of western geography, It does not get any better than taking serial numbers and dates from existing specimens. What may be significant is that he not only mentions the rifles within 3 months of starting his entries again in January,1806, but does so in 5 of the following 6 months. He was the first arms writer to recognize the glaring errors in Bomfords reports and the first to use the correct Model 1800 Rifle designation. Barrel makers seldom marked their product in this period and if they did (as in later periods), it was on the bottom of the barrel. Private Willards mishap of letting his gun fall in while crossing Boyers river on a 25-foot log would not have occurred. of powder each and(contain) 8 of lead. (Hicks, op. His rationality can be better understood if we look at our early history, historical documents and surviving weapons. Not only have we found many military rifles made before December of 1803, but we have irrefutable government correspondence placing a prototype in Dearborns hands by December of 1803. 1 of the 15 rifles we made. Plains Indians also removed butt plates to use as hide scrappers. This is important information in understanding why he took new slings for muskets he intended to press into service. He published an interesting table Appendix E on page 169, based upon two sets of 19th century bore gauges in the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers Proof House in London. How could his records be so inaccurate? These former members of the Expedition started the mountain man tradition to follow. Other than needing money to continue their war with England, Napoleon had no troops to keep us out of the territory. The Harper's Ferry Model 1803 rifle was the first rifle made by an American armory. U.S. Model 1800 flintlock rifle serial #15 made at Harper's Ferry Arsenal Again, it is very important to recognize that Lewiss rifles had absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming 1803 military contract. the 25 May 1803 letter from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn to the Superintendent 26), for delivering 100 guns on the 1792 military contracts. The Lewis and Clark short rifle Harpers Ferry short rifle SN 15, built in 1803 was used as a pattern for our rifle project once we verified its authenticity. The book, by its own admission, was influenced by Colonel Von Ewalds company of Hessian Jaegers in our Revolution. Clark was a 4-year Army veteran and had fought in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, so he also was no stranger to the tactical effectiveness of rifles on a battlefield. (See Appendix II). U = Unconfirmed, not inspected in detail but fall within SN ranges of confirmed rifles and we accepted as correct from the source. ", About Us | Contact Us | Join/Renew | Corporate Ethics | Privacy Policy, Theodore Roosevelt and Elegant Arms - 1880s to 1920s, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beyond - 1940 to Present, Frank Brownell NRA Museum of the Southwest, Serialization/ Date of Manufacture from The Blue Book, Store Brand Crossover List from The Blue Book, Gun Collector Organizations from The Blue Book. not consistent with Army regulations, unless the arsenal had only one This theory has two origins. In addition, for this mark to be applied, the weapon passed some sort of inspection process by an arsenal inspector. As it progresses it will become obvious as to which lock plate dates belong which guns by serial number blocks. If an itemized list of goods sold at auction in St. Louis (September 23, 1806) could be located, we would know how exactly how many rifles were sold, giving us the number kept by members. In the day when an average soldier could only dream of hitting an X on a wood block at 30 paces, a good rifleman in action was something to behold as he placed shot after shot into it. Bomford shows 146 rifles made in 1807, but with serial number 3912 bearing an 1806 dated lock, only 88 are unaccounted for that could possibly have a lock dated 1807. The only way to know for sure if the gun is all original is to take it apart and check at least the assembly numbers that are a mixture of dots and/or Roman numerals ( usually struck with a small chisel or file) on the barrel, stock and lock.. Lewiss men had no reason to double charge any of their rifles since the 2000 FPS achieved from the Model 1800 rifle with only a 33-inch barrel using the full 90 grain charge far exceeds that attainable by a long rifle with any type of maximum charge. So if Getz was marking his guns as an inspector, Whelan probably adopted his initials IW in a cartouche to denote his work. Until the end of 1838 the fiscal year was a calendar year. the barrels of 15 of the 1792 / 1794 rifles to between 33 and 36 inches Ordway writes for August 17,1806 John Colter one of our party asks leave of our officers to go back with Mr Dixon a trapping, which permission was granted him so our officers Settled with him and fitted him out with powder lead and a great number of articles which compleated him for a trapping voiage of two years which they determined to Stay untill they make a fortune.. One of the items given to him was a canoe. It would not have changed the size of the ball. military service. Joseph Perkin, superintendent of the Harpers Ferry Arsenal, Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, and Meriwether Lewis are the principal players in this story. This weapon was the first rifle built the US Armory at Harpers Ferry. In the February 4th letter the tumbler on the lock was to have a fly (to keep it from catching on the half cock) and a 4-piece patch box with button release. Harpers Ferry M1803; 1792 contract rifle for the earlier process for producing firearms; M1817 common rifle; Rifles in the American Civil War; References We have learned a great deal about 1803 rifles. These were all inspected by Joseph Perkin and carry his IP in circle as a final inspection mark in the wood opposite the lock. For two centuries the distinctive half-stocked rifle manufactured at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), has been regarded as perhaps the most handsome and historically important U.S. military long arm ever designed. Ed Pugsley was an employee of Winchester and turned over much of his collection to the company. 1792 contract rifle - Wikipedia Harpers Ferry Battle Facts and Summary - American Battlefield Trust (9) Tony Hunter, The Wilderness Fighters: Part Four, (Muzzleloader Magazine, JULY/AUG 2005), Pgs. (48). Use of solid rib also begins with all military rifles. The short rifle, which we believe is all based upon prior successful British rifle designs, may not have taken as long as the development of an entirely new rifle. This would have been totally unacceptable to Lewis loss of a bullet mold resulted in the loss of a rifle. His first known mention of the short rifle is in March of 1806. He confided in one of his associates that his primary reason for selling the entire territory was that the United States would encroach upon it and take it regardless of his desires to the contrary. Hawken Fullstock Rifle, Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply . When he died in 1800, Whelan was appointed to the office. Small parts (such as screws) may be unmarked on later guns, but most early ones are. This may have been done as part of an actual arsenal (or state) overhaul or just to enhance their value to a collector. We can choose to cling to the past but to do so is an injustice to historians and collectors who want the truth. The shooting standards set for such men usually required prior experience with rifles men raised on the frontier who grew up with a rifle in their hands from an early age. Harpers Ferry Model 1803 - Wikipedia From our experience, the lower numbered guns (1803 & 1804 dated) were the most mismatched in terms of serial number ranges and lock date. The only logical explanation is that it was put on by someone after the gun was made and stored at an arsenal. From the numbers above we now know that a large quantity of rifles were made in 1803. The gun assembly number was added during final fitting of the lock (found just forward of the frizzen on the upper flat of the lock plate). A second contract for the same weapon took place in 1794. sum of $2,500.00 to fund a small expeditionary group, known as the Dearborn orders Perkin to begin manufacturing "a suitable number.". Indians did report at Edmonton Trading House that they had killed two trappers (Colter assumed dead) carrying one of the guns taken from them. Second is a the very long-standing misplaced faith in the 1822 reconstructed Bomford records indicating that no short rifles (even prototypes) were made in 1803. These weights probably varied due to the purity of the lead of that period. Those lost records have never been accurately reconstructed. Although crude woodcuts of the period, they are of interest in the fact that they seem to be purposely depicting the short barrels of the M1800 rifle.(49). After being given to states when obsolete, many were converted to percussion. The 1792 contract rifle is not a specific model of gun, rather it is a modern way to categorize a collection of rifles bought by the United States government in that year. As for the change to a solid rib while making the barrels of our guns with hollow rib, we had one release from the gun while mounting the sight, so we know why they changed to a solid rib to strengthen the rib bond with a larger (stronger) adhering surface. It was a tremendous job, but as time would tell, he proved himself capable of the task, which led to a position of great power and earned him the absolute trust and confidence of Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn.