61/63 3 band muskets by Yeck and Weisz, Parker Hale Musketoon at Fall National

[jyoungcw]

If you saw my previous posts of 2 - 3 band muskets for sale, I will have them at the Horse Soldier booth in Sutlers row Friday afternoon and Saturday. One has a Weisz barrel the other one is marked Yeck. Will also have a nice Parker Hale musketoon available.

[Muley Gil]

Prices please.

[jyoungcw]

Weiss barreled musket asking $895.

Yeck barreled musket asking $795.

Parker Hale Musketoon asking $795.

Will be there Friday afternoon and Saturday

Thank you,

Jim

[Southron Sr.]

FWIW- The "Weisz Rifling Machine" was/is a World War II Pratt & Whitney double head rifling machine originally used during WW II to turn out .50 Caliber machine gun barrels for the war effort.

In the late 1940's or early 1950's Mr. C.H. Weisz purchased one of the P & W rifling machines "war surplus" and had a mechanical engineer modify it to turn out .58 Caliber, progressive depth rifling as found in original, Civil War Springfield rifle barrels.

For a discussion and a pic of an original, unmodified P & W double headed rifling machine...check out this article:

http://www.firearmsid.com/feature%20articles/rifledbarrelmanuf/barrelmanufacture.htm

Now, back in the early 1950's during the early days of the N-SSA, "war surplus, new in the box" Springfield Rifle-Muskets could be purchased from dealers like Bannerman's for as little as $20.00 each. Original Rifle-Muskets with "less than pristine" barrels could be purchased even cheaper. Now, keep in mind this was long before any replica Rifle-Muskets were manufactured.

Mr. Weisz was a parts dealer, and after many requests from Skirmishers who needed new barrels for their Rifle-Muskets. Mr. Weisz had a barrel maker to use the modified P & W Rifling Machine to turn out the now legendary Weisz Barrels that Mr. Weisz sold to Skirmishers.

In the 1970's, when the late Mike Yeck decided to make his replica M1863 Springfield Rifle-Muskets, he purchased the Weisz Rifling Machine from the widow of Mr. C.H. Weisz. Mike used the Weisz Rifling Machine to turn out the barrels for his replica '63 Sprinfgields..

Whereas the Weisz Barrels were milled out of one solid piece of steel, Mike Yeck used investment cast breeches and soldered that to his rifled barrels. Unfortunately, some of the Yeck barrels "blew out" at the soldered joint So, check with John Holland of the S.A.C. as to which Yeck '63 barrels are "N-SSA legal" and not prone to blow out.

As for what happened to the Weisz machinery after that? Well, that modified P & W Rifling Machine was purchased by Danny Whitacre in the 1970's. I understand that Danny has rebuilt that P & W machine several times over the years. Danny is a very talented individual and his barrels are noted for their accuracy and excellence. Unlike the Yeck barrels, Danny screws his breeches on, so there is no danger any of his barrels will "blow out."

So, Mr. Weisz's modified P & W Rifling Machine has been turning out barrels for Skirmishers (and others) for nigh on 70 years now!!! That is quite a record when you think about it.

[RaiderANV]

VERY interesting! Thanks for sharing

[John Holland]

No Yeck barrels were ever disallowed for use in the N-SSA, nor do I have any knowledge of the breeching of them ever being a problem.

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

Mike Yeck bought the Weisz machine at an auction in Ohio, not directly the family. It may be that it was consigned by the Weisz family. The machine was sent to Numrich. They manufactured the Yeck barrels. They did not used the machine to make his barrels but they did use its rifling head. You could put the head in your pocket. There is a lot more incorrect information following it being at Numrich. This was told directly to me from Mike and later confirmed by a friend who was with him at the auction.