Am familiar with the Southern militarization of country rifles. All I'm aaware of were cut to approximnately 33" in the barrel, were full-stocked, and rebored to either .50 (early "official" North Carolina caliber) or .54 caliber. This piece is one resulting from a known series of contracts entered into by South Carolina and Tryon arms company long before the war. Early examples of these were delivered in flint, later, like mine, in percussion. Before the Citadel of Charleston sanitized its museum they displayed a deluxe silver-mounted example engraved on the patchbox to the then-governor of South Carolina, probably to induce him to favor the contract (something for which Colt was famous). You'll note the photo above of the South Carolina troops with one illustrated, taken in May of 1861, as I recall, within weeks of the war's start and long before the Confederacy began converting country rifles.
