Between 1848 and 1860 in the Springfield and Harper’s Ferry’s arsenals about 700,000 Model 1816 muskets were converted to percussion lock type.
Our replica reproduces the conversion according to the system Samuel Colt made from 1855 to 1858 on many thousands of the muskets purchased from the US Army stockpile held in New York. The Colt conversion used the original touch hole to screw in the drum (equipped with a transverse plug screw for cleaning) and replaced the hammer with one of unique design. A quantity of about 23,500 of these muskets, with rifled barrels, was shipped to Messina in August 1860 to be distributed to the “1000 followers of Garibaldi” during the famous “1000’s expedition”, but probably only half had been distributed.
Our Model 1816 has satin steel furniture, the lock is marked with HARPER’S FERRY 1816, the American Eagle and U.S. letters.
Historical re-enactment
Target shooting
