The Springfield 1823 dated percussion altered and rifled Model 1816, shown below, is one of only 680 M1816 muskets which were percussion altered and rifled, but not fitted with the Longrange rear sight. In contrast, 20,980 Federally owned M1816 muskets were percussion altered, rifled, and long-range sighted.
This musket was percussion altered at Watertown Arsenal, in the 1850 to 1853 time period, and subsequently rifled at Frankford Arsenal in 1858. We know it was rifled at Frankford because it has Frankford alphanumeric code stamped into the bottom of the barrel and in front of the tang of the buttplate. In the case of this musket the alphanumeric code is "F 5". The percussion altered alphanumeric code stamped into the interior of the lock, percussion hammer, and bottom of the barrel is "V18".
The ramrods of the rifled M1816 muskets were altered to fit the nose of the mini-ball.
It is very obvious that this particular musket had been issued at some point.
More in depth discussion and photographs of these altered flintlock muskets can be found on pages 109-131 of my book
Springfield Armory Infantry Muskets 1795-1840 published in 2015 by Mowbray Publishing.
