Any of you guys collect Civil War weapons?

[colmurph]

Need to know if it is a Musket (smooth bore) Rifled Musket, or Mudketoon. What marks are on the lock plate? Sounds like it may be British Manufacture by the Calibre. Lots of Enfields (.577 cal) were used by both sides during the civil war. There were also some Austrian Lorenz Rifles in the same caliber. If I can Identify it I can give you an approximate value.

[colmurph]

The hall used a round ball which was .535 in diameter. Sometimes this was augmented by 3, .31 cal. buck shot in a paper wrapped "Buck & Ball" cartrige. I got some .535 swaged balls and plan on firing up the old smoke stick this weekend if the weather holds up.

[janecallanan]

I had a civil war discharge paper for one of my ancestors (who is also an ancestor of the Bushes') and have some pictures from the period of ancestors. I tell you what, those faces could be considered deadly weapons. I know, not what you wanted to hear about, but i never let an invitation stop me from jumping in.

[colmurph]

Here's a picture of my .44 colt and the cartouche on the bottom of the grips (on both sides)

[colmurph]

Cartouched grips are a "Sure" indication that the pistol was purchased from Colt by the U.S. Government and issued during the CIvil War.

[colmurph]

That was the cartouche on my 1858 Remington. Here's the left side of the Colt.

[Andy]

Neither of my pistols have anything stamped into the wood of the grips, or if there was it's been worn off.
Sorry for not getting back to you on the .57 Cal. I mentioned. I know it's a smooth bore, however David is in the process of getting a divorce and he's not allowed within 100 feet of his house. I doubt he'll ever see the weapon again. His wife is something of a Hillary.

Stay healthy,
Andy
PS: I know this isn't a weapon, but you do seem to know about such things. Uncle Chet picked something up while in Germany as a member of Patton's army. It's an SS ID tag. It has the eagle with the nazi emblam on one side and "Geheime Staatspolizei" (Secret State Police) on the other side. Even has the guys ID number clearly printed. Are those things worth anything?

[colmurph]

Are worth a bunch to folks who collect that sort of thing. Most of the folks I see buying that stuff at gun shows seem to be "Skin Heads" or KKK though. Most antique gun collectors wouldn't touch Nazi stuff with a 10 foot pole.

[colmurph]

The lack of a cartouche may mean that the weapon was a civilian sale. Military weapons will have different letters stamped in the metal of the cylinder, barrel, back strap, trigger guard and frame. They may be a "C" or "H", if you see any of those marks it's a Military gun with the grips worn to the point that the cartouche is no longer visible. If it doesn't have any sub-inspector marks on the metal, then it's a civilian sale.
If the Long Gun you are talking about is .57 caliber it IS RIFLED. The British Enfield in .577 cal. was used by BOTH SIDES during the Civil War and was rifled. The Springfield and various contract copies of it was .58 cal. and RIFLED. The ONLY smooth bores used in any quantity during the Civil War were the percussion conversions of the mod. 1816 Musket in .69 cal. and even some of those were given shallow rifling when they were converted by Frankford Arsenal using the Remington Lock Plate with the Maynard Tape Priming System. (Similar to the 1855 Harpers Ferry and Springfield Rifles) Some "Take Home's" after the Civil War were bored out by local gunsmiths to be used as shotguns for hunting. These will be smooth bore but will not have value to a collector of U.S. Military arms. A lot of these have been re-lined by Hoyt with rifled liners and are in use by re-enactors like the North/South Skirmish Association but they are worth about 50% of an original un-modified, un-touched rifle.

[eds]

In 1956 I bought an 1836 "Harpres" Ferry rifle with bayonet. Although it has the mispelling on the lock, it looks real-and I only paid $10 for it. I'm familiar with rifles and it looks real. It's in pretty good condition. It's precussion cap. Anybody know anything about one of these.