Springfield Model 1847 | |
---|---|
Type | Musketoon |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
Used by | United States Confederate States |
Wars | American Indian Wars Mexican–American War American Civil War |
Production history | |
Designed | 1847 |
Manufacturer | Springfield Armory |
No. built | c. 10,000 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 7.4 lb (3.4 kg) |
Length | 41 in (1,000 mm) |
Barrel length | 26 in (660 mm) |
Cartridge | Paper cartridge, musket ball undersized (.65/16,510 mm) to reduce the effects of powder fouling |
Caliber | .69 in (17.526 mm) |
Action | Percussion lock |
Rate of fire | User dependent; usually 2 to 3 rounds every 1 minute |
Muzzle velocity | 1,000 ft/s (300 m/s) to 1,400 ft/s (430 m/s) |
Effective firing range | 50–150 yards |
Maximum firing range | 200 yards |
Feed system | Muzzle-loaded |
Sights | A front sight cast into the upper barrel band |
The Springfield Model 1847 was a percussion lock musketoon produced by the Springfield Armory in the mid-19th century.
Muskets were designed for a dual purpose on the battlefield. They could be used as a ranged weapon, and they could also be used as a pike for short range fighting. Because they were used in a manner similar to a pike, muskets had to be long and heavy, which made them impractical for other uses. Because of this, many muskets were produced in a shorter version, often called a carbine or a musketoon. These shorter weapons were often used by naval forces and cavalry.
The Model 1847 carbine was a shortened version of the Springfield Model 1842 standard infantry musket.
Three basic models were produced at Springfield between 1847 and 1859. The total production of all three models is estimated at 10,000 carbines.
The cavalry model was not highly regarded by those mounted troops to whom they were issued. Inspector General Joseph K. Mansfield conducted a tour of the Western outposts in 1853 and reported that the troops made many derogatory comments about their carbines. Dragoons told him that when the weapon was carried by a mounted trooper, the ball would simply roll out of the weapon's barrel. His report also stated that "There is no probable certainty of hitting the object aimed at, and the recoil is too great to be fired with ease." Mansfield concluded that the gun was essentially "a worthless arm," having "no advocates that I am aware of."
The Model 1847 musketoon's inadequacies were largely responsible for Steptoe's loss at the Battle of Pine Creek (along with other poor equipment selections). [1]
The Model 1847, like the Model 1842 musket that it was based on, had a .69 caliber barrel, and was fired using a percussion lock system. The barrel was much shorter, only 26 inches in length compared to the Model 1842's 42 inch barrel. The Model 1842 had been produced as a smoothbore musket, but many were later rifled. The Model 1847 carbines were also produced as a smoothbore weapon, and a small number of these also were later rifled.
Smoothbore carbines were not sighted. The carbines that were rifled were also fitted with sights.
Like the Model 1842 musket, the Model 1847 carbine used barrel bands to attach the barrel to the stock. The carbine, being much shorter, only required two barrel bands, instead of the three required for the longer Model 1842 musket.
The Model 1847 carbine featured a small lock and chain or metal bale for attaching the ramrod which was especially useful while reloading on horseback.
The total weight of the carbine was approximately 7.4 lbs, and its overall length was 41 inches.
The Model 1847 Musketoon was produced in three variants, called the Artillery, Cavalry, and Sappers (engineers) models.
The Charleville musket was a .69 caliber standard French infantry musket used in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was made in 1717 and was last produced during the 1840s. However, it still saw limited use in conflicts through the mid-19th century.
The Springfield Model 1861 was a Minié-type rifled musket used by the United States Army during the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as the "Springfield". It was the most widely used Union Army shoulder weapon during the Civil War, favored for its range, accuracy, and reliability.
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The term later included rifles that directly replaced, and were of the same design overall as, a particular model of smoothbore musket.
The musketoon is a shorter-barrelled version of the musket and served in the roles of a shotgun or carbine. Musketoons could be of the same caliber as the issue musket or of a much larger caliber, 1.0–2.5 inches (25–63 mm). The musketoon is most commonly associated with naval use, and pirates in particular, though they also served in a carbine role with cavalry. Musketoon barrels were often flared at the muzzle, resembling a cannon or blunderbuss.
The M1819 Hall rifle was a single-shot breech-loading rifle designed by John Hancock Hall, patented on May 21, 1811, and adopted by the U.S. Army in 1819. It was preceded by the Harpers Ferry M1803. It used a pivoting chamber breech design and was made with either flintlock or percussion cap ignition systems. The years of production were from the 1820s to the 1840s at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal. This was the first breech-loading rifle to be adopted in large numbers by any nation's army, but not the first breech-loading military rifle – the Ferguson rifle was used briefly by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War. The Hall rifle remained overshadowed by common muskets and muzzleloading rifles which were still prevalent until the Civil War. The early flintlocks were mostly converted to percussion ignition.
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The Springfield Model 1816 was a .69 caliber flintlock musket manufactured in the United States during the early 19th century.
The Springfield Model 1822 was a .69 caliber flintlock musket manufactured by the United States in the early 19th century.
The Springfield Model 1812 Musket is a .69 caliber, flintlock musket manufactured by the Springfield Armory.
The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle.
The Springfield Model 1868 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin.
The M1841 Mississippi rifle is a muzzle-loading percussion rifle used in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.
The Richmond rifle was a rifled musket produced by the Richmond Armory in Richmond, Virginia, for use by the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
Springfield musket may refer to any one of several types of small arms produced by the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the United States armed forces. In modern times, these muskets are commonly referred to by their date of design followed by the name Springfield. However, U.S. Ordnance Department documentation at the time did not use "Springfield" in the name.
The US Model 1842 Musket was a .69 caliber musket manufactured and used in the United States during the 19th century. It is a continuation of the Model 1816 line of muskets but is generally referred to as its own model number rather than just a variant of the Model 1816.
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The Potzdam musket was the standard infantry weapon of the Royal Prussian Army from the 18th century until the military reforms of the 1840s. Four models were produced—in 1723, 1740, 1809 and 1831.