The Springfield Model 1842,The Springfield Model 1842 percussion musket had a lot of firsts for the

The Springfield Model 1842,The Springfield Model 1842 percussion musket had a lot of firsts for the US military.  It was the first American percussion lock military arm, and it was the first US military arm to completely utilize interchangeable machine made parts. However, while the Model 1842 was also a notable last in American arms history, being the last smoothbore musket produced in the United States and the last .69 caliber musket in the US. With an overall length of 58 inches and a weight of ten pounds, the Springfield Model 1848 was produced to bring the US Army into the age of the percussion lock. It was primarily used in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. Later it was common with both the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War. While the M1842 was a leap in technology for American military arms, it was also notable for being the last of an old technology going back to the 16th century; the smoothbore military arm. Until the invention of the conical minie ball, most military firearms were smoothbore. Rifled arms were difficult to produce, and slow to fire due to it being difficult to load. For a bullet to be accurate it must tightly fit into the bore in order to make contact with the rifling, typically done with a tight fitting patch. This meant that the user would have to cram the ball against the rifling in order to load. For the common infantryman in combat, it was much simpler to just use a smoothbore with an under caliber ball, regardless of the decreased accuracy and range. Rifles were relegated to specialized troops such as sharpshooters, skirmishers, and light infantry.The Model 1842 may have been a smoothbore, but the designers at the Springfield Armory were looking ahead into the future when they created the M1842. One of it’s features was a thicker than normal barrel. This was in expectation that someone would invent a fast loading bullet that could be used in rifles, and thus the M1842 would need to be rebored and rifled in the future. Indeed, this was the case as tens of thousands of M1842′s were converted to rifled muskets for the American Civil War. Originally the M1842 lacked a rear sight, which was common with smoothbore muskets, however, sights were typically added a part of the conversion process.While many M1842′s were converted into rifled muskets, many others were not. Such smoothbore muskets were common in the Confederate Army because the South lacked the industry and technical know-how in order to convert them. Some units in Union Army used them as well. One notable example was 69th New York Infantry (Irish Brigade), who were armed with them because it’s commander, Brig. Gen. Thomas Meagher, chose the weapon for the brigade, to be loaded with buck and ball cartridges which he believed to be more effective in combat. While the buck and ball cartridge was devastating from the M1842 at short range volleys, the Irish Brigade suffered terrible casualties from being armed with a short range weapon.The Springfield Model 1842 began production in 1844, and ended with the adoption of the Springfield Model 1855 rifled musket. Around 275,000 were manufactured. -- source link

More pics about