The Springfield M1795 musket,In 1795 the United States was a new country independent from its former

The Springfield M1795 musket,In 1795 the United States was a new country independent from its former colonial masters.  During the Revolutionary War the colonists were dependent of captured British arms and arms imported from Europe, most notably France.  However, now that the united colonies had become the United States, it could no longer depend on foreign weapons, but had to start producing its own.To do this the first national armory was established at Springfield, Massachusetts in 1794. Later another federal armory would also be founded at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  The first military musket entirely produced by the United States was the Springfield Model 1795 produced at the Springfield Armory and in 1794 at Harper’s Ferry. The M1795 was pretty much a copy of the French Charleville Model 1763/66, of which the French had donated tens of thousands were donated to the Continental Army during the RevolutionaryWar. Since the US Army had a large amount of experience and familiarity with the musket, it was only natural that American designers would simply copy the model.  The M1795 had a 44 inch long stock and 56 inch long barrel with an over length of 60 inches, weighing in at ten pounds. This was the same dimensions as Charleville, and it also shared it’s caliber of .69 inches. Later, a improved model called the M1795 Springfield Type II was produced with feature a barrel that was shortened by two inches.Unfortunately the M1795 had its problems, it was difficult to produce and did not use fully interchangeable parts. While the muskets produced by the Springfield and Harpers Ferry Armories would be interchangeable, the US Govt. contracted many private gunsmiths to produce replacement parts which could were not. Production would end in 1818, but before hand Springfield Armory introduced the M1812 and M1816, which were improvements of the M1795.  Despite its flaws the M1795 was a good rugged design that served the US well.  It would mainly serve in the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars, and the Mexican American War.  In the 1830’s and 40′s many were converted from flintlock to percussionlock, to keep up with the technological advances of the day.  Believe it or not, many were used by the Confederacy during the Civil War, some never having been converted to percussion.  It must have been an incredible bummer to be issued a flintlock smoothbore musket when your enemies were using accurate percussion rifled muskets.After the Civil War, many were still considered to be serviceable, however they were retired due to being greatly obsolete.  Around 150,000 were produced, with 80,000 produced by the Springfield Armor and 70,000 at Harpers Ferry. -- source link

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