Original British East India Company Model B Percussion Short Musket with British Proof Marks - Circa 1841

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting original example of an East India Company made "Model B" Short Musket measuring only 49 inches, in .75 bore with a 33 inch long short length barrel. This is about 6 inches shorter than usual, but the musket does not show any signs of shortening. The Model B was the first unconverted EIC pattern, looking much like the "Model A", except that the barrel was originally made in percussion, and the lock plate lacks the filled holes from the frizzen. To save time the same mold was used for the lock plates on early percussion muskets as had been used on the flintlocks.

This example, unlike many we see, was not made overseas, but instead was definitely manufactured in Britain. The shape of the lion, as well as the quality of the engraving, is definitely British. The barrel also bears a partial but CROWN / GP "gunmaker's proof" and a clear CROWN / V "viewed" marking from the London Gun Company Proof house. There is also another marking by the cap nipple cone that we do not recognize. We checked the inside of the lock, which is stamped D / 6 on the inside of the hammer, and has a script E over 11 in an Oval, which we do not recognize, but definitively indicate British Manufacture.

Very similar to the P-1842 "Lovell's Pattern", this short musket was purchased recently at a gun show, but definitely appears to have come out of the Nepal Cache in 2003, as there is Nepalese script on the trigger guard. It looks to have been fully restored, and shows wood graft repairs around many of the securing pins and wedges, which were very prone to wood rot due to rust contact. We can also see unit number E / 47 along with other numerals by the butt plate on the left side. The lock functions correctly, holding at half cock and firing at full. Overall condition is very nice, showing use but having been tastefully restored to look its best.

This is a great chance to add top quality rare British Manufactured EIC Model B short musket to your collection. Don't let it pass you by!

Specifications:-

Year of Manufacture: circa 1841
Caliber: .75"
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 33 Inches
Overall Length: 49 Inches
Action type: Side Action Percussion Lock
Feed System: Muzzle Loading

More on the EIC Model F Percussion Musket:

Official records tell us that the British East India Company procured or made no Flintlock Muskets after the late 1820s and it appears they were very swift to take advantage of the newest in firearms technology- the percussion ignition system. In 1840 the HEIC began producing the world's very first massed produced percussion muskets one of which later became known as the EIC Model "E".

A brief history of how this model came to being- The shortened 39" barrel Brown Bess musket was first developed and adopted by the EIC in 1771. This was a full 25 years before the Board of Ordnance in London followed suit with a 39" Brown Bess Musket dubbed the "India Pattern" in 1796. This is a testament that private enterprise has seemingly always got things done long before government bureaucrats. In 1839 the British Government officially adopted a converted to percussion Brown Bess musket (P-1796/39) but in the Great Fire of the Tower of London of 1841 over 400,000 of these converted Muskets were destroyed leaving the British Government very short handed. The result, once again, was to copy the current EIC Percussion Musket, the Model "F" and designate it the "Lovell's Pattern of 1842". By that time, the EIC had already developed and refined the .75 bore Percussion musket through six models- A to F.

Models A and B were EIC flintlock muskets converted to percussion. However, the Model E was purpose built percussion issue. This Pattern dispensed with the screw on breech (needed because of the unreliability of the brazed on nipple lumps) as improved technology now permitted the welding of the nipple lump directly to the side of the breech. The nipple lump changes shape to fit what was then called the "new style lock". The lock was of the new percussion type with the mainspring no longer screwed in at its small end but secured under a lip inside the lock plate. The trigger is hung in a box, part of the trigger plate, instead of on a pin in the wood, and the side plate disappeared in favor of the later side nail cups with new Pattern E "Hanovarian" bayonet catch. These were built or "set up" between 1843 and 1845.

The differences between the various EIC Models are generally minor; Model A and B were Brown Bess flintlock conversions, Model C and D were purpose built percussion muskets but had the "Old Series" side locks with differing trigger guard styles, while the Model E and F both had the "new series" side locks and had either the Hanoverian Catch on the Model E or the EIC bayonet catch on the Model F.

Please See David Harding's stellar work "Smallarms of the East India Company 1600-1856" published in four volumes by Foresight Books in 1997. Specifically, please see Volume 2, pages 97-124 for a mass of information concerning the vary EIC Model muskets.

NOTE: International orders of antique firearms MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services (courier). USPS Priority Mail international will not accept these. International customers should always consult their country's antique gun laws prior to ordering.