Presented here is a Confederate Richmond Armory “Low Hump” rifle musket in excavated relic condition.

In April of 1861, Virginia State Forces under Captain Turner Ashby and his cavalry raided Harper’s Ferry and made off with the Federal armory’s most modern M1855 rifle and rifle musket tooling and milling machinery, including all the spare M1855 musket parts and dies. The equipment was relocated to Richmond and the first production run of Confederate longarms for service commenced in October 1861.

The obvious “high hump” characteristic as seen on the M1855 lockplate was designed to support the Maynard tape primer system which the Confederates did not utilize in their production. All captured M1855 parts were used up in the first or early production runs and as time passed, the original “high hump” templates wore out and Richmond Armory mechanics produced new templates with a lower “hump” design.

This battlefield excavated rifle musket is in very good condition – for a relic. Iron parts have been cleaned but not coated and are all moderately pitted. This later-production rifle musket, features the “low hump” style lock plate. Other Richmond-manufactured parts include an unmarked brass butt plate, a hammer with no Maynard primer cutting edge, and a brass nose cap. This also features an 1862-dated barrel, a “low hump” lockplate that exhibits portions of the two-line stamping of “C. S. / RICHMOND, VA”. No date is visible on the lockplate. Some small remnants of the walnut stock remain on the brass nose cap and brass butt plate. A copper percussion cap remains on the nipple, smashed under the hammer. Additional separate parts include the ramrod, three barrel bands, and the trigger guard. The mainspring on the back of the lock has two cracks and may be the reason the weapon was discarded.

From a central Virginia collection, so likely recovered from Chancellorsville or the Wilderness.

A very fine, and nearly complete (only missing band springs) Richmond rifle musket; it is a “dug” relic, so “it was there.”  [jet]  [ph:L]

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