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P.S. JUSTICE RIFLE MUSKET

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This a very good example of the .69 caliber rifle musket made in Philadelphia by P.S. Justice at the beginning of the Civil War. The mounts are brass: nose cap, three convex, clamping barrel bands, characteristic recurved triggerguard, butt plate, lockscrew washers, and a Sharps-style patchbox. The barrel is smooth metal, brown, with a tall front blade sight, forward of which is a flat stud on top of the muzzle for a socket bayonet, and an 1858 pattern two-leaf rear sight with the leaves marked for 300 and 500 yards. The rammer is in place. The lower sling swivel is there; the upper swivel is missing. The barrel is marked on the top near the breech, “P. S. JUSTICE / PHILAD^A” The lock plate is sharply marked with an eagle with shield, arrows and olive branch, and raised wings over a small “US” with “P. S. JUSTICE / PHILAD^A” stamped just forward of that. Justice used a variety of altered lockplates, but this appears to be one of his newly made plates with rounded rear profile.

The brass mounts have a pleasing, mellow patina. The wood to metal fit is good. The patchbox cutout is sharp. The door functions fine. The wood has a medium-brown tone, good surface and generally good edges with mainly minor handling dings, a small check on the right forestock, and some light wear and two scratches on the left. The side flat shows one drag line with a chip at the bottom edge midway between the screws, a couple of scratches, and pressure dent and a narrow crack running back from the breech, under and past the upper lock-screw escutcheon. The wrist shows a hairline running back an inch or two from the breechplug tang that looks narrow and stable, otherwise the buttstock has only minor handling marks, though with a short narrow line of abrasion on the left of the buttplate tang. We don’t see any clear markings in the wood, but there may be a faint “E” or “F” on the side flat above the trigger.  Bore is clean with good rifling; mechanics function fine though a bit tight/stiff.

Although listed as maker of railroad car springs in 1860, Justice had been involved in selling sporting firearms at least since 1842 and when the war broke out made a determined, if somewhat scattered, effort to get into the military arms trade by selling imported arms, arms made by other firms, and assembling composite arms himself made up of new made, obsolete, surplus, and condemned parts. (As a side note, it has been suggested some of his brass patchboxes are simply old Sharps inventory.) He succeeded in selling the US government 2,174 of his rifle muskets, delivered from September 1861 to February 1862 and intended for Pennsylvania troops, with others sold on the open market, going to states, militia companies, etc. This seems to be one of his better-made arms, likely produced in his own shops to pass U.S. inspectors, though an original inspection of 1,703 of them had rejected 392, which likely ended up on the open market.

Justice’s arms met a mixed response to say the least. He found himself with delayed payments and answering questions and listening to complaints in front of the Holt-Owens commission in 1862, but his arms are interesting examples of weapons rushed into production to meet a huge, sudden need to arm volunteers rushing to preserve the Union, production that was generally a happy combination of profit and patriotism for the makers, whose arms are an interesting collecting category of their own.  [sr][ph:L]

DISCLAIMER: All firearms are sold as collector's items only - we do not accept responsibility as to the shooting safety or reliability of any antique firearm. All firearms are described as accurately as possible, given the restraints of a catalog listing length. We want satisfied customers & often "under" describe the weapons. Any city or state regulations regarding owning antique firearms are the responsibility of the purchaser. All firearms are "mechanically perfect" unless noted, but again, are NOT warranted as safe to fire!

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