Looking for info on an old caplock musket.

[Nautilus]

I picket this up at an estate auction last fall, just looking for any info on it? Rough idea of age...etc. It has very few markings. Smooth bore, caplock...

 

[MEHavey]

Sure looks like a Brown Bess/Land percussion conversion

 

[Nautilus]

Doing a ton of google searching I found some info on the barrel markings. The "P/IB" and the "M/1808" appear to line up with "Bartlett contract US Model 1808 Flintlock Musket.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

It sure looked similar to a Brown Bess to me, except for the brass plate on the side opposite the lock. I have never seen one shaped like that before. What does the bore measure?

 

[MEHavey]

That (opposite) plate is exactly as used on a Bess, as is the stock, the ramrod ferrules (including bell),
the forward sling swivel holes, and the plugged lockplate holes from the frizzen spring & pan pivot.
Also, the characteristic groove/bands around the barrel at the breech.

 

[Jim K]

It is not a Brown Bess; there are too many style differences for it to be any pattern or even a copy. One important point would be the caliber; the British muskets and colonial copies were .75; French muskets and American ones made after independence were .69.

It is obviously a conversion to percussion, though when it was converted it is hard to tell; it could have been as late as the American Civil War.

AFAIK, all the Springfield muskets and contract copies were banded; that one appears to be pinned, indicating a state or private purchase.

I have the feeling that I have seen that sideplate pattern before, though when or where I don't recall. All of the Brown Bess sideplates except the later India and 1779 Land Pattern have "tails", extensions backward past the rear screw hole. And all were rounded brass; that one appears to be flat iron.
Jim

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I was referring to the notches beside the screw heads. My Pedersoli Brown Bess clone does not have a plate anywhere near that pattern and the original black powder weapons I have from the 19th century all have the flattened "S" shaped brass insert. The stock pinning, ramrod, and breech all made me think Brown Bess.

 

[MEHavey]

Compare with OP's pics:

 

[Jim K]

It looks like the hammer screw was too short, so someone filed down the hammer so the screw would grab the tumbler.

Jim

 

[Sunray]

Every smithy, both his brothers and all his cousins made smooth bore, cap locks. That one has bee rode hard and put away wet too. The roughness round the chamber area indicates that. Anyway, you can try taking off the stock and looking for proof makes under said stock. Might help narrow its origins a bit.
What's the wee stamp on the fore end cap?