SAC question about a flintlock 1842 Springfield

[rachbobo]

I made an interesting buy off of Ebay. It is a lockplate marked Spring Field with the Eagle and a date of 1842, but it is a flintlock not percussion.
The profile of the lockplate is the same as an 1816 but about a half inch shorter. Comparing it to an 1816 lockplate I see all the screw holes are the same except for the front mounting screw.
The mounting screw holes match up with an 1842 percussion lockplate.
The brass flash pan has been modified to allow a drum and nipple conversion so I figure that was done later to up date it.
I looked through the approved arms list and found no flintlock 1842 Springfields listed.
I assume that this lockplate probably came off of one of the last flintlocks made before the change over to percussion.
Has anyone ever heard or seen something like this.
Later today I'll strip down an 1816 lock to see if the internals fit in it.

More to come

Bill Cheek
Cockade Rifles

[Blair]

Bill,

What you have is an M-1835 flint Musket manufactured in 1842.
It was converted to percussion by the "Drum in the barrel" method. Probably sometime in the 1850's.
The M-1842 percussion Musket is vary similar to the M-1835 except for the ignition.

[Maillemaker]

I am confused by these two seemingly conflicting statements:


It is a lockplate marked Spring Field with the Eagle and a date of 1842, but it is a flintlock not percussion.

and


The brass flash pan has been modified to allow a drum and nipple conversion so I figure that was done later to up date it.

So is it a flintlock or has it been updated to percussion?

Steve

[Rich Foster]

The M1842 Springfield was put into production in 1844 and ended in 1855 as a percussion musket. So a M1842 Springfield lockplate date would not start until 1844. Now the M1835-40 Springfield was put into production by various contractors in 1840 and ended in 1846 as Flintlocks and almost all were converted into some kind of percussion later on. Hope this helps. Rich

[John Holland]

Steve -

The official terminology as used by the Federal Government at the time is "Model 1840". The confusion comes in because the design work and development began in 1835. You will often see it referred to as a "Model 1835/40". It was originally produced as a flint lock musket. The example Bill has is a percussion conversion.

Bill has mentioned he didn't see it on the "Approved Arms List". If you read the header of the "Approved Arms List" you will see it states very clearly the list is for "REPRODUCTION ARMS ONLY". Since there is no approved reproduction of the Model 1840 Musket it isn't listed.

JDH

[rachbobo]

Thanks John and all. I'll pack it away for future projects.

John,
I picked up another Hall Rifle in original Flintlock. This one is complete with a great looking bore. So this one makes 3 that I have now.

Bill Cheek
Cockade Rifles