|
Authentic Original Rifles, Muskets
Authentic Artifacts from the Revolutionary War Era thru About 1840 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Scarce Model 1803 Harpers Ferry Rifle Made in 1819 Reconverted Back to Flintlock
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Click on an image to enlarge
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Here is a gun that has a ton of character. This is the scarce and desirable US model 1803 flintlock rifle. These 54 caliber guns were made into major groupings. The first group 1803 to 1807 and the second group which was called for during the war of 1812 of which this would be one of the contract. They were made from 1814 until 1820. According to Flayderman's guide there were 15,703 of these made at Harpers Ferry. This one is dated 1819 on the lock plate and has the desirable Harpers Ferry Armory marking stamped behind the hammer. In front of the hammer you can see the remnants of the spread wing Eagle stamping. When this gun left the Arsenal it would've been a flintlock and was converted later on so they could keep on using the weapon. In more recent times someone has switched the gun back to the flintlock configuration. The lockplate still has spring and catches on one of the positions but it doesn't release when you pull the trigger. This is often done so the collector can have a flintlock on the wall that costs a fraction of what the gun in the original flintlock configuration would cost. The barrel of the gun is 36 inches in overall length. These barrels have an interesting design of being part octagonal and part round. It has the original blade style front sight intact at the end of the barrel. At the breech of the barrel you can see the sunken inspector stamps including the "US" and the "P" with the Eagle head design. These gun stand out from the rest because of the brass furniture of the buttplate, patch box, trigger guard, and ramrod guide. Each of these pieces have a wonderful patina as you can see in the images. One neat thing about these guns is that the patch box is opened by pushing the button on the top of the buttplate near the attachment screw. This one is still fully functional. Along the bottom of the barrel it has the iron rib because these guns were designed originally is half stocks. The ramrod in the channel appears to of been with the gun for eons but is not the original one to the gun. The stock has a very pleasing color to the Walnut wood. You can see that it was used quite a bit but never abused. On the flat of the shoulder stock opposite of the lock plate you can see the remnants of the correct Harpers Ferry inspector stampings. This is a great looking gun and a scarce contract as well.
Item #: C1974 Price: $2,250.00 USD (Sale Pending)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|