Is this a hybrid?

Support for the 1863 shooter. Discussions of powders, loads, bullets, etc.
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NewModel63
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:29 am

Is this a hybrid?

Post by NewModel63 »

Good evening (well, it's evening over here) to all.
I am a New Member with an original New Model 1863, and hope that on this forum I might be able to exchange information on shooting it with other New Model shooters. But more on that another time. (Moderators, if this is way off topic, please move it accordingly.)

But what is troubling me at the moment is the following:

https://www.egun.de/market/item.php?id=7688048

At first glance the rifle looks OK. But the more I study it, the more uncertain I become. I have a signed copy of Frank Sellers' book, and have read it from cover to cover. But I cannot find a single instance of the barrel being marked with (2nd line) MANUFAG. CO.
It is always MANUFG. CO.


This observation provoked further study. The block has the flame/gas cone in the center and the sealing plate style as per later Conant development for the New Model. Totally wrong for anything before an 1859 New Model. Am I right?

But the lock looks OK for 1852/53, with two separate springs.

So I am beginning to think that this is an original 1852/3 "Back end" with a New Model Block and a .38 cal. barrel from wherever fitted to the front to imitate the extremely rare 1852 rifle in 90-bore.

Comments would be extremely welcome - if only to stop me from buying a fake!

And another, maybe simpler question: as one can see, the flame cone has a break in its rim. Can this cone be unscrewed from the block assembly? And of so - how do you manage it without marring the various parts?
Tomklinger
Posts: 449
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:00 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Is this a hybrid?

Post by Tomklinger »

Newmodel63,
It's all correct for a model '52 slant breech. Everything in the pictures is identical to my '52 sporting rifle with the exception that mine has a brass fitted patch box and butt plate, the rifling is also correct.if you send me a p.m. with an email address, I will send pictures of my '52
Hope this helps,
Tom Klinger
P.S. The flame cone is made with a split. Yours is correct...
NewModel63
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:29 am

Re: Is this a hybrid?

Post by NewModel63 »

Wow! Thanks for the reply. Now if I can just discover how to send a PM...
NewModel63
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 3:29 am

Re: Is this a hybrid?

Post by NewModel63 »

Public thanks to you Tom for the photos - you have an excellent rifle! I think I already answered through the PM mechanism, but maybe it disappeared into a software black hole.

Anyway, the one I was looking at went for €3800. This is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on something to go bang, so I passed. Knock of the €3k and you have the price I paid for an 1863 New Model. And thanks to the book by Coates & McAulay (Civil War Sharps Carbines and Rifles) I actually know who carried it in 1865. It is one of only about 200 Sharps rifles (not carbines) where the user/owner on discharge is recorded. Which, I guess, makes it pretty rare.

When time allows and I can get in some serious shooting at the range, I shall present the results. I have been reading all I could find on paper cartridges etc. and my home-brew efforts are very much in the development stage.

Watch this space, but don't expect too much too quickly.

Patrick
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