OPEN- 0001 - Early, M1816/22 .69 barrel, Fowling Piece- 1817-1838

[smithy]

Well... she's not very pretty yet and is using temporary hardware but I really get the feeling this is the first time it's been functional and in one piece in a very long time. I love its features and can't wait to finish... but what are you and who made you? A mutt?

[adavis]

She is beautiful! I can't believe that's the same gun as the parts in the first post.

I only found one potential hit but I don't think the description helps much. I can't wait to see her. This is from a catalogue of fire-arms from the US Cartridge Company. I need more data sources!

[smithy]

Holy Moly. THANK YOU! I took a picture and integrated them side-by-side. It looks like it's very close but maybe not exactly the right make or year(?) I do think this info will greatly help me zero in on manufacture. i.e. what manufacture produced Fowling Pieces and had Luther Sage as an inspector?
What do y'all think?

[smithy]

More info about Luther Sage:

"LS" Luther Sage, a Springfield Arsenal civilian ordnance sub-inspector. According to Daum & Pate’s U.S. Military Arms Inspector Marks, Sage inspected US Model 1817 rifles at “R&JD Johnson” in 1819, 1820, 1821 and 1823, with 1,060 inspected in 1822. This is an example of the muddle period records that researchers have to contend with, as R & JD Johnson did not have any contracts for Model 1817 rifles until 10 December 1823. Thus, all of the rifles referenced in the book were produced by Robert Johnson, not Robert & John D Johnson. Sage inspected 2,960 of the 5,002 rifles that Robert Johnson delivered. The number of rifles that Sage inspected in 1822 exceeds the number of rifles that he delivered that year, 1,060 vs 842, which suggests the difference may have actually been received by the Ordnance Department in a different Fiscal Year (deliveries made on or after 1 July 1822 would have been credited to 1823’s fiscal year).

[smithy]

I believe I have come to the conclusion that this is a mutt and suspect the barrel was originally from a R. & J. D. Johnson flintlock. The Johnson U.S. M1816/22 is a .69 caliber smoothbore musket with a 38.5-inch barrel. This model is a variant of the M1816 musket, which was widely used in the early 19th century by the U.S. military. The M1816 was originally a flintlock musket but many were later converted to percussion cap systems. The barrel was likely used as a starting point to assemble this percussion fowling piece.

[smithy]

We're giving the repaired stock a wood skin transfusion. We just applied the sixth layer that was built up just to sand back down (rinse repeat). You get the idea.

[smithy]

The stock reconditioning is now complete. I still need to replace the screws to be more period correct but overall, it's looking pretty good. The fiberglassed area (with wood skin) appears to be a darker tone but I wouldn't notice that these areas were completely missing if not pointed out.