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Old January 10, 2013, 09:04 PM   #15
highpower3006
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Join Date: July 30, 2011
Location: Savannah TN
Posts: 1,217
The 1842 Musket could have had Civil War usage. They were typically issued to militia units early in the war and some weren't phased out completely until near the end. I had one at one time that had a soldiers initials and unit carved into stock.

The standard load for them was a "buck and ball" load consisting of a musket ball and three buckshot on top of it. Being a smoothbore it wasn't worth a darn at any kind of range beyond 50 yards, but up close they were devastating.

The 1816 may have also been used in the war as a secondary arm, but I too, think the bolster looks a little off. While the US army did convert some of the earlier obsolete smoothbore muskets into foraging shotguns for troops to use on the frontier, I would bet money it was done after it left government service as the workmanship is just too crude.
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