Eli Whitney rifle

[Ben Meyer]

A friend of mine told me he was gifted an original Eli Whitney rifle. I asked a bunch of questions that he didn't have answers for, but sent me this Pic. He's a gun guy through and through, but knows nothing about blackpowder guns, knows I'm into them, asked for some help. I asked what he plans to do with it, and he said he wants to shoot it!

I'm assuming it's a Civil War era/Type musket/rifled musket, probably. 58 cal, probably a Minie ball gun. I do have a Zoli Zouave in .58cal, bullets, musket caps and powder.

Does anyone know anything about these guns? A quick Google search showed Eli Whitney arms has a nice long history of making guns. Would you shoot such a gun? If so, what would your load be?

 

[gemmer]

It's a Model 1816 .69 cal. smoothbore. It was converted from flintlock to percussion. That particular method of conversion is the most common but is also the weakest. The barrel should be checked out by someone familiar with barrels of that period. I would suggest Bob Hoyt. 717-642-6696.

 

[Ben Meyer]

Thanks. I haven't personally laid eyes on it yet, but will eventually. I'll take more/better pics and post them on this thread.

What i was thinking is, me and him taking the gun to Friendship, IN this June, and getting a few opinions on its shootability and value from some of the vendors there on Gunmakers Row. Theres usually some really knowledgable folks there.

It's a Model 1816 .69 cal. smoothbore. It was converted from flintlock to percussion. That particular method of conversion is the most common but is also the weakest. The barrel should be checked out by someone familiar with barrels of that period. I would suggest Bob Hoyt. 717-642-6696.

 

[Ohio_Rich]

Would Bob be able to tell me if a 1800 cap lock double barrel 12ga would be safe to shoot?

 

[OLUT]

Yes, it is the Whitney version of the Model 1816 musket, known as the "second Contract of 1822". The Whitney Arms Company made about 24,000 under this specific contract. Your musket lock has Whitney's "branch and crossed arrow" marking which was put on his guns from 1830 to around 1837. The conversion from flintlock was done using the officially termed "Belgian alteration" but more commonly called the "cone type". There are many beat-up civil war versions, but this example looks to be in very nice shape. Hopefully it retains all the original markings.