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Tim Iannuzzi
12-13-2023, 11:35 AM
Last year I picked up a restored 61 Springfield at the Baltimore gun show. The stock has a new fore end so I assumed it had been sporterized sometime after the war. The barrel has a shiny relined bore with good rifling and a taller front sight blade.

The underside of the barrel has a dovetail at the back end, which I assumed to be where a ramrod holder was added for the shorter gun. There appears to also be a filled dovetail closer to the muzzle. However, I cannot find any evidence of the barrel being shortened, then stretched. So now I am puzzled by what the dovetails on the underside of the barrel would have been installed for. So, I figured I'd reach out to the experts here.

Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks,

Tim
John Westenberger
12-13-2023, 12:26 PM
The one near the muzzle is almost definitely a ramrod holder, it may not even be a filled dovetail, but just solder or braze. Usually just a piece of brass tube soldered to the barrel near the muzzle.

The dovetail on the underside was probably for a pseudo- barrel key. May times they lacked barrel bands, or only had one. So they would dovetail the underside, put an underlug on the bottom, and place a key (piece of steel, often a nail) through the lug attached to the barrel after drilling the wood. This locks the barrel down to the wood, barrel bands or not. Very common post war sporter modifications for a musket.
Tim Iannuzzi
12-13-2023, 02:17 PM
The one near the muzzle is almost definitely a ramrod holder, it may not even be a filled dovetail, but just solder or braze. Usually just a piece of brass tube soldered to the barrel near the muzzle.

The dovetail on the underside was probably for a pseudo- barrel key. May times they lacked barrel bands, or only had one. So they would dovetail the underside, put an underlug on the bottom, and place a key (piece of steel, often a nail) through the lug attached to the barrel after drilling the wood. This locks the barrel down to the wood, barrel bands or not. Very common post war sporter modifications for a musket.

Thanks John!