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Thanks, AZ!

I noticed that the online auction listing is still available for a rifle that I purchased in 2007. The original owner had it custom built by The Rifle Shoppe. I don't think that he ever fired it. Edit: I can't get a copied link to work, but its gunauction.com auction 8158432

Good eye. The guns are contemporaneous but show differences in design philosophy. The Baker fired a .62 ball vs .54 for the M1803, which used fine grained powder to achieve a muzzle velocity approaching 2,000 fps. (Barrel bursting was a problem!) The Baker has provisions for a sling, where...

If you're both in East TN, you're relations!

Try these: http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol32no2.pdf http://www.lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol32no3.pdf Here's an article about the M1800 Harper's Ferry, written by Jess Melot, the owner of The Rifle Shoppe. He built the rifle pictured in the link above...

The first pdf file linked below is volume 32, number 2 of "We Proceded On, the Journal of The Lewis & Clark Historic Foundation". It contains an excellent series of articles, "Whack! Crack! Boom! The Guns of the Lewis & Clark Expedition", in which the contention is made that 15 early examples of...

The TRS reproduction of Harper's Ferry M1800 rifle #15 is so purposeful, light, and elegant that I believe I'd have been pleased to carry one on a little 3,000 mile stroll. A 70/30 chance that the 15 rifles carried by the Corps of Discovery were in fact pre-production M1803 rifles is better...

M1800 rifle described, from the TRS catalog: http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/us_arms/(935).htm

I have four of the darned things now, and never meant to have more than one! All from The Rifle Shoppe, they are: a French 1763 cavalry carbine, M1800 Harper's Ferry (the predecessor to the M1803 that many contend was carried on the Lewis & Clark expedition), Baker rifle, and M1817 common...

Here's the background and description of rifle #15 from The rifle Shoppe's on-line catalog: http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/us_arms/(935).htm

Both of my rifles are from The Rifle Shoppe. The pans are fairly smooth, but not polished. Ignition has been fast and 100% so far.

The conversion from flint to percussion was mainly driven by the various militaries of the world and the need to increase utility, reliability (in the wet in particular), and rate of fire. You may have the same needs. The percussion will certainly be more practical, and you'll avoid the need for...

I've been really impressed with the efforts of The Rifle Shoppe. I own two of their rifles, and had not owned nor fired other modern flinters. I had not realized that other flinters may not offer the same reliability and nearly instantaneous ignition, and have not received the care, tuning, and...

The lock of rifle #15 is Harpers Ferry and 1803 marked. It does not match the size and shape of first pattern M1803 rifles, and is just one of several differences. The lock is longer and slimmer, and would not be interchangable with that of any of the three observed distinct m1803 patterns.

. . . except that just under 400 Harpers Ferry M1803 rifles with 1803 dated locks have been observed, including rifle number 15. So, production of the M1803 commenced in 1804 with no experimental or pattern guns whatever? Doubtful.

Yes, the M1803 pattern rifles were not submitted until November, 1803. That's the point: the features and characteristics of rifle #15 predate M1803 first pattern rifles. The pattern of these rifles was finalized only after War Secretary Henry Dearborn wrote a letter to the Harper's Ferry...

Get your grubby mitts on the Cowan & Keller article, if you have not yet seen it. It covers all of the guns of the expedition, not just the rifles. As to the provenance of M1800 rifle #15, isn't it an absolutely amazing coincidence that it should surface in an antique shop in St. Louis, MO...

Yes, it's also a Rifle Shoppe piece. I bought it from the gent in SoCal who had originally commissioned it, saving me a two year wait. He specified two upgrades: a browned barrel (takes 12 days to do) and an English walnut stock, which is the densest piece of walnut that I've ever handled. I...

There is not a single shred of evidence from the time that reasonably points to a M1792 hypothesis. Not one. Anywhere. There is much to support a Harpers Ferry M1800, or M1803 theory. Wake up and smell the powder smoke, fellas!

The M1792 v. M1800 rifle controversy continues, but Capt. Meriwether Lewis himself gives us a strong clue. On March 20, 1806, as the Expedition was preparing to depart Ft. Clatsop, Lewis wrote, "The guns of Drewyer and Sergt. Pryor were both out of order. the first was repared with a new lock...