Last weekend's Baltimore Antique Arms Show was something of a buyer's market. Found a very good Harpers Ferry .54 caliber 1803 rifle dated 1815 at a very reasonable price. Sported a reconverted lock and Hoyt rifled liner. Took it to the range yesterday. Initial loads were 55 grains of FFg under a .530 ball wrapped in a thin lubed patch. It ate up the patches, leaving charred fragments down range. Used an old trick I'd learned from a "Muzzle Blasts" article in the 1950s: topped the powder charge with 2 CCs of Cream of Wheat. Accuracy improved greatly and recovered patches were perfectly intact. Clean up was easier. Ignition instantaneous and almost sure. A new favorite range companion!
1803 Harpers Ferry rifle
- Thread starter Dave Fox
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Sweet, and a shooter to boot. One of those would fill a gap in my collection 
Figured there would be lots of goodies for sale with motivated sellers. Knew I should have gone but in my old age I have an aversion to leaving my mountain and getting anywhere near Baltimore or DC. and driving on their beltways unless my brother is riding shotgun with something belt fed.
Figured there would be lots of goodies for sale with motivated sellers. Knew I should have gone but in my old age I have an aversion to leaving my mountain and getting anywhere near Baltimore or DC. and driving on their beltways unless my brother is riding shotgun with something belt fed.
Very nice! I really like 1803's. I am going to experiment with the Cream of Wheat filler. I have never used it under a ball before but have used it for making cartridges for Sharps rifle blanks for reenacting. I can definitely see why it could help with powder blow by.
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I am jealous, those are really neat guns.
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I too am keeping eye open for a used replica 1803' passed up two of them several yrs. ago at auction.
I was fortunate to find an original at a reasonable price at a recent big York, Pennsylvania show. It had been restored to flint, had a Hoyt liner with original style rifling inserted, and is a superior shooter. I CAN'T DELETE THIS. ALAS, IT'S REDUNDANT>
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Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
Hate to start a fire storm, but isnt that an 1812 not an 1803. It has the M1812 mods done to it.
The two notable are the wedding band and ramrod.
The two notable are the wedding band and ramrod.
TDM
Cannon
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You got a beautiful, historic rifle! Congratulations and enjoy it!
It’s still an 1803. Just the later production ones. I’m sensitive to your issues in your posts, and I like your attention to detail and the knowledge that comes with it…but you really need to stop shitting in other folks cereal bowls.
Point out that it has the later mods and help the OP identify exactly what he has…every one will appreciate that. I don’t get all giddy about Italian guns either, but just say you had some issues with one and how you fixed them and wish the poster well with his new toy.
It ain’t hard to be positive, and everyone will appreciate your knowledge.
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OP, you are living my dream. I have an unhealthy affection for 1803s!
I have one delivering tomorrow that is a gift from a special friend. Can’t wait to get it!
More pics of your rifle please!
I have one delivering tomorrow that is a gift from a special friend. Can’t wait to get it!
More pics of your rifle please!
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Not sure about an 1812 pattern. There were 4 notable 1803 variants. The lock on this one looks to be the 1815 or 1819 pattern with the larger plate and cock and slightly wider pan. The very first pattern was more or less a prototype, called a short rifle. The lock was very small, pistol sized and there was no wedding band or brass end band.
An 1819 would have had a 36” barrel, An 1815 would have had a 33” barrel with a brass lined rammer and slightly slimmer forward pipe.
The very first 1803 pattern had the smaller lock, slimmer stock and heavier underribb and rammer pipes and a slightly heavier barrel.
When Springfield took over the design from harpers ferry, they immediately made the lock larger, they thought it was too small and too fragile and beefed up the lock mortise on the stock. That project was short lived with the advent of the common rifle. Very few 1803 patterns have the Springfield lock design which is basically an 1817 common rifle lock.
I do like my 1803 Harper's Ferry Rifle. It's a Track of the Wolf's Special Projects Kit from the period when that meant Rifle Shoppe parts kit. I use a 0.530" ball wrapped in a 0.017" cotton drill patch dampened with 1 part water soluble oil and 7 parts water that is propelled by 65 grains of 3fg powder.
For absolute ease of loading, I have used a 0.520" ball and 0.010" patch with acceptable results. The recovered patches are shredded, but the groups are acceptable.
For absolute ease of loading, I have used a 0.520" ball and 0.010" patch with acceptable results. The recovered patches are shredded, but the groups are acceptable.
Not to sound repetitious, but I also love my 1803ish rifle. I made it back in '12 from a Pecatonica kit, .54 Colerain Barrel, Davis lock. Shoots pretty good too. Dropped a big doe at 35 yards. She didn't move a step after being hit.
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Great! I do have a Harper's Pedersoli pistol I got cheap at auction several years back; Being rifled .58, it's probably a pretty hard hitter. (It was NIB for like under 200 bucks!)
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
So do I, thats why I tell to say away from those production guns. I went all the way to Dixie Gun Works to get mine, and it broke, and it broke, and it broke.
Then I met Jess Melot of the Rifle Shoppe, He has all the low down on everything Harpers Ferry.
Even has the Lewis and Clark 1892 contract rifle kits.
So all my views on the 1803 come from dealing with him. I retro fitted My Petro 1803 with his parts as they broke. Then I gave the rifle away and built one.
So I am a sour puss when it comes to 1803s and the Petro junk one I had.
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Wow. I wonder, are they all like that or was there a bad period where they were junk. Good to apprised about that, thank you. I must check out the Rifle Shoppe.
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