modified civilian weapons

[NC5thCav]

This question is probablly for you Curt. A while back in an antique gun store that sells quite a few CW firearms I saw a civilian rifle that was supposedly modified and used by Confederate forces during the early part of the war. The rifle's stock had been cut back from the muzzle, and the octogonal barrel was lathe-turned round for about the last five inches or so and fitted with a socket bayonet lug. The rifle was in excellent shape and supposedly had documentation. The price was $2,500. My question is how common were these weapons and how late in the war were they used? Also, are there any key things I should look for to tell if they are genuin or not, such as arsenal markings?

[Yellowhammer]

Re: modified civilian weapons

Derek,

Without seeing it, it would be difficult to say. I've seen civilian arms that were modified as you described. However, I've seen too many fakes and forgeries in my day to accept something at face value. It would be easy enough for a skilled individual to convert a comparitively inexpensive 19th century civilian arm into a "bonafide Confederate rifle" using the right tricks.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: modified civilian weapons

Hallo Kamerad!

John covered this well.

I would just add:

"My question is how common were these weapons and how late in the war were they used?"

IMHO, this was a very early CS practice when serviceable longrams were obviously in high demand, sources and supply low, and the "tri-part" system of CS made, foreign imports, and US "pick-ups" had not evolved full-force yet.
At the risk of over-generalizing, as with military flintlocks, IMHO, this "class" of arms served for a spell only until replaced by "higher evolved" ( ;-) ) military guns through 1861 and 1862. (Without, perhaps, getting into local defense groups and home guard areas, etc.)

"Real or not?" No real way to tell without "gun in hand." And then not even 100% (as when it comes to competent modern gunsmiths and gunmakers and competent frauds and cheats- sometimes the difference between "legit" and "fake" lies only in intent...)

It does not take much to change a $500 or less pre-CW deer rifle into a $2500 or more "Confederate" piece.

Always be cautioned, and careful...

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt