Musket Conversions

At the end of the unpleasantness of 1861-1865 many muskets were left around.  Which was kind of wasteful as cartridge arms were in vogue.  A number of “plans” were devised to convert those muskets to cartridge arms - most in .58 rimfire.  The Allin, Berdan, Needham, Miller, Robert and Snider were just a few.  The Allin was simply a patent theft of the Wright system but I’m going to skip over that for now….

It looks like a CW musket as it kind of is.  The length of those guns is something but these are in fact shorter than earlier muskets.

The Millers worked for Parker so Parker muskets were used.  One suspects these are the muskets Parker was left with when contracts were terminated.  That it’s a musket is clear but the mechanism where the bolster would normally be found is obvious.

The mechanism is quite simple.  The hammer is retracted and that assembly is lifted.

A cartridge is inserted and the mechanism is lowered.  Pull the trigger and off she goes.

All in all a good workable design.  They didn’t thieve any patents in the process.  In fact the Ordnance Department infringed their patents with the trapdoor.  Well, the Ordnance Department infringed a large number of patents with the trapdoor and those chickens came home to roost.

The fly in the ointment was they couldn’t see into the future.  The Franco-Prussian War allowed the wholesale dumping of muskets.  Cheap Bessemer steel severely reduced the cost of steel.  The .58 rimfire wasn’t a very good round and making new barrels, in a smaller caliber, from cheap Bessemer steel was cheaper than sleeving muskets.

The musket conversions faded into the mists of time.  Except the trapdoor.  One suspects that burning their fingers, and paying for it, convinced the ordnance department to stick with their “conversion” trapdoors to avoid that mess again.  In spite of them making those guns new - they didn’t use much for musket parts.

I like the Miller.  The “straight through” design allows it to be cleaned easier than some of the others.  The elder Miller brother moved from gun making to making pocket knives and was very successful at that.  Probably a good career move as the firearms business has always been rather boom or bust.