Manufacture Year for a Farmingdale 63 Rifle

[Mississippi Rifle]

I recently picked up a very fine condition 1863 3-band .54 rifle, serial #1040. To satisfy my curiousity, can anyone tell me about when this piece was made? It sure hasn't recieved much (or any) use.

Thanks!

[Todd Birch]

Hey Mississippi Rifle

I have a Farmingdale '63 Military Rifle in .50 calibre, serial #1250.
I've never been able to determine it's age either. I don't know if there is a record of the serial # range.

I really enjoy it, shooting it with the Lyman 515141 sized .512, rolled with a .54 60 gr. Pyrodex pellet.

'Shoot' magazine did an article on shooting the '63 Military a while ago and like all of us, the writer was taken aback by it's accuracy potential.

The chamber of the .54 can eat a LOT of powder compared to my .50, so you may want to load it down with some cornmeal filler to tame recoil.

If you do shoot it, be good about stripping it and cleaning the breech block thoroughly. It'll bind up solid pretty quick otherwise.

I just ordered an oversize .54 Minie mould to try in a '63 Shiloh Sporter I have as well. It shoots well with the NEI 'Christmas Tree' bullet, but the idea of a hollow base Minie sounds interesting.

Regards, Todd