Original item: One Only. The US Model 1842 Musket was a .69 caliber musket manufactured and used in the United States during the 19th Century. It was a continuation of the Model 1816 line of muskets but is generally referred to by its own model number rather than just a variant of the Model 1816. All of these muskets were 58 inches long, with a barrel around 42 inches in length.

The Model 1842 was the last U.S. smoothbore musket produced. Many features that had been retrofitted into the Model 1840 were standard on the Model 1842. The Model 1842 was the first U.S. musket to be produced with a percussion lock, though most of the Model 1840 flintlocks ended up being converted to percussion locks before reaching the field. The percussion cap system was vastly superior to the flintlock, being much more reliable and much more resistant to weather.

The Models 1840 & 1842 were made with thicker barrel walls, with the intention that they could be rifled later, however this example is still in the original smoothbore configuration, however it is about 9 inches shorter than it should be, so it looks to be an "artillery short musket". The spacing of the nose cap and barrel band, as well as the absence of any past band spring inlets, seems to indicate that it was made this way originally. It even has a trigger guard mounted to the nose cap. It looks to have seen a good amount of use, as the barrel now measures out to about 0.71".

The musket was been fully cleaned and restored at some point, and now looks much as it did when it was originally made, with a bright finish on the steel and a lovely oiled finish on the stock wood. The lock plate is marked with the correct American "Federal Eagle" / U.S. under of the hammer, and was produced at the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield itself, as indicated on the lock plate tail:

SPRING
FIELD
1855

Many of these muskets were produced under contract, however this example was made at one of the Federal armories. The rifle side plate is thin and not bulged, as typical of the Model 1842 Musket. Previous iterations had had a more pronounced side plate with a bulge in the middle. The musket looks to have seen a good amount of firing while in service, and then later the powder burn was cleaned away from the breech and cap bolster areas, resulting in the marking being cleaned away. We can also see that the wood behind the bolster was eroded and cleaned away. The cap nipple cone looks to have been replaced at some point with an arsenal spare, and is in great shape.

With all iron mounts this musket is in very nice condition, retaining the sling swivels on both the trigger guard and nose cap. It also the correct ramrod under the barrel, which was shortened for use with this short musket, but still has threads at the end. The lock still functions correctly, holding correctly at half cock and firing at full. We checked the bore, and it is still smoothbore, and was not rifled later, as many were, though it does not look to have been cleaned properly after the last use, and shows overall fouling and oxidation, as well as a good amount of wear.

The walnut stock has a lovely dark red brown color, having been cleaned to bring out the grain. There are some past repairs on the butt stock area, and we can see that a good amount of wood was probably removed during cleaning and restoration in the past. We can still see traces of an original cartouche on the left side to the rear of the side plate.

A very interesting example of the last smoothbore percussion musket that the United States fielded, in a very nice "short musket" configuration. Ready to research and display!

Specifications (Musket):-

Year of Manufacture: 1855
Caliber: .69" - worn out to 0.71"
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 33 1/4 Inches
Overall Length: 48 3/4 Inches
Action type: Side Action Percussion Lock
Feed System: Muzzle Loading 

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