Early Civil War Period Conversion of a Type III M1816 Flintlock Musket to Percussion

Early Civil War Period Conversion of a Type III M1816 Flintlock Musket to Percussion – The Type III U.S. Model 1816 flintlock musket was made by both the Springfield and Harpers Ferry arsenals from 1831 to 1844; this example was one of the over 350,000 M1816s made at the Harpers Ferry arsenal. This conversion musket to percussion remains a .69 caliber muzzleloader, with iron furniture (finished in the bright), with three barrel bands, button style ramrod, oiled walnut stock which has a noticeably low comb; the barrel is 42” in length. The lock plate is stamped vertically “HARPERS FERRY / 1841” behind the hammer; forward of the hammer is stamped with an American eagle over “US”. These Type III M1816s represented the vast majority of muskets converted to percussion at the onset of the Civil War. This musket was converted to percussion in 1862, as denoted by that dated stamped on the top of the breech of the barrel. This musket was altered via the “bolster conversion” process that entailed cutting off the gun’s barrel breech and replaced with a nipple bolster made integrally into the new barrel breech which was screwed into the barrel proper – the cut line where the breech was severed from the barrel is noticeable on this musket; additionally, the barrel was rifled during the conversion process.  The conversion of this musket was performed by the private contractor “Hewes & Phillips” of Newark, New Jersey; signifying this contractor is the “H & P” stamped in the nipple bolster. An earlier conversion to percussion exhibited a bolster clean-out screw; this example is the second and later variety with an enlarged bolster with no cleanout screw. The majority of M1816 conversions supplied to the Federal Government at the start of the Civil War, were muskets converted via this process. This musket remains in superior condition; of interest are the initials “JA” carved into the right rear butt stock.