Harpers Ferry 1817 model?

[cdove72]

I was sent to this site from another forum that I frequent, the Ann Coulter Forum.

I have taken out the two guns my deceased grandfather had, and one was a rather plain Eagle Arms .410 Shotgun, no biggie as Ive found out.

Number two seems to be different, as I found out on the other board.

It is etched with Harpers Ferry 1817, it actually has the initials "J.A." etched on the stock, which im sure I could never find out what that is. Its a percussion cap musket, and beyond that thats all I really know, so here are some pictures, and Ill yield to the experts as to what exactly I seem to have.

 

[Demiurge]

Good guy here, if any of you can help him out it would be appreciated!

 

[Jim Watson]

OK, start with a Model 1816 musket, made in 1817, which started out as a .69 flintlock with 42 inch barrel and full stock. 350,000 made at Harper's Ferry (US arsenal), 325,000 at Springfield, 1816-1840.

Convert to percussion sometime in the 1850s-1860s.

Sell surplus after the Civil War as a cheap shotgun with the barrel cut off and the stock cut back for handier carrying in the woods.

Ol' J.A. gets it for shooting some food or fighting off the Injuns. Cuts his initials in the stock with his Barlow knife so the other guys won't get it.

Hands it down through the family. It is soon so obsolete nobody shoots it any more, but remembers it as Grandpa's old gun.

 

[cdove72]

Thank you for your help, weird that my grandfather somehow came across this gun, its literally just sat in this gun rack with a sword, his 410 shotgun my grandma gave him, all these years. Never even really knew what it was. Thanks again

Clifford DOve

 

[Dmitry]

Mr. Watson is right, of course.
IMHO, the conversion occured in the early 1850s, being a drum and nipple type, perhaps done privately, and not by US Army. But that's just speculation.
Monetary value is nominal, but historically the transition is interesting. This musket/shotgun put much meat on some family's table.

 

[cdove72]

Kinda wish it could be made to fire, though im sure it could, Im betting once would be about it LOL....

Now Im getting a friend to help me prepare his long time sitting .410 for use, its a break action single barrel.....and the break is pretty..ummm...fused.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I wonder if Bannerman or someone like him had that gun sporterized after the war. "JA" was the owner and carving of that nature is not something Harper's Ferry would have done.

I'm sure you know that the gun was originally a flintlock that was converted to percussion? On the lockplate, is it flat in the forward section (part that is closer to the muzzle)? I would suspect that it is and if so, the lock came from an 1817 rifle. It must have been restocked at some point because the 1817 rifle had an oval patchbox. Of course, it's possible that yours was made without the patchbox and looking at the lockplate it seems very military (musket style and not crescent shape like many civilian rifles of that period were). The trigger guard is military but more like that used on an 1822 musket than the 1817 rifle. Mix-matched parts suggest it was put together from parts of broken guns which was not unusual and quite common as it saves having to fabricate parts.

Could it have been a gun that was assembled from parts that were salvaged by the Confederates after the Union torched Harper's Ferry? We may never know.