Curious about this musket barrel

[Shreckmeister]

44 3/4 inch oct to round 72 cal barrel with 3 lugs and bayonet lug. Hole where a front sight had been. Interesting marks on bottom flat XXII and 3 lines terminating at a line.

[Elnathan]

How long is the octagon section? Proof marks?

44 3/4 is roughly the length of the French muskets and their copies from 1763 up through the early 19th century in the case of the American copies. I'm thinking all those were round, though, and of course they used barrel bands, not lugs. That particular length is suggestive, though.

[T*O*F]

Interesting marks on bottom flat XXII

Those are production markings which serve to keep all the components of a gun together as a unit.  That run had at least 22 guns in it, with the others being marked accordingly.

[Pukka Bundook]

Yes, Hash marks as TOF says.

Any proofs Shreck?

[Shreckmeister]

I don't have it in hand today, but the Octagon is about 9" plus or minus and inch.  No proof marks at all or other marks.

[Elnathan]

Another question that just occurred to me: Is the bayonet lug on top or below the barrel? Brits used a lug on top, French below.

The general proportions kind of suggest an early French musket of some kind, but most of those either had extended flats on the top or used barrel bands. The lack of markings might be explained by shortening from the breech, but by the time percussion conversions came about the US military standard had been reduced to 42", so any shortening to 44 3/4 would probably have been done earlier back when that was the standard.

All I've got to go on is Neumann's Battle Weapons of the American Revolution and the preview of Moller's American Military Shoulder Arms on Google Books, so maybe I shouldn't be the one trying to answer this. Interesting puzzle, though. If it wasn't for the hash marks I'd just assume that it was a commercial barrel off a militia musket trying to conform to the length and caliber standards of the later 18th/early 19th century.

[Shreckmeister]

The bayonet lug is on the bottom.  Maybe the lugs for attaching it to the stock were added sometime later for reuse.

[rich pierce]

It’s lrobzbly been shortened at the breech when converted to percussion.

[OldSouthRelics]

Like others have mentioned, the Roman Numerals are probably assembly markings. This was utilized by Southern Gunsmiths during the Civil War, as most here probably know. They'd mark the barrel, barrel channel, lock, etc... for re-assembly purposes. I imagine the practice has been around a long time.

The question I'd have for this particular barrel, especially if it was found in the south and is potentially shortened, is if the Roman Numerals were added while it was being altered to percussion. I doubt it would be for the purpose of the Civil War, but perhaps it was just a simple Southern Gunsmith giving himself some reference points with Roman Numerals while working on multiple projects.

[Avlrc]

I found these marks on rifles that were originally flint & were converted to percussion during the American Civil War.  When I first encountered them I though they was assembly numbers for Virginia Contract Rifles  at time of manufacture, but noticed they were only present on percussion conversions.  On a couple of  them, the  barrels were shortened & the numeral 44 was stamped on the muzzle.  Some Southern armory marking I guess.

[Pukka Bundook]

You see assembly marks on many guns of all ages though, not just Southern guns.  Many if not most British guns have the same.

Small bayonets were popular at one time on sporting guns.  I have a barrel by Thomas Bannister, (London) made around 1700, and it has a small bayonet lug under the muzzle.  Has hash marks but nothing to do with the south or civil war, and not military at all. Has a flared muzzle as did many early fowling pieces.

Just food for thought.  My barrel is 53 " BTW.

[Avlrc]

Come to think of it, I had a German Jaeger once that had Roman numeral markings on some of the parts.  That jaeger was made in about 1730.

[JV Puleo]

As Pukka has said, Roman numeral assembly markings are extremely common. They have nothing to do with the CW and were used just about everywhere before the advent of truly interchangeable parts. I suspect they used Roman numerals for the same reason the Romans did. They are easy to make with a file, chisel or knife.

[ddoyle]

Wonder why they peened the breech behind the numerals? Tighten up the threads?