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This is a fine, untouched, and unaltered example of a U.S. Model 1841 "Mississippi Rifle". The M1841 was the first general issue percussion long arm to be adopted by the U.S. Military. The rifle was officially adopted by the Ordnance Department in 1841, and production began in 1843. As had always been the tradition since the inception of the U.S. Military, the Military rifle of the early to mid-19th century was a special-purpose arm, intended for limited issue and use. The rifle was not designed to accept a bayonet, as the tactics of the time called for riflemen to be deployed as skirmishers or to take long-range shots at specific targets of opportunity (such as officers, artillery crews, etc.) and then retreat behind the main infantry battle line prior to an assault. The riflemen would then harass the enemy from the flanks. The US Model 1841 Rifle earned the nickname “Mississippi Rifle” in the hands of the 1st Mississippi Rifles during the Mexican War. The regiment was led by future US Secretary of War, and later Confederate States President, Colonel Jefferson Davis of Mississippi. The riflemen under his command turned in excellent performances at the battles of Monterrey (September 1846) and Buena Vista (February 1847), and from that time on, the gun was known as the “Mississippi Rifle”.
This rifle is as produced, with a 33”, .54 caliber barrel that was rifled with 7 deep grooves with a moderate rate of twist at 1:72”. It was designed to fire a patched round ball of .535” diameter. It had an overall length of 48” and weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces. The rifles were produced with a lacquer brown finished barrel, a color case-hardened lock and hammer, brass furniture, and screws that were fire blued during the heat drawing process. The furniture was of polished brass, with a large brass patchbox on the right side of the buttstock for the storage of lubricated patches and tools. The simple fixed notch rear sight was optimized for a point of aim, point of impact of 50 yards, but proved to be effective out to 300 to 400 yards, with a number of period accounts referring to the successful use of the rifles at those distances, especially against Indians in the west. With the adoption of the Minié for the rifle in 1855, a variety of experimental alterations were tried in an attempt to find a more effective rear sight design. At the same time, many of the rifles were additionally altered to accept bayonets, mostly of the saber variety. As the decade of the 1850s ended, and the new .58 Minié type ammunition became the standard for use by the U.S. Military; many of the Model 1841 rifles in store at the various national and state arsenals were altered to the new caliber and were also re-rifled. At this time, even more of the guns were altered to accept bayonets, with some of the alterations being adaptations to use socket bayonets. At Harpers Ferry alone, some 9,800 Model 1841 rifles were altered for use with the Minié of either .54 or .58 caliber. Someone has added a bayonet ring to the rifle. It is just the Colt-type, held together with a screw. There are no alterations to the rifle whatsoever, and the ring can be removed easily.
In the months leading up to the Civil War, Secretary of War John B Floyd ordered that 10,000 .54 caliber Model 1841 Rifles be delivered to the southern arsenals at Fayetteville, NC, Charleston, SC, Augusta, GA, Mount Vernon, AL, and Baton Rouge, LA, with each location receiving 2,000 of the rifles. Floyd was an ardent supporter of the South and wanted to help make sure that arms would be available for the coming conflict, which he felt was inevitable. As the Civil War began, even more Model 1841 rifles were altered to .58 caliber in both the North and South, further reducing the number of rifles remaining in their original .54 configuration.
During the production of the US Model 1841 Rifle from 1843 to 1855, some 91,796 were manufactured. Of those, the National Armory at Harpers Ferry produced 25,296 of the rifles (roughly 28%), and the balance of the 66,500 guns was produced by contractors for the US government. Eli Whitney Jr. produced 26,500 (about 29% of total production), Robbins & Lawrence produced 15,000 (16%), E. Remington & Sons produced 10,000 (11%), Robbins, Kendall & Lawrence also produced 10,000 (11%), and Tryon produced only 5,000 (about 5%). Due to the large number of arms that were altered and adapted to the new caliber and to accept bayonets from the mid-1850s through the Civil War, unaltered M1841 rifles are difficult to find on the collector market today. Additionally, due to the heavy use and the fact that nearly every one of these rifles was used during the American Civil War, high-condition examples are extremely scarce today. 
This particular US Model 1841 Rifle is in about FINE and untouched condition. The rifle was produced by the Whitney Arms Company of New Haven, CT. The rifle is marked on the lock in two horizontal lines, forward of the hammer: 
E. WHITNEY
US
and in two vertical lines behind the hammer: 
N HAVEN
1851
The lock markings are stronger than those encountered on many Whitney rifles, which tend to have weakly stamped locks. The lock retains some traces of its original color case hardened finish, which has faded to a dusky gray color with some lightly scattered mottled patches of the darker gray hinting at the original case colors, as well as some scattered surface oxidation. The lock is crisp, fully functional, and mechanically excellent. The barrel tang is crisply marked with the matching date 1851. The barrel is marked at the breech with the US proof and inspector marks: US/S.K/V  P. The left flat of the breech is deeply stamped STEEL and is marked with the sub-inspector's initial B. The barrel retains quite a bit of its original finish. The bore and rifling are in amazing condition with just a touch of very light pitting. condition. A pair of inspector’s cartouches is present on the stock flat, opposite the lock. The forward cartouche appears to be a script SK, for Armory Sub Inspector Samuel Knous. It is Knous’ “K” present on the barrel flat. The rear cartouche is a script WAT in an oval, the mark for U.S. Ordnance Department Captain William Anderson Thornton.
The brass buttplate is marked on the top with a small US to the rear of the buttplate screw. The correct, original production brass-tipped ramrod is in place in the channel under the barrel. The rod is full length and retains excellent threads on the end. The stock is in very good condition with a couple of small slivers missing on the left, top, center, and miscellaneous. handling marks. I amazing condition for 174 years old!
Overall, this is very nice example of the always desirable and extremely attractive U.S. M1841 Mississippi Rifle, as produced on contract by Eli Whitney, Jr. It is interesting to note that Whitney lamented that due to the low price paid by the government for the guns, and the huge expenses he incurred in the set up and tooling for production of the rifles, that he had spent “thirteen of his best years” in the production of the M1841 and “never really made a profit”. Of course, Whitney subsequently put the tooling and machinery to good use during the American Civil War, producing thousands of first-class arms for the US government and thousands more of his very profitable “Good & Serviceable” arms for state and militia contracts. While Whitney produced the largest number of “Mississippi Rifles”, their guns also had the highest incidence of modification and alteration in the years just prior to, and right after, the beginning of the American Civil War. As such, unaltered examples are very scarce, especially in this outstanding level of preservation. For any collector of 19th-century American martial long arms, the U.S. Model 1841 Mississippi Rifle is an essential part of the collection. They were the first official US military percussion long arms and earned a reputation for reliability and accuracy during the Mexican War. The guns saw even more service during the Civil War, and fought on both sides. This is a really fantastic rifle in untouched condition that is absolutely original. It would make any collector proud to own it. THIS RIFLE IS AN ANTIQUE AND CAN BE SHIPPED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR, WHERE LEGAL. I WILL REQUIRE PROOF THAT YOU ARE OF AGE TO OWN IT.

$2,750.00 plus actual USPS Priority Mail or Ground Advantage shipping, or 6% VT sales tax, collected for VT in-state purchases ONLY.  I do not charge over my cost to ship. Email me at [email protected] or call Shawn at 802-316-1020. I take Personal checks, Bank checks, and Business checks (with MY bank’s clear time). No credit cards on this one. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE! FEEL FREE TO GOOGLE MY NAME, SHAWN HOAGUE/ DOGFACE SUPPLY, LLC. ALL EXCELLENT REVIEWS.