1817 Common Rifle (Deringer)

[B-Davis]

To All:
I just have a quick question, is the 1817 Common rifle allowed for competition?
I may have the opportunity to acquire one that has been converted to percussion. It is dated 1826 on the barrel. It is .54 cal and has seven lands and grooves. I took a real quick look at approved arms but did not see it. I may have more than likely glossed right over it.
Any info. is more than appreciated!
Bryan Davis

P.S.- anybody have any experience shooting one of these?

[Phil Spaugy, 3475V]

19.1 ACCEPTABLE SKIRMISH MATCH FIREARMS
a.
Only original or reproductions of military firearms manufactured during the Civil War or prewar era, and which meet the criteria set forth in these rules,shall be used for competition.
b.
Those arms must have been manufactured prior to 26 April 1865 in quantities of at least 100 arms each.
c.
The arms must have been possessed by a US, CS, state, or local military authority during the American Civil War, but they do not need to have been issued to troops in the field.

[John Robey]

The Common Rifle is not on the approved list because it isn't a reproduction. Originals don't have to be approved. Fire away!





John Robey


Proud descendent of Thomas Leonard Robey, who had three hundred bucks and bought his way out of the draft.

[B-Davis]

Thank you!

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

There is still more information you need to tell us before you can shoot it and it still needs to be inspected by Small Arms. Being it is not in the original flintlock form, and it has been converted to percussion it does need to be presented before Small Arms so they can verify that it has a authentic civil war armory type conversion, government or state. I am sure all types of conversions are not acceptable. You need to confirm this with John Holland.

[Yancey von Yeast, 8073]

Hi,

I shot a Common Rifle for years. Still do sometimes. They are great guns and I really enjoy them in flint and percussion. For skirmishing, flint isn't very practical. They are great shooters if they are are re-lined. The original barrels were rifled for round balls and shoot conical bullets only moderately well. I would also caution that the Coleraine repro barrel is rifled for round balls and from what I am hearing, they don't work so well with minies or pickets either. Bob Hoyt does a great job on re lines.

The main drawback is the fixed rear sight. The adjustable flip type sight is NOT approved. On the SAC, we really don't know how many or where they came from. No one has been able to show that 100 were used during the Civil War. We can't approve them until we can find 100 that were used.

What you can do is to use a long, narrow V type sight and hold at the bottom for 50 and top for 100. This may sound odd, but it does work. Or do what I did and have one 1817 for 50 yards and one for 100 yards.....

Thanks,
Yancey