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Model 1841 Rifle
- University of New Mexico Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Model 1841 Rifle 201. Harpers Ferry Armory 201.1 Harpers Ferry Armory Master Armorer Benjamin Moor was assigned to design a new percussion military rifle in March 1839. This rifle was to be made of “interchangeable parts standardized during the manufacturing process through the use of verifying gauges.” One year later, on March 7, 1840, the Ordnance Department contracted with Henry Deringer to fabricate 6,000 flintlock rifles. He was furnished with two patterns: one was a contract Model 1817 flintlock rifle made by Nathan Starr; the other was an early Harpers Ferry prototype of what would become the Model 1841 percussion rifle. This suggests that some of the features of the Model 1841 rifle had been incorporated into prototypes at Harpers Ferry by early 1840. Deringer’s first delivery of Model 1817 rifles that had rifling and some other features of the proposed Model 1841 rifle was on January 26, 1841. On January 23, 1841, Chief of Ordnance Colonel George Bomford wrote to George W. Tryon: “The new model (rifle) made at the Harpers Ferry Armory, and received here a few days since, was rejected by the board, and some further alterations in it directed to be made with the least possible delay.” On February 19, 1841, Chief of Ordnance Bomford wrote to Springfield Armory (Massachusetts) Superintendent John Robb, as follows: “The Model Rifle . . . is now being prepared at Harpers Ferry, under the directions of the Ordnance Board, and as soon as it is completed and adopted, the information will be communicated to you.” A notation at the bottom of a memorandum by Major Henry Knox Craig dated March 14, 1841, states the new rifle’s dimensions and materials. This indicates the adoption of the rifle sometime in the interim three weeks. During that year, Harpers Ferry Armory fabricated eight Model 1841 “Model” rifles. One of these was sent to Springfield Armory, in Springfield, Massachusetts, “to serve as a guide in preparing models of the musket, cadet-musket, and pistol, with percussion locks.”1 The Model 1842 series of arms was based on the Model 1841 rifle. At least one of the remaining seven rifles underwent an extensive series of firing trials at Washington Arsenal in 1842 to determine accuracy, range, and its bullet’s capacity for penetration. These trials also compared the Model 1841 rifle to the English Brunswick rifle, the French Delvigne rifle, a “chamois hunters” 1 Letter dated November 23, 1841, from Chief of Ordnance Colonel Bomford to Major Ripley at Springfield Armory. 201.1–1 The Model 1841 rifle was producedbyHarpersFerryArmory and by several private gunmakers under contract with the federal government. Less than one-half of the rifles had been issued when production ended in 1855. Armory-Pattern Muzzleloading Arms 111 rifle, and the Swiss military rifle. The results of these trials were favorable to the Model 1841 rifle. One of the eight “Model” rifles has survived and is in a private collection. Its components are marked “MODEL,” and the rifle is dated 1841. It is similar to the later production rifles except that the nipple bolster is smaller and the lock is slightly larger. The hammer has a slightly different configuration and its thumbpiece is not checkered. There are also minor differences in the sights and implement compartment, and the sheet brass bands are soldered together at the top. Harpers Ferry’s rifle works, which had been fabricating Hall rifles and carbines , was slow in tooling up for production of the new rifle. Ultimately, 49 of the machines that had produced the Hall arms and nine new machines were used in the production of the Model 1841 rifle. Although the “Model” had been adopted, a number of modifications were made before it went into production. For instance, the “Model” rifle originally had a spanner-type nipple, but on November 14, 1841, an ordnance board recommended a longer nipple with square lug. The specifications for this newly designed nipple were sent to Major Ripley, the chief inspector of contract arms, on December 24, 1844. A second change to the nipple appears to have been made in 1847, and patterns of the new nipple were sent to contractors on May 21, 1847. The “Model” rifle was originally equipped with sheet brass barrel bands. These were...