Potsdam musket

[joe d]

Hi all

I've just acquired a so-called Potsdam Musket, percussion lock,  marked Danzig 1839.
If anyone is interested, (and it doesn't push the rules here too much) I'll post some
pictures.

It's in pretty good shape for it's age, except for the damage done to the last 6" of the
barrel by some idiot with a piece of emery cloth.

cheers, Joe

[longrifle]

I would like to see it.

[frogwalking]

If Longrifle wants to see it, then it must be OK.

[joe d]

Well then, here you are:



after the attack of the emery cloth


a long time ago shortening of the fore stock


The heel of the butt spent a long time in the dirt, evenly damaged on both sides


More to follow...

[joe d]

Mortise looks good


and the lock


other side view


the barrel channel & ramrod retaining spring


the underside


It is a shame that the previous owner's son decided to start "cleaning" , but since I got it
as a gift I made very sure to not say anything.

Regards, Joe

[Dan'l 1946]

 After the Civil War, a lot of surplus muskets were altered into shotguns. This may be one of them.
                     Dan

[Bob Roller]

Someone's rabbit getter from a long ago time.The New York rifle maker N.G.Whitmore earned his living reaming Civil War muskets smooth to hunt small game with.If he wasn't doing that he was making superb match rifles and presentation grade cased rifles.Walter Cline who was one of the founders of the NMLRA had a Whitmore target rifle ,a cased outfit with full length telescope that was marked N.G.Whitmore,Potsdam NY.According to old records,Whitmore was never listed as a resident of Potsdam and the well known Grant rifle was marked N.and N.G.Whitmore in Mansfield, Mass.but the styling and workmanship in the Cline rifle and the Grant rifle are identical.
An interesting bit of historical trivia to say the least.

Bob Roller

[TPH]

After the Civil War, a lot of surplus muskets were altered into shotguns. This may be one of them.
                     Dan

It is. It was a Prussian M1839 musket used primarily by Federal western troops in training and even with some front line issue until more standardized rile muskets could be manufactured or purchased and issued. Because of it's odd ball caliber and heavy weight, the Federal inspectors rated them as Arms of the Third Class whether rifled or smoothbored.

The Prussians had a large number of these as surplus in 1861 due to their adoption of the first successful breach loading military musket, the Perkussionsgewehr Model 1841, and were more than happy to sell large quantities of them to Union buyers. The M1839 was a very sturdy, reliable and well made musket. Does yours have anything stamped on the butt plate tang? Most had been marked for issue to the Landwehr - local reserve troops not to serve outside their area of residence - by 1861 and will have a Fraktur "L" in the unit designation. The muskets kept by Prussia stayed on Landwehr issue through the 1870s until the adoption of the new Mauser bolt action rifle, the M1871.

[joe d]

Some marks:
butt plate tang and top of breech are matching numbers,   perhaps rack number 152,
5th Jaeger Regiment 6th Coy ?





And I suspect that these are later numbers:





The 14 on the side plate is an assembler's number I presume, it shows up on all the internal parts of the lock
as well. The lock bolts have a different number, changed at some point I guess.

Joe

[JCKelly]

My first musket at age 11 was a Potsdam musket. Still have it. My father bought it for me from a friend who had just lost his only son in Korea. A few years later I unloaded it. Think I shot at birds with it. Maybe age 20 I got one of those cut-down rabbit hunting guns. Murdered a turtle with it once, recall using maybe a .68 cal ball, probably cast in a Dixie mould.