A few years ago a neighbor of mine asked me to do a few repairs to his shed. Roof, corners, doors and paint. In the process of doing the work on the doors I could see the muzzles of two guns in the corner. Both were civil war era guns. When I asked about them my neighbor said he meant to turn them into the police during a gun buy back program. After all, both guns were obsolete and in very bad shape. I said both guns should be in a museum or hanging up in the house some place at least. I finished work on the shed and my neighbor and I were settling up and asked if I'd like to have the muskets. He didn't have to ask twice. The first gun was an 1847 conversion from flintlock to percussion. On the surface, this looked to be the better of the two as all of the parts were there. Upon closer inspection, the barrel had a curve to it, the foregrip was cracked lengthwise and the nipple bolster was gone presumably from excessive dry firing.
The second gun and the subject of this build was an 1861 Bridesberg contract rifle built in 1862. The Bridesberg for all intensive purposes was a Springfield. It's nearly identical in every way being built from a government design. There is a slight difference somewhere in the back of the barrel but everything else is indistinguishable from a Springfield 1861. The big difference between this gun and the 1847 is this gun had been "sporterized" at some point in it's history and not done well I might add. The blairing things that jumped right out was every part not 100% needed to make the weapon fire was gone. Including 7" of the barrel brutally hacksawed at a noticeable angle. More than 20" or walnut foregrip was hacked away along with the nose cap, two bands, retaining springs, front and rear sights, front sling swivel, butt plate along with all the inletting associated with the butt plate and finally, the ram rod was gone. The original finish was stripped from the stock and something skin to show polish was used to change the way it looked. This was not my first choice for a restoration project. I'll try and post short snippets along with photos of the build as it progressed.
The second gun and the subject of this build was an 1861 Bridesberg contract rifle built in 1862. The Bridesberg for all intensive purposes was a Springfield. It's nearly identical in every way being built from a government design. There is a slight difference somewhere in the back of the barrel but everything else is indistinguishable from a Springfield 1861. The big difference between this gun and the 1847 is this gun had been "sporterized" at some point in it's history and not done well I might add. The blairing things that jumped right out was every part not 100% needed to make the weapon fire was gone. Including 7" of the barrel brutally hacksawed at a noticeable angle. More than 20" or walnut foregrip was hacked away along with the nose cap, two bands, retaining springs, front and rear sights, front sling swivel, butt plate along with all the inletting associated with the butt plate and finally, the ram rod was gone. The original finish was stripped from the stock and something skin to show polish was used to change the way it looked. This was not my first choice for a restoration project. I'll try and post short snippets along with photos of the build as it progressed.
