These Frankford Arsenal rifled muskets were altered from earlier Model 1816/1822 muskets. The U.S. military wanted to adopt the Maynard tape priming system on the model 1855 Springfield muskets and find a way to adapt the Maynard priming system to other earlier longarms already in the U.S. arsenal. It was found that the "cone in barrel" percussion conversions were not ideal to use with the higher pressure .69 caliber Minie ball loads used by the U.S. military. A method of alteration was developed by removing the last 1" of the original barrel and fitting a steel chambered breech plug with bolster and nipple, rifling the barrels for Minie balls, adding a long range rear sight, mounting a front sight on the barrel, and fitting a new lock with the Maynard tape primer. Remington Arms Company was contracted for 20000 locks and breeches and delivered 21,952 including the New Jersey arms from 1856 to 1858. During 1858 New Jersey sent 2000 muskets, 1300 were returned by July 1858, of those 1300 only 200 had the front and rear sight alterations. During 1859 678 additional muskets were returned to New Jersey with the notation that they were altered for the tape primer and rifled - nothing is mentioned about sights. By 1859 the Frankfort arsenal had run out of parts and the remaining 22 unaltered flintlocks were returned to New Jersey, along with the original flintlocks and breech sections. Both Arsenal and New Jersey records show that a total of 1978 muskets were altered.

The .69 caliber rifle barrel is 42" including the steel breech added during the conversion. The bore is rifled with three wide lands and grooves with a slow twist for a Minie ball. The rifling was progressive depth at 0.015" deep at the breech and 0.005" at the muzzle. The bore is mostly bright with a few small scattered dark speckles visible. It appear to be very shootable. The barrel has a socket bayonet lug mounted behind the muzzle. The front sight on this example is integral to the front barrel band, which was common on 1816 pattern muskets. The new steel breech is stamped 1857 and the letter P on the tang. The side of the breech has a J.T. inspection mark. The barrel retains a L.S. stamp and a partial proof mark that was trimmed off during the alteration. The side flat of the barrel is stamped N.J. for the state of New Jersey. The barrel on this rifled musket is browned and the brown seems to be very even and appears to have been applied in modern times. Some of the altered muskets in the records are noted as bright, or browned and polished.

The walnut stock has many scattered handling marks and has aged to a dark brown. These muskets had been in produced decades before they were altered to percussion and no mention of refinishing the stock. The stock appears to be solid with the one chip along the ramrod channel between the front and middle band. The buttstock has been scribed with a large A.T., probably a previous owner. The military style furniture were originally issued with an Armory bright polished finish. The steel surfaces have developed a dark brown patina. The buttplate is stamped U.S. and the stock has a C2 stamp ahead of the buttplate. The upper lock panel is stamped 49 and a snowflake has been scribed into the stock. The toe of the stock has a two letter inspection mark below the triggerguard that appears to SR. The side panel has the new oval cartouche mark from the conversion. The ramrod is a replacement and appears to be made from brass. The two front barrel bands have the same brown finish as the barrel.

The percussion lock has the high hump for the Maynard tape primer and the internals are still in place. The hammer reaches over the primer and is similar to the U.S. Model 1855 hammer. The lock plate has aged to a speckled brown patina. The lock plate is marked Remington's Illion NY 1857 U.S. across the tail. The lock is crisp with a secure half cock and full cock notch.

A antique New Jersey marked Frankford Arsenal rifled musket for your Civil War period longarm collection. Order it for a ten day visual inspection. You will be delighted. Else if it does not fit you, return it in unfired condition for same-day refund. Postage is your only risk, when you order any one-of-a-kind gun from Track, whether new, used, or antique.