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Question on early musket production

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PathfinderNC

PathfinderNC

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How were early muskets produced?
Building them in the hundreds and thousands, each by hand and non mass-produced (in the modern sense). I understand the governments contracted firms to build them according to specific specifications and so forth. But I am curious about who and how would they have been carved and shaped, stocked and assembled. Would certain men specialized in lock mortise work, while others labored at barrel channeling, and then others installing the butt plates, & etc.?
This is the type of crazy questions that come to mind while working on a build…
Thanks!
 
The British had a system where they would order specific parts such as barrels, locks, stocks and furnishings according to pattern and stored for eventual assembly into finished firearms. The muskets would then be assembled into finished arms by the stock carvers into muskets according to patterns established for the musket. Yes, specialized assemblers would install the barrels while other installed the locks and still others would install the butt plates and other furnishings. Others would make the ram rods.

When these parts were in short supply, gun makers in other countries, Belgium and the Netherlands come to mind, muskets would be ordered according to pattern, such as the Long Land Pattern Muskets of 1730 (?) or 1742. At that time muskets were not built to a set of specifications but to a pattern usually supplied by the purchasing authority. The finished muskets were accepted if they complied with the pattern supplied. That is one of the reasons Land Pattern Muskets could have bores from 0.750" to 0.800" and still comply to pattern. Because the muskets were built to a pattern, a "Dutch" musket would still look like a British built Land Pattern Musket but have Belgium or Netherlands inspection and proof marks as well as British marks.
 
That’s interesting to me, thanks Grenadier. So would, for example, the stock carver ship out his finished work to the barrel inletter? Or did it go into “central storage”? Do we know if these craftsmen were working together in one building perhaps like a big workshop, or maybe the same town or village so they could hand-off their work to the next worker in the process? I am trying to imagine the process… not like a cottage industry of course but how did they work?
 
The individual parts would go into storage for final assembly based on need. The parts were pulled from storage using the oldest parts first. This did lead to some issues when a new musket would be assembled and the new lock coming from storage would have a date of up to 20 years earlier than the year the musket was issued. New 1736 pattern muskets might have a lock with a date of 1728 stamped on the lock. Most units did not want 8 year old muskets (even though these were new). After the Seven Years War, the year of manufacture and the maker was no longer being engraved on the lock plate.
 
And then, in Britain, when the musket was withdrawn from service, the useable parts would be separated and stored by type in case spares were needed or to be reused in a ‘new’ musket. Thus the, exceedingly rare now, Pattern 1838 back action muskets went into the Brunswick locks parts bin, barrels into Extra Service (ie not to the current Pattern) muskets, brass to remelt and the stocks to warm the Tower fireplaces. Hence hardly any exist now.

Essentially government muskets were kit muskets, made from assorted supplier’s parts. All made in small back street workshops where even the lock parts were sub contracted. The districts being full of small boys carrying parts in buckets from one workshop to another. Then, when new muskets were needed, sets of parts would be gathered together and sent to be stocked up into a complete musket.

The Extra Service muskets are a fascinating mix of reuses. Not unlike the work of the Jaipur State Armoury at the same time, using surplus sold ex East India Company muskets. Now Udiapur is the home of the reproduction musket works exported from India.
 
PathfinderNC said:
How were early muskets produced?
Building them in the hundreds and thousands, each by hand and non mass-produced (in the modern sense). I understand the governments contracted firms to build them according to specific specifications and so forth. But I am curious about who and how would they have been carved and shaped, stocked and assembled. Would certain men specialized in lock mortise work, while others labored at barrel channeling, and then others installing the butt plates, & etc.?
This is the type of crazy questions that come to mind while working on a build…
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes! There were specialists in each division of the shop. The Deringer shop in Philadelphia had military contracts, and I believe there was a small shop in Valley Forge making muskets, marked as such. Lots of interesting info is in Craig L. Barry's book, The Civil War Musket, Lock, Stock & Barrel. He covers details of mfg. in the London and Birmingham shops. I bet the N-NSA has info on their website, but have not looked at it. Good luck!
 
springfield art said:
Yes! There were specialists in each division of the shop. The Deringer shop in Philadelphia had military contracts, and I believe there was a small shop in Valley Forge making muskets, marked as such. Lots of interesting info is in Craig L. Barry's book, The Civil War Musket, Lock, Stock & Barrel. He covers details of mfg. in the London and Birmingham shops. I bet the N-NSA has info on their website, but have not looked at it. Good luck!
Click to expand...
I just looked up that book on Amazon because it sounded informative and interesting. A used paperback is, wait for it, 388.00$. I'm not sire what to say about that.
 
Celticstoneman said:
I just looked up that book on Amazon because it sounded informative and interesting. A used paperback is, wait for it, 388.00$. I'm not sire what to say about that.
Click to expand...
NO! There's something wrong with that! Probably a 'troll' listing or something. In reality-world, the 2nd Ed. of the book around 2011 or so, would be the one to get. Another guy, Eterry, found one for $259.00 on line. I can't believe this!
 
Hi Pathfinder,
Do a search for books by DeWitt Bailey on British small arms. He describes the British ordnance system very well including the divisions of labor. Despite that system, Britain often had to purchase ready made muskets complete from contractors and even foreign businesses. The French had a combination of large Royal arsenals (St. Etienne, Maubeuge, and Charleville) who manufactured military and some luxury firearms. They also contracted with private manufacturers such as those in and around Tulle. Many of the arms purchased for marine and naval units were from those private makers although I believe the Tulle arms producers were eventually nationalized. Kit Ravenshear told me that a team of workers in the Tower of London could take a rough stock of walnut and turn it into a Brown Bess musket ready for finishing in 10 hours.

dave
 
dave_person said:
Hi Pathfinder,
Do a search for books by DeWitt Bailey on British small arms. He describes the British ordnance system very well including the divisions of labor. Despite that system, Britain often had to purchase ready made muskets complete from contractors and even foreign businesses. The French had a combination of large Royal arsenals (St. Etienne, Maubeuge, and Charleville) who manufactured military and some luxury firearms. They also contracted with private manufacturers such as those in and around Tulle. Many of the arms purchased for marine and naval units were from those private makers although I believe the Tulle arms producers were eventually nationalized. Kit Ravenshear told me that a team of workers in the Tower of London could take a rough stock of walnut and turn it into a Brown Bess musket ready for finishing in 10 hours.

dave
Click to expand...
Interesting that you actually spoke with Mr. Ravenshear, a legend in the field...
 
PathfinderNC said:
How were early muskets produced?
Building them in the hundreds and thousands, each by hand and non mass-produced (in the modern sense). I understand the governments contracted firms to build them according to specific specifications and so forth. But I am curious about who and how would they have been carved and shaped, stocked and assembled. Would certain men specialized in lock mortise work, while others labored at barrel channeling, and then others installing the butt plates, & etc.?
This is the type of crazy questions that come to mind while working on a build…
Thanks!
Click to expand...
PathfinderNC said:
How were early muskets produced?
Building them in the hundreds and thousands, each by hand and non mass-produced (in the modern sense). I understand the governments contracted firms to build them according to specific specifications and so forth. But I am curious about who and how would they have been carved and shaped, stocked and assembled. Would certain men specialized in lock mortise work, while others labored at barrel channeling, and then others installing the butt plates, & etc.?
This is the type of crazy questions that come to mind while working on a build…
Thanks!
Click to expand...

On a related note, I read several years ago an article that would answer some of your questions, but do not recall the source.
Something that really got my attention ( and probably yours too ) were the number of 90% or so inletted stocks a skilled workman was expected to turn out per day and week. Wish I could remember the numbers, but they were quite impressive.
I know that when a person does the same thing day after day, month after month, they tend to get better and faster, but the production rates were truly impressive. Or at least I thought they were.

Undoubtedly others here can come up with the answers.
 

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