Who makes the best 61 Springfield at this time...

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Who makes the best 61 Springfield at this time...

Then what would be the penalty, if there is one, for someone attaching Sam colt's signature to a rifle and then passing it off as a colt?

Whoever struck the deal obtained a license from whomever holds the "Sam Colt" or whatever the registered trademark is.

Actionable trademark violation.

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Who makes the best 61 Springfield at this time...

Having spent most of the day hacking on a repro 61 Springfield, I have to say the last good ones were made around 1863 or so. The musket is, I think, an Armi-sport , but i am no longer sure as I removed the stamping from the barrel.
The nose cap, band springs, trigger guard and lock are reasonable copies of the originals. At least, compared to the other parts.
The breech of the barrel is similar, but the tang is too straight. The barrel isn't tapered in a curve like a real one, but in a straight line from breech to muzzle, making it too heavy and much too thick in the middle. Because of this, of course the stock is too thick and the bands bigger than the originals. Bands are somewhat crudely stamped and welded together at the bottoms. A U is stamped on, but not where it SHOULD be, nor even aligned with the too-low springs, but rather close to the top of the stock. The stock is where things really fall short. I wonder if the maker has even ever actually seen a Springfield stock. The outline is nowhere near what a 61 Springfield should be. The outline from the tang starts out as too straight, then the "comb" looks more like it was copied off a toy nutcracker's musket stock. The belly of the stock is an awkward crooked line. Somebody at the factory had a grand time gnawing away on a sander, giving it the characteristic flat sided wrists, lumps, humps, improperly grinding the lock panels away, to within an eighth of an inch of the front lock screw. Too much wood behind the front band, as if it were an Enfield. Worst of all was the horrible buttplate - nothing is right on it at all, and little can be done to improve it. This totally mystifies me because the Italians can make the buttplate of the 73 Trapdoor...which is the same buttplate.
I think the Euroarms ones are not much different.
The Miroku ones I remember still needed some reshaping of the stock, but not nearly so much as what I have done to this musket I've been working on today.
Its always possible, as someone pointed out, to build one from a replica stock made on a duplicating lathe, with a custom replica barrel and a variety of parts, but the money begins to creep up on you.
I think the "best" at the moment is to find a Miroku kit and carefully finish the stock.
Someday the Italian makers might fire the guys who destroy the stocks with the sanders, or put new cutters in their duplicating lathes, or make new patterns for the duplicating lathes, or maybe - gasp - simply duplicate each and every part to interchange with an actual original musket. But until that happens were gonna be stuck trying to "fix" what they make.

Dave Stone

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Who makes the best 61 Springfield at this time...

Interesting story about those autographed by Sam Colt rifle muskets. I am finishing up an article on the Colt Special Model of 1861 autograph repros from "Colt Black Powder Firearms." They are still popping up here and there creating confusion as to what they are and are not. The column will run in a future CCG if I can ever get it done...that one is past due at the moment actually.

The best part about the Dixie Miroku US 1861 kits wasn't that they were so "spot on" to the original, it was that you could make the necessary accuracy modifications as you built it. That was much easier (to my thinking) than undoing something that is already done improperly and then making corrections...which is what I think you are finding out with your Armi Sport project.

If I was buying, or being forced to buy (which is what it would take) a reproduction currently made of the US 1861 rifle-musket...well I would not be happy with any of the options right now. Flip a coin. I would recommend building one from disassociated parts and a modern barrel. Least worst option. Those can turn out pretty well. Helluva lot easier than trying to "make a silk purse from a sow's ear." Some of the old James River Armory US 1861s are good, but being made mostly from modified Euroarms parts, they tend towards being too heavy as well.