Springfield US Model 1842 Musket Transformed into a Hunting Shotgun .69

This is a very interesting re-used Springfield US Model 1842 Musket transformed into a hunting shotgun.

The musket had all its metal elements cleaned and re-blued back in the day and the wooden stock was borrowed from a different type of musket, shortened and adapted for it.

The barrel has been attached to the stock by an improvised copper band.

The rear sight has been removed back in the day and a piece of the shortened barrel has been put in place to cover the hole left by the missing rear sight.

The interesting thing is that this type of smoothbore musket was produced without a sight. The

The steel plate of the stock’s but is stamped ‘US’.

The musket half cocks, cocks and fires with a strong spring.

The US Model 1842 Musket was a .69 calibre musket manufactured and used in the United States during the 19th Century. It is a continuation of the Model 1816 line of muskets but is generally referred to as its own model number rather than just a variant of the Model 1816.

The Model 1842 was the last U.S. smoothbore musket. Many features that had been retrofitted into the Model 1840 were standard on the Model 1842. The Model 1842 was the first primary U.S. muskets to be produced with a percussion lock; however, most of the Model 1840 flintlocks ended up being converted to percussion locks before reaching the field. The percussion cap system was vastly superior to the flintlock, being much more reliable and much more resistant to weather.
Both the original smoothbore version and the modified rifled version of the Model 1842 were used in the American Civil War. The smoothbore version was produced without sights (except for a cast one on the barrel band). When Model 1842 muskets were modified to have rifled barrels, sights were usually added at the same time as the rifling.

~ Dimensions ~

The barrel is 33 ½ inches (85 cm) long and the overall length of the piece is 49 inches (125 cm).

It weighs 2.9 Kg.

~ Condition ~

The musket is in fair used condition for its age.

On the wooden stock, underneath the barrel, period repairs can be seen.

The ramrod is missing.

ref. GS005E039 / PQA00#8293