Early Civil War percussion musket

During the American Civil War, both the Union and Confederacy imported thousands of foreign made muskets, as the demand far outstripped the supply.

The Union kept up this practice, even after their forces were adequately armed, to keep these muskets out of the hands of the Confederate government.

Due to the great demand for just about anything that would fire, a huge mix of good quality rifled muskets, as well as old percussion conversions of varying age, manufacture, caliber, quality and safety were imported on both sides.

Loyalist Arms and Repairs is pleased to offer Civil War re-enactors and museums a French model of one of the early flintlock musket conversions to percussion, that would have been imported to America during this period.

This musket saw little change from 1777 to the early 1830's, except for the modification to percussion, as all the European and American armories started switching to percussion from flint during the late 1830's.

This French conversion, would have probably been carried by Confederate forces or Union militia, (especially during the early stages of the war), as “most” of the Union regulars would have been issued proper rifled muskets.

Caliber is .69. Barrel is 44 inch long.

This model closely resembles the 1798 Whitney, the 1835 US flint musket, and the Virginia musket variants, as the 1777 French musket was used as a pattern for these American models.

This conversion is also similar to the ones done in America by contractors like Ward, Addams, Robinson, Baker, etc.

Since this musket is a prime example of the typical imported percussion firearm of the period, as well as closely resembling some American versions, it serves a double purpose for those interested in portraying Confederate, as well as early Union forces and militia.

We at Loyalist Arms, are attempting to fill a gap in what we believe is a viable market for percussion arms of the early American Civil War period.