Original Item: Only One Available. The Nepalese cache purchase of 2003 is truly the gift that keeps on giving, even after almost 20 years! This is a very nice Victorian Era British short musket, just discovered and restored. Known as the East India Company "Model C" Percussion Musket, this was an earlier prototype of what LOVELL copied as the British Army P-1842 musket after the great fire at the Tower of London in 1841.

This example however is fitted with a .75" smoothbore barrel that is only 30 1/2 inches long, intended for Artillerymen and Elite troops. It is not clear whether it was originally made in this configuration, or whether it was shortened after damage to the muzzle or something similar. The end of the barrel is flush with the nose cap, which does have a cutout for a bayonet catch, so we suspect the latter.

The quality of the "Rampant Lion" on the lock indicates that this is definitely a British Manufactured example. We checked the inside of the lock plate, and it has the initials CW stamped onto it, and there are assembly numbers and proofs as well. The breech end of the barrel bears the correct Gunmaker's Company of London Proof House markings for the period: CROWN / V "Viewed" and CROWN / GP "Definitive Gunmakers Proof". We checked the cleaning rod channel, and it is marked with assembly number VIII, so it is definitely a British made stock.

The condition is very good, with a lovely dark brown stock without any structural damage we can see, and a lovely grain pattern. The musket still has both sling swivels, though the trigger guard swivel was moved to the butt stock when the musket was shortened. We checked the lock, and it still functions correctly, holding at half cock and firing at full. The original ramrod is still present, shortened to match the new barrel length.

A great Nepalese cache find, ready to research and display!

Specifications-

Year of Manufacture: circa 1835
Caliber: .75"
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 30 1/2 Inches
Overall Length: 46 1/4 Inches
Action type: Side Action Percussion Lock
Feed System: Muzzle Loading

More on the EIC Model C Percussion Musket:

Official records tell us that the British East India Company procured or made no Flintlock Muskets after the late 1820s and it appears they were very swift to take advantage of the newest in firearms technology- the percussion ignition system. In 1840 the HEIC began producing the world's very first massed produced percussion muskets one of which later became known as the EIC Model "C".

A brief history of how this model came to being- The shortened 39" barrel Brown Bess musket was first developed and adopted by the EIC in 1771. This was a full 25 years before the Board of Ordnance in London followed suit with a 39" Brown Bess Musket dubbed the "India Pattern" in 1796. This is a testament that private enterprise has seemingly always got things done long before government bureaucrats. In 1839 the British Government officially adopted a converted to percussion Brown Bess musket (P-1796/39) but in the Great Fire of the Tower of London of 1841 over 400,000 of these converted Muskets were destroyed leaving the British Government very short handed. The result, once again, was to copy the current EIC Percussion Musket, the Model "F" and designate it the "Lovell's Pattern of 1842". By that time, the EIC had already developed and refined the .75 bore Percussion musket through six models- A to F.

Models A and B were EIC flintlock muskets converted to percussion. However, the Model F was purpose built percussion issue. This Pattern dispensed with the screw on breech (needed because of the unreliability of the brazed on nipple lumps) as improved technology now permitted the welding of the nipple lump directly to the side of the breech. The nipple lump changes shape to fit what was then called the "new style lock". The lock was of the new percussion type with the mainspring no longer screwed in at its small end but secured under a lip inside the lock plate. The trigger is hung in a box, part of the trigger plate, instead of on a pin in the wood, and the side plate disappeared in favor of the later side nail cups with new Pattern F bayonet catch. These were built or "set up" between 1845 and 1851.

The differences between the various EIC Models are generally minor; Model A and B were Brown Bess flintlock conversions, Model C and D were purpose built percussion muskets but had the "Old Series" side locks with differing trigger guard styles, while the Model E and F both had the "new series" side locks and had either the Hanoverian Catch on the Model E or the EIC bayonet catch on the Model F.

Please See David Harding's stellar work "Smallarms of the East India Company 1600-1856" published in four volumes by Foresight Books in 1997. Specifically, please see Volume 2, pages 97-124 for a mass of information concerning the vary EIC Model muskets.

NOTE: International orders of antique firearms MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services (courier). USPS Priority Mail international will not accept these. International customers should always consult their country's antique gun laws prior to ordering.