1842 rifled and sighted front band?

[John Westenberger]

Howdy gents,

Picked up an 1847 dated 1842 Springfield very cheap a few months ago. The stock was cut in half, but the original foreend was there to splice back together. The listing showed the brass blade front sight, like a normal 1842, and no rear sight (The dovetail was cut, and the hole was drilled and tapped to mount one). After buying the rear sight from S&S and mounting it up (Nearly a perfect fit, but requiring a shim to get it to fit snugly), I started doing some more research to figure out just what I bought, when I come across my front sight conundrum...

As I said, it came with a normal brass front sight. This isn't right for a rifled and sighted gun, right? It should have the more "Shark fin" shaped front sight. What are the odds when the gun was taken to get rifled and sighted, they just kept the unmodified front band? Also, if anyone has the numbers just how many 1842's were rifled and sighted, I'd appreciate it!

Regardless, my smoothbore has a repro front sight that I'm going to grind the steel blade off and solder on the "shark fin", so I can use the brass front band on my smoothie and make my 1842 rifle at least appear correct.

[Harry Gaul]

It does not matter what you have, and it appears to be cobbled together maybe 1861 or 1865 or 1960? What matters is it needs to be on the NSSA spec sheet to be approved through SAC. Your commander and National IG or Joe P 3 should have the paper work and spec sheet. If not, I may have it somewhere in the of the pile of NSSA paper work and will send send you a copy. Best of luck.

Harry in Pa
HiPa
Forney
03626v

[John Westenberger]

It does not matter what you have, and it appears to be cobbled together maybe 1861 or 1865 or 1960? What matters is it needs to be on the NSSA spec sheet to be approved through SAC. Your commander and National IG or Joe P 3 should have the paper work and spec sheet. If not, I may have it somewhere in the of the pile of NSSA paper work and will send send you a copy. Best of luck.

Harry in Pa
HiPa
Forney
03626v

Harry, I've talked to national IG Mike Santarelli and Joey about it already. Joey gave me the SAC sheet, and Mike said the same thing. If I wanted to use it in competition, I'd need to use the correct sight, regardless of what it may have come with. But...

I don't really have an intention to use it in N-SSA competition, but if I did I would cut up my repro sight to make a proper front sight for a rifle conversion, and use the original sight this gun came with on my smoothbore. Just curious if, regardless of what the N-SSA SAC sheet says, if replacing the sight was something that could have gotten dropped by the wayside when it was converted, especially if it was during wartime.

[Harry Gaul]

John,

In my younger days, I would piece muskets and smoothbores together because the parts were cheap, and the firearm was toast. I have been through SAC several times, and all the firearms that were rejected were rejected for the same reason. The firearm was not up to the spec sheet. Taking their suggestions I would search for more parts and eventually make the firearm NSSA worthy. For what we do, I come from the position that if it looks like a musket, shoots like a musket, smells like a musket, feels like a musket, cleans like a musket, and handles like a musket, it must be a musket. Present leadership does not feel that way and understand and respect the decision. It is probably a liability issue with insurance or safety or something. With a few years left in this hobby, I shoot what I have, and sell what I do not and hope I hit a target before the bullet hits dirt.

The Baltimore gun show is coming up fast and maybe you can find something there in terms of front sites for your rifled musket.

Harry in Pa.
HiPa
Forney's
03626v

[John Westenberger]

John,

In my younger days, I would piece muskets and smoothbores together because the parts were cheap, and the firearm was toast. I have been through SAC several times, and all the firearms that were rejected were rejected for the same reason. The firearm was not up to the spec sheet. Taking their suggestions I would search for more parts and eventually make the firearm NSSA worthy. For what we do, I come from the position that if it looks like a musket, shoots like a musket, smells like a musket, feels like a musket, cleans like a musket, and handles like a musket, it must be a musket. Present leadership does not feel that way and understand and respect the decision. It is probably a liability issue with insurance or safety or something. With a few years left in this hobby, I shoot what I have, and sell what I do not and hope I hit a target before the bullet hits dirt.

The Baltimore gun show is coming up fast and maybe you can find something there in terms of front sites for your rifled musket.

Harry in Pa.
HiPa
Forney's
03626v

Harry, I will be at the Baltimore show, coincidentally carpooling down with the National IG.

I already ordered the rifle conversion sight from Dixie (With a spare sear spring, which had a crack in it that made me nervous!). So for now, my repro front sight will have the incorrect steel blade ground down, and the new correct rifle sight mounted up. As I said, I'll take the smoothbore sight and mount it up on my smoothbore that the repro sight is coming off of. This will allow it to look correct, and be able to be used for competition, once I graft the two pieces of original stock back in to one piece. Not sure it'll be as good as my Whitacre barreled '61 3 bander for much more than the stake cutting event we sometimes do, but hey, I can say I have one in my young collection!

In my inexperience, I was just curious how firm the arsenal that converted them from smoothbores to rifles was with swapping the front sight. I knew, if I wanted to use it in the N-SSA, I needed to swap the front sight over, but was curious if there were any other reported instances where we can say, with confidence, that a rifled and sighted conversion was never swapped from the brass blade to steel, and retained the brass, as mine had, in the off-chance (however unlikely) that it retained all of its original parts, and not a cobbled together franken-gun.