WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

[buckandball]

I will scour the search function, but given my quest for a Miroku '61 is coming up empty and I won't find one until I drop the money on another piece, I may as well get on with it....

Had a Euroarms 1861 years ago. I understand the lock was the correct profile, but it had a weird nickel plated buttplate and of course, was heavier with the beefier barrel profile.
All I read about are that ArmiSports are hit and miss on quality.
Both of these have a dubious stock profile at the tang that needs to be reduced, along with some other profile issues.

I see Pedersoli now offers 1861s for a sum. What's the verdict on those?

I'm on one of those pyric quests to acquire or build a proper profile and (hopefully) weight 1861 Springfield.

Any and all meaningful information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Ben

[mike44thva]

Re: WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

Mods, if my personal experience violates, I apologize in advance.

As someone who owned a M1861 Armisport that was defarbed, and currently owns a M1855 (originally Miroku Japan made M1861), weight will never be correct. My AS M1861 was lighter than my M1855. However, my M1863 is mostly original with a Hoyt barrel on a Dunlap stock, and weights 1/10 of a pound less than an original in a private collection. Every Euroarms I ever held was heavier. If I were without a musket (I have 5, so I'm not) and wanted to get an M1861, I would first seek the advice of the person who does the defarb. In my own experience, my recommendation would be David at Lodgewood.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

The Pedersoli US 1861 is the old Euroarms hardware with a slightly better barrel in terms of its overall dimensions and weight with an American walnut stock so it is also slightly lighter overall. The EoA tipped the scales at over 10 lbs which was quite a bit heavier than the originals were (8.75 lbs). If you are going NIB (new in box) that is your current "best choice" in terms of the currently available reproductions. The Armi Sport has so many mistakes and flaws it is virtually impossible to make into anything remotely similar to the US model rifle musket which was in such wide use during the US Civil War.

Rebuilding a US 1861 from disassociated original parts (which is not hard because they are largely interchangeable) and a few reproduction parts ala John Wickett is time consuming and expensive but ultimately results in the best overall US 1861 in terms of historical feature accuracy. You can also customize your effort with the various contractor lock plates. That's the best way to go in my opinion.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

Hallo!

"I'm on one of those pyric quests to acquire or build a proper profile and (hopefully) weight 1861 Springfield."

As shared, the answer is to have a "custom-built" made using either minty original parts or the far less expensive option of using what I call 'reproduction original" parts that are the "specs as originals and are drop-in interchangeable with originals.
I have been talking about "custom-builts" for decades but they have never caught on even among the Hardcore/Authentic community except in extremely minuscule numbers. By and large, they are in the realm of N-SSA competitors, where they are built, inspected by the SAC, and held to tight standards.

Failing that, the Pedersoli reworked in part (no pun intended) Euroarms (but with a more N-SSA competition barrel to appeal to that community/hobby/sport) new offering is the only mass produced commercially available option. With its new price tag, IMHO, the custom option is not as outrageous as it once seemed (especially if one is not doing a "golf bag" worth of multiple Italian repro guns).

Used custom-builts often appear in the N-SSA web site WTS ads, as well as pop up on the "sutler/vendor' tables and booths at Ft.Shenandoah, Va for less than new run-of-the-mill Italian repro's. But, they NUG require that the front sight and sometimes the rear sight leaves be restored to military configuration.

Curt
Non Pyrrhus Mess

[KPavia]

Re: WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

Just to support what Mr. Barry said-

I handled a Pedersoli M1861 at my local Cabela's and it didn't seem that different from my Euroarms 1861 (which is a Todd Watts defarb) but it did feel a taaaaaad lighter and it did have the cartouches in the stock which looked pretty nice.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: WTK: Best current option for 1861 Springfield defarb

Hallo!

By degree, and of course within the "ranges' of Italian Quality Control.... by and large what one paid for or got from Pedersoli was a Euroarms M1861 with a better fit, finish, and function.
Whether that is, was, worth the bump-up in price can be a larger conversation. IMHO still, just as whether or not a "better" barrel more suited to N-SSA competition is "worth it" to one who is just a Reenactor and not a Skirmisher. Or the added expense of time or money to have the modern spurious Italian stampings removed from the barrel.

Curt