"Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

[OldState]

While searching the O.R. I came across these terms being used in several ordinance reports but I do not understand the definition of "Improved Musket". My first guess would have been that they were referring to converted flintlocks if they were not listed separately in the same document. I can't seem to find a definition on the internet or this broad.

Any help would be appreciated.

[dirtyshirt]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

Denis,
I am no expert, but it could simply mean converted (flint lock to percussion) or it could mean a smooth bore that has been rifled, or a smooth bore with a site attached in the rear, or a combination of both. Additionally, it could refer to the new models of rifled muskets (Enfields, Lorenz's, Springfields) that were an "improvement" from the old non rifled issue. I am sure some member of the AC can give you a more concrete answer, but this is my guess to help find What you're looking for.

[OldState]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

The term is used as a separate classification than Altered Musket which would be flint conversions. Your suggestion of rifled smooth-bores is what I thought it may mean. There just seemed to be too many of them in this report.

Here is what I was looking at. This is a CS report:

RETURN OF SMALL-ARMS, AMMUNITION, &c., COLLECTED ON The BATTLE-FIELD BEFORE FREDERICKSBURG, IN THE ENGAGEMENTS OF DECEMBER 12 AND 13, 1862.

Small-arms:

Springfield rifles 250
Improved muskets 3,148
Altered muskets 1,136
Austrian rifles 772
Belgian rifles 312
Belgian muskets 78
Springfield muskets 42
Mississippi rifles 478
Flint-lock muskets 13
Enfield rifles, caliber .69 26
Enfield rifles, caliber .57 59
Damaged guns 1,406

[Archie R. Lib]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

Denis:

Does this collection post-Fredericksburg include Confederate small arms that may have been present on the field? I can't help but notice there are 13 flints included in the total. This was late 1862, so the low number of Confederate flints (if they are Confederate) on the field would seem to correlate with the casualty ratio in the battle. I wasn't aware of any Federal units that would have been equipped with flints at this time. Just curious.

[David Fox]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

This policing-up of flintlock muskets from the Fredericksburg battlefield has left better men than myself to opine some Federals were so armed in December, 1862. I would wager the farm that it is merely evidence of thirteen Southrons crawling out onto the field by night and making an informal swap.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

IMPROVED MUSKETS in this context meant percussion locks, either converted or manufactured that way.
For example, speaking of John Floyd antebellum "...he had, by a single order, effected the transfer of 115000
improved muskets and rifles from the Springfield Armory."

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

This is Virginia's spouse posting.

To introduce another question, there are two types of Springfield firearms, i.e., a rifle and a musket. So is a "musket" a smoothbore? If so, that might be a clue to the original characteristics of the firearms since the listing contains several mentions of either muskets or rifles. Since both the "improved" and "altered" firearms are both termed muskets, they may have originally been smoothbores. But any distinction between the characteristics of improved vs altered would just be a guess.

Michael Mescher

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

Hallo!

Exact terminology, typology, and word usage during the CW varies wildly. Even official documents from Ordnance officers who "should know better" reveal loose us of words. Not to mention, under educated, and even educated men and officers.
A "musket" tends to be a musket because it is a muzzleloader.
A "rifle" tends to be a rifle because it is shorter and/or NUG with a heavier barrel than a "rifle-musket." Yet, obvious RM's can be found written as "rifles," and R's can be found written as "muskets." And both are described as "guns."

"Technically," one can find "Springfield" muskets, rifled-muskets, rifled-and-sighted muskets, rifle-muskets, musketoons, and carbines. (And even what Moderns call "artillery rifles."

CHS

[Craig L Barry]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

It was probably a broad categorization meaning any semi-modern military arm not a flintlock, but who knows? Could depend on what the
person writing it meant in a certain context. I have always interpreted it to mean a percussion rifle or musket, as opposed to something else.
Or in the case of imports, the terms for Enfield may include "rifle" (meaning short--P56/58/60 or long--P53), Sgts rifle (short), "musket",
"rifle musket", Tower musket, English arms, small arms or if a part of a shipping manifest from a blockade runner, "crates of hardware."
We like to impose distinctions today that did not exist at the time. In a recent discussion with my extremely knowledgeable comrade,
C Lon Webster III (Entrepot), he said Charleston manifests were particularly vague as there were no Payne docs to cross reference.

The best course of action with such matters is to lie down with a cold compress on your forehead until you can think about something else.

[Marine Mike]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

The definitions of weapons sometimes remind one of the line "The law is what the judges says it is".
Fusil de Chasse, Fowling pieces and Shotguns are supposed to be of the same but some of these smoothbores have barrels as long as 44 inches and bores between 28 guage and 8 guage.
Arqebusses and muskets are smoothbore and at least vary from .50 cal through .75 and again barrels lengths similar to the above.
Then some muskets were retro rifiled (i.e. '42 Springfield, rifled) so may be known as musket-rifled which is different from the ones that have shallow rifling at manufacture and known as rifled musket (i.e. '53 Enfield, '55, '61, '63 Springfield.) to take advantage of the expanding ball. A convenience of relatively rapid reload with greater range and accuracy then the musket (smoothbore).
Rifles usually have deep rifling and shoot non-expanding ball.
I just call it what ever I'm advised is the most common known name of the piece is as I'm otherwise bound to get it wrong.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

Hallo!

Just some minor housekeeping..... ;) :)

"Then some muskets were retro rifiled (i.e. '42 Springfield, rifled) so may be known as musket-rifled which is different from the ones that have shallow rifling at manufacture and known as rifled musket (i.e. '53 Enfield, '55, '61, '63 Springfield.) to take advantage of the expanding ball. A convenience of relatively rapid reload with greater range and accuracy then the musket (smoothbore)."

Rifle-muskets were made that way. Rifled-muskets were smoothbores that were later given shallow rifling to convert them from .69 roundball to the new (1855) .69 Elongated Ball (aka Minie).

"Rifles usually have deep rifling and shoot non-expanding ball."

That would be true for the original say M1841 Rifle. But the M1855 Rifle was designed to use the new .58 "Minie." And in the mid 1850's a number of .54 M1841's were adopted to shoot .54 Minies or rebored to handle .58 Minies.

Curt

[OldState]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

I am on the road and away from my books, but I just had a thought. I believe I read that some M1816/22 muskets had their barrels shortened at the factories for various reasons. Could this be what they meant by "altered muskets" - shorted converted 1816's?

[James Brenner]

Re: "Improved" vs "Altered" Muskets

FWIW, here's how I rationalize the differences. Whether it's accurate or not remains to be seen, but, so far, it's worked for me. An altered musket is anything that has been changed from when it was originally issued. That means it could be converted, rifled, rifled and sighted, and/or all of the above. This covers the 1816/22s and rifled 1842s. An improved musket is a - well, improvement - on the original percussion pattern. In this case, the M1842 is the original pattern and and the M1855 differs from the smoothbore 1842 because of its smaller caliber and uses a tape primer; hence it's an improvement. The M1855 is what I think of when I see "Springfield" on a return like the one cited. The improved muskets are the M1861s that eliminated the tape primer; resulting in a better and more reliable firearm. I also think (but can't prove) that the regular army Ordnance officers knew exactly what type of weapon was referred to in the returns beacause the instructions issued to the various ordnance officers in the field and at arsenals were extremely specific; to the point of being anal. I find it odd that this would be any different. That's just a supposition, though. If true, I also kinda doubt that a volunteer ordnance officer would be able to come up with his own non-standard descriptions on an inventory list for very long. My two cents ...