Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

[Blair]

Re: Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

Fayetteville fallows the same basic evolution as does Richmond. 1 use up Harpers Ferry made and finished parts. 2 use up the parts that were unfinished. 3 make new parts using the captured tooling from Harpers Ferry as the tooling is set up.
First production Fayetteville lock plate is a High Hump lock forged in Harpers Ferry tooling.
Second production Fayetteville lock plate is the Low Hump lock forged from modified Harpers Ferry tooling.
Third production Fayetteville lock plate is again a modification of the Harpers Ferry lock forging tooling. The tooling for forging the Harpers Ferry hammers was damaged during production. As a result of this you have the introduction of the Fayetteville "inverted S" hammer. This hammer design can not be used on a lock plate with a Hump on the back. The lock plate design, therefore, has to be changed. The first of these locks and the "inverted S" hammers may be found with dates as early as 1862. And will become the standard for all Fayetteville Rifles manufactured thereafter.
Richmond will be transitioning during this same time period form the High Hump, CS marked locks to the Low Hump locks.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

Hallo!

"I wonder if all the locks were hardened and then the colors polished off - the main purpose being to harden the lock plate to resist wear."

Yes. However, they were water quenched "colored," which produced a different range of color and patterns than the cyandide coloring method the Italians now do.
The Period color was essentially a "side-effect" of the process of desiring to harden the metal.
It is interesting that the thinking changed with the M1863/M1864 where the hammer and lockplate were, as they left the factory, left in their colored version.

One does find parts on original Springfield and Harpers Ferry that were "supposed" to be struck bright that were left in their "colored" version such as heat blued and qunched parts like screws and barrel band springs. And, one I struggle with udnerstanding, the rear sight base and leaves either left quenched "blackened" or made bright.

Fayetteville is interesting, as they seem to have jumped from the surplus HF "humped" lockplate directly to the low-profile M1861-look without going to a cut-down phase as Richmond had done.

I also find it interesting that browned barrels were considered inferior to struck-bright ones. Browning and bluing/blacking was a centuries old technique for preserving armor from rust. Ideally, browning is a controlled rust- allowing the iron/steel to "rust only so far" and then be rust "resistant." Compared to bare metal, it seem slike a giant step backwards.
I suspect it may have been due to the method, so-called "lacquer browning" rather than acid or "sweat box" type browning- but without getting out the manuals to check on the "lacquer brown" formula it escapes me at the moment?


Curt

Curt

[GPM]

Re: Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

"Fayetteville is interesting, as they seem to have jumped from the surplus HF "humped" lockplate directly to the low-profile M1861-look without going to a cut-down phase as Richmond had done."

Fayetteville did use a low or medium hump plate prior to the 61 style plate. These are more numerous than the high hump used early on though still quiet rare.

[GPM]

Re: Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

http://www.damonmills.com/images/PS%2020/fayetteville_tii.htm

[gsusat]

Re: Awesome Harpers Ferry M1855 dated 1861 rifle

Fayetteville rifles were produced with both High hump and low hump locks, before they went to the humpless (?) lock. From Davies Book on the Richmond Armory the humped (?) lock were produced by Richmond and sent to Fayetteville. He mentions a letter from Burton who talked of the one set of lock making machinery at Harper's Ferry for the 1855 lock. That set of machines produced the locks for both the rifles and rifle- muskets. So therefore when the rifle machinery was split off - the lock machinery stayed in Richmond. That then leads to the question of where the machinery and design for the new lock for Fayetteville came from. It could have come from Harper's Ferry or fabricated at Fayetteville. Remember most of the workmen were relocated with the machines so until the raw materials became scarce the talent was there in Richmond and Fayetteville. Perhaps that information will show up.

In 1862 the barrel rolling machinery was removed from HF and located in Richmond. Richmond produced (rolled) barrels for other facilities. Then later in the war Burton sent the rifle musket stock machinery to Macon Georgia. It is interesting to speculate what their production would have been with a full workforce and materials....

George Susat
Confederate Guard