This is a nice example of a Mississippi rifle by the earliest U.S. contractor, bearing a scarce New Jersey cartouche indicating it was one of 1,019 given to the state between 1850 and 1854, and showing the even scarcer New Jersey alteration for use with a socket bayonet. The metal is smooth. The brass has a nice patina. The wood has raised grain, visible cartouches, and good edges, though with some handling dings. The action is tight and the .54 caliber bore has deep rifling that will clean to near mint. It also comes with an original .54 caliber muzzle tompion.

George W. Tryon of Philadelphia discussed a contract for Model 1841 rifles as early as November 1841, and signed one for 5,000 rifles 6 October 1842, beating Eli Whitney in signing by about two weeks. His deliveries started in 1844, roughly two years before Harpers Ferry started full production, and the contract was completed in 1849. The company was actually run by George W. Tryon’s son, Edward K. Tryon, who was given an order in April 1848 for an additional 5,000, but transferred it to Whitney in October.

The lock is crisply stamped “Tryon / US” forward of the hammer and “Philada / Pa / 1847 to the rear.” The buttplate tang has the correct Tryon U.S. marking that is in alignment with the barrel rather than across the tang. The barrel is dated 1848, indicating the gun was assembled at the beginning of that year using a barrel produced at the tail end of 1847. The left barrel breech also carries the three line proof and acceptance mark of “US” over the inspector’s initials and a “P” for proved. The side flat shows two oval inspector’s cartouches, the rearmost being the W.A.T. of William Thornton and the upper one being the subinspector assigned to Tryon. Forward of those cartouches, above the side plate is an “N.J.” in an oval. Moller indicates just 1,019 Model 1841 rifles were distributed to New Jersey between 1850 and 1854 by the U.S. government under the terms of the 1808 Militia Act. Another 250 were delivered between 1856 and 1860, but these had been altered with long range sights and fitted with sword bayonets.

The barrel is smooth metal, with no pitting, as is the lock plate. The nipple and bolster are very good. Like the lock and hammer, the barrel shows a muted silver gray in color with scattered gray spots and thin brown grease stains, but no pits and no aggressive cleaning. The brass has a nice mustard patina, unpolished, and showing just some age spots here and there. The buttplate tang marking is sharp. The patch box is very good and tight. The cutout is crisp and still has the spare nipple screwed into it. The wood has good, deep color and shows raised grain. The barrel channel and side flat edges are sharp. The edges around the lock are sharp, but shows dings and one wider chip on along the bottom edge. The side flat shows some dings and one divot at the top right of the “W.A.T.” cartouche, and slight scrape on the wrist to the rear. The left of the forestock shows some scattered dings and handling marks, and one short drag line just behind the lower band. Nevertheless, the wood is nice looking and the grain and edges are quite good.

The rear fixed sight is present on the barrel. The muzzle has had the front sight removed, has been turned down, and fitted with a bayonet stud on the bottom. This is a known, scarce, New Jersey alteration performed at the state arsenal in Trenton. At least 182 Model 1841 rifles are recorded as altered there in 1859. The total so altered is unknown, but the form of the alteration is relatively scarce among the various attempts by contractors and armories to upgrade the rifle. The New Jersey alteration enabled it to mount a socket bayonet accepting a bottom stud, but might not have been regarded as an outstanding success. Following a European design, the bayonet featured a front sight dovetailed into the top of the socket to make up for the elimination of the muzzle sight. This might have posed a problem for accuracy, much the point of using a rifle in the first place, since it depended on tightly fitting the bayonet. Someone might also have realized accuracy was even more of a problem without the bayonet fixed, since then there was no front sight at all.

The Model 1841 Rifle is one of the most attractive U.S. shoulder arms and gained a following for its accuracy and a popularity following upon its use in the Mexican War by Davis’s Mississippi Regiment. It was probably subject to more alterations, improvements, and variations that any other percussion shoulder arm at least and is a collecting category of its own with a nice combination of eye-appeal and history. This would nicely fill a niche in a M1841 collection, collection of U.S. shoulder arms,  or a display of New Jersey related arms and equipment.  [sr]

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