This is a Barnett contract Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musket from the Civil War period. The weapon measures 55" overall and a barrel length of 39". The bore is dark and heavily rusted and shows no rifling. The bore gauges out to .66 caliber, which is the shotgun equivalent of a 16 gauge barrel. The exterior of the barrel is a dark plum patina, almost black. The breech and bolster area of the barrel show considerable pitting and pin pricking, an indication this one saw quite a bit of use. The front sight is the normal pinched sight found on Enfields, while the original rear sight is missing, and has been for quite some time. The barrel proofs are the Birmingham proof marks of Birmingham Provisional Proof/24/Birmingham Proof Mark/24/Birmingham Proof House. The original ram rod has been replaced by an iron one that looks to be blacksmith made. There is one iron ramrod thimble forged onto the bottom of the barrel. The lockplate has a matching dark patina. Forward of the hammer it is stamped BARNETT/LONDON with nothing stamped behind the hammer. The mechanics have a problem, as the hammer will not hold in the full cock position only. Yet another sign that this rifle saw a lot of the "elephant". The stock has been cut down, so there is only the rear barrel band present. The barrel band also matches the overall dark coloring of the other iron components. The brass nose cap is missing, however, the butt plate is still with the gun. The brass trigger guard and butt plate both have a dark mustard patina to them. The stock has a dark, almost black patina to it as well. It has been cut down to just in front of the rear barrel band, measuring just 28 1/4" in length. There are no age cracks in the wood anywhere, but some wood loss. The inlet for the lock is missing the lip all along the bottom of the lock. There is some loss along the bottom of the stock comb, and all around the butt plate. And here's where the gun gets real interesting. Carved into the right stock comb is a branch with six leaves on it. On the left side of the stock on the flat is another design commonly associated with Native American use, a partial sun burst. The guy I got this from had no history on it, so here's my opinion of this gun. I believe this was a Civil War era Barnett that was probably used by a Confederate soldier, who after the war, moved out west to find a new start. The old war gun was converted to shotgun use, and was either traded to, or captured by some native American tribe. That's my educated guess anyway, since I picked this one up out in Arizona.

Item # AA2448