Remington 1857 Maynard-Primed Rifled Musket

Description

21,952 M1816 flintlock muskets were altered at the Frankfort Arsenal between 1856 and 1859. The locks and chambered breech pieces were made by Remington of Ilion, NY, but they did not perform any work on the guns themselves. These guns were also rifled, though only 14,989 were fitted with rear sights. About 1,300 of these muskets were altered for New Jersey, of which only 200 had rear sights. This example with lockplate stamped vertically “REMINGTON’S/ILION.N.Y./1857/U.S.” behind the hammer; serpentine side plate. Rifled 42” .69 caliber barrel stamped with eagle head and “P” at the breech, secured by three barrel bands to the walnut full stock. This example one of the approximately 7,000 made without rear sight. Sling swivels at front of trigger guard and on middle band; iron ramrod. Overall length 57 3/4”. Metal parts with light pitting and age staining; heavier pitting on the butt plate. Bore with only faint traces of rifling; stock with wear and handling marks and a few deeper dents on the left side. Mechanically very good. These muskets were the best of the percussion-altered muskets available at the onset of the Civil War and were widely used by both sides. While a novel idea that could shorten the time to prime a musket, the Maynard tape primer proved unreliable, especially in wet conditions, and was often disabled in favor of conventional percussion caps.